Garmin International is determined to have its top-of-the-range smartwatch family, the MARQ, considered alongside the great mechanical tool watches of Switzerland.
It has also been making strides to have the MARQ sold by prestigious multibrand watch retailers, and has already scored successes by being stocked online and in some stores by Beaverbrooks and Goldsmiths.
That was the plan when the first MARQ watches launched in 2019, and the business is doubling down with a second generation of the smartwatch family, this time with even more refined finishing, top grade materials, pin sharp touchscreens (along with the multiple pushers that Garmin customers love) and the most sophisticated suite of specialist applications on the market.
Garmin has made five MARQ watches for specific customers: athletes, adventurers, golfers, sailors and pilots, all of them made from Grade 5 titanium and finished to Swiss levels of refinement.
Touchscreens have been upgraded since the first generation to vibrant AMOLED displays with domed sapphire lens — far brighter so that they are readable under the brightest sunshine on the golf course, ocean or in flight.
Battery life, always a strong suit for Garmin, has been improved to 16 days.
All five MARQ watches use Garmin’s suite of health and wellness features like wrist-based heart rate, respiration and stress tracking, advanced sleep insights, Body-Battery energy monitoring and a new Jet Lag Adviser that aims to get your body back in sync after a long flight.
At a demonstration to press in Lisbon, WATCHPRO was walked through this handy app, which notes the time and location of a person heading on a flight, checks metrics like sleep history and makes successtions on how to get over jet lag faster by managing exposure to light, adjusting a sleep schedule and taking exercise at the right time.
Essentially, Garmin understands your internal clock and trains you to get that clock correctly set quickly when traveling.
The latest MARQs are bristling with sensors that talk to sophisticated apps, many of them designed for the activities of specific customers.
MARQ Athlete
MARQ Athlete is lighter and more comfortable than its first generation predecessor thanks to its titanium case and vented silicone rubber strap.
Athletes can track performance, training and recovery not just when working out, but throughout every day and night.
Training Readiness gives a score based on sleep quality, recovery, training load and more, telling athletes whether it’s a good day to push the limits or take it easy.
For runners, MARQ Athlete includes a wide range of advanced training features like PacePro, which keeps a runner’s pacing strategy on track for the entire distance.
Sensors, data and clever algorithms come together in the Real-Time Stamina app to track and manage exertion through activity to avoid burnout and suggest when to push a little harder and when to back off.
MARQ Athlete comes pre-loaded with sports apps for all athletic pursuits like running, cycling, swimming, skiing, golf, pickleball & tennis, gym workouts, and surfing.
It also has animated training on the watch to improve cardio, strength, yoga and pilates workouts.
MARQ Adventurer
All MARQs are equally rugged, but the Adventurer version is designed to survive (and help its owner survive) in the harshest conditions.
It is recognisable from its compass bezel, which helps with orienteering, and comes pre-loaded with TopoActive maps so adventurers can navigate using points of interest, elevation profiles and more.
The handy NextFork feature tells you when next trail intersection is coming up, so there is no excuse for getting lost.
MARQ Aviator
For pilots, Garmin has recognised the trend for metal on metal watches from the Swiss and Japanese mechanical watchmakers and has offered the Aviator MARQ on a titanium bracelet.
The watch draws on Garmin’s decades of work with aviators, particularly its sophisticated navigation equipment for planes, and miniaturised it for the wrist so that the MARQ will all-but fly and land an aircraft on its own.
It can be used to navigate to any location or way point in the worldwide aeronautical database and its ‘Nearest’ function will plot a path to a nearby airport in an emergency situation, all the while helping pilots monitor crosswinds and other flight conditions.
For ultimate situational awareness, pilots can pan across a moving map with a touch, see NEXRAD radar overlaid on the route and access aviation weather, including METARs, TAFs and MOS, to see winds, visibility, barometric pressure and more.
MARQ Golfer
Its golf watch was Garmin’s bestseller for the first generation MARQ, and a key target market for the latest family.
Total amateurs on the Garmin press trip were shown how it can shave shots of any golf round by helping players plot their way around the course using the right club, picking the correct distance, avoiding hazards and even reading greens; all with the assistance of detailed information from 42,000 pre-installed golf courses from around the world.
It is bang on trend aesthetically as well, thanks to its green ceramic bezel and green nylon weave strap.
Apps include the Virtual Caddie, Hazard View, Wind Data and PinPointer. It even learns what clubs a player is using over time and how far each club typically hits the ball so that advice is personal to each golfer.
MARQ Captain
Garmin brings all its nautical experience and technological know how to the Captain timepiece, and adds Swiss touches like a ceramic bezel with regatta countdown markers. That works in harmony with a Regatta Timer app that combines GPS location awareness with sailing data to ensure the captain always reaches the start line on time.
It talks to Garmin onboard systems for upmarket craft to alert the captain to tide changes and anchor drag. It even talks to a ship’s autopilot so it can be steered from the watch.
The MARQ Captain isn’t just for multi-millionaires docking in Monte Carlo. It also has activity apps for kayaking, paddleboarding, windsurfing and kiteboarding.
The new MARQ collection goes on sale this month with prices ranging from £1,599.99 to £2099.99.
