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Garmin has unveiled its second-generation Marq watches. An ultra-premium collection, even surpassing the best Garmin watches such as the top-end Fenix and Epix sports watches, this ‘luxury’ watch collection is tailored with specific sports in mind, with five feature-packed watches for athletes, golfers , sailors, aviators and adventurers.
As you might be able to tell from the line’s ‘luxury’ price tag, these watches aren’t cheap, starting at $1,900 in the US (opens in new tab), £1,600 in the UK (opens in new tab) and AU$3,250 (opens in new tab)in Australia for the slightly cheaper Athlete model. The watches are made with a Titanium Grade5 case, sapphire crystal domed lenses, premium bands, depending on the model you choose, with materials such as more titanium, hybrid leather and woven nylon, a battery life of 16 days and (a new addition to the range ) an AMOLED touchscreen.
All watches offer wrist-based heart rate, breathing and stress tracking, advanced sleep insights and Garmin’s excellent Body-Battery energy monitoring widget. We can hope so: for those prices, it should do everything, except you can make coffee in the morning. Garmin’s new Jet Lag Advisor widget will also debut on the Marq watches, allowing you to minimize the effects of Jet Lag when traveling internationally for a big race, for example.
Garmin says the new Jet Lag Adviser “helps users feel their best mentally and physically. Using the user’s sleep history and other metrics, the consultant recommends the amount of light exposure, a sleep schedule, and exercise to minimize the effects of jet lag for their next long-haul trip to one or more destinations.”
Let’s take a look at each watch one by one:
Analysis: Different but the same
Obviously the watches are aimed at big spenders and frequent travelers who want all the data from a smartwatch with the trappings of a luxury brand like Patek Phillipe or Omega. The different materials and functionalities are tailor-made for people whose lives revolve around certain sports, hobbies or disciplines. However, other than the cosmetics, the guts of all watches are largely the same.
Looking at the specs lists and comparing them together, it’s clear that most if not all of the golf gear is available on the other four watches. The specs list on the site shows check marks for all wave functions on the other four watches. Jet Lag Advisor, the province of the Aviator watch, will also be available on all devices, and we sincerely hope it rolls out to the rest of Garmin’s sports watch range as this sounds like a great feature.
But aside from a few highly specialized widgets, the differences lie in the bezel etchings, strap materials, the watch’s color schemes, and of course the marketing.
This second-generation Marq is an excellent fitness and wellness watch packed with all of Garmin’s latest tools, but we can’t imagine the Athlete being much better than the Forerunner 955 Solar when it comes to tracking, for example. It also lacks the Power Glass battery-extending solar technology in Garmin’s much cheaper Enduro and Forerunner watches.
What you pay for is the deluxe package, an eye-catching piece of wrist candy that looks like it belongs with a suit rather than sportswear.