THE TOP WATCH REVIEWS OF 2021 – The TAG Heuer Connected collection (#6)
Nick KenyonEditor’s note: The Time+Tide team reviewed hundreds of watches in 2021. This month we’ve been counting down the Top 30 reviews of the year that you liked best, on the basis of the online traffic. Heading deep into the top 10 it’s the TAG Heuer Connected collection at number 6…
It’s fair to say that most people have probably put on a couple of COVID kilos during the rolling lockdowns we’ve all gone through over the last 12 months. I know I have. But now that things are slowly returning to a semblance of normality and confidence is growing that our future plans won’t be derailed, it’s time to start getting back into shape. Unfortunately for watch collectors, there aren’t many of our beloved Swiss watchmakers who are able to help us with this daunting task. But there is one La Chaux-de-Fonds based manufacture who can actually offer some assistance – TAG Heuer. With the recent launch of the TAG Heuer Connected collection for 2021, the new watches are packed with new features that are aimed to make your days healthier and your golf handicap more fearsome.
To understand better what the latest TAG Heuer Connected collection looks like, it’s worth briefly reminding ourselves of the quantum leap that was made last year with the launch of the generation 3. The collection for 2021 is physically the same as last year, so a refresher is important. The steel case has a diameter of 45mm and a relatively slim 13.5mm thickness, making it more than comfortable on most wrists as a daily wear, while featuring a number of classic Carrera-inspired design cues.
Take the lugs for instance, which have the same angular twist as they follow the curvature of your wrist. The tops of the lugs are polished, while the case sides are satin-brushed to emphasise the strong case lines. The strikingly geometric pushers on the right-hand side of the case flank the rubber-covered smart crown that serves as the steering wheel of the watch. Likewise the ceramic bezel is reminiscent of the ceramic bezel on a mechanical TAG Heuer chronograph, with polished faceted surfaces and a 60-minute scale around its circumference.
The caseback is also consistent with the other generation 3 models, with the infrared light sensor that reads your heart rate and the charging points that connect with the charging cradle that you sit the watch in overnight. Despite protruding slightly from where the sides of the case naturally end, the caseback is comfortable against the wrist both during exercise and while going about the rest of your day.
All of the information that the watch displays, as well as the multitude of different faces that you can choose for your Connected watch are communicated via the always-on 1.39-inch touchscreen OLED screen. It isn’t a massive amount of real-estate to work off, but it is easy-to-read and operate as you scroll through the different options to find the function you are looking for.
The straps that the TAG Heuer Connected collection offer are one of the strongest selling points. Not only are they very comfortable, using a quality grade of supple rubber, but they are also incredibly easy to swap with a quick-change mechanism that doesn’t require any tools. There are also a number of different coloured rubber options, but if that isn’t your thing, then the steel bracelet that the watch is available on is also a simple part of the watch to interact with and offers even more of a mechanical watch feel to what you have on your wrist.
As you’d expect from a smartwatch in 2021, the TAG Heuer Connected offers all of the calls, messages, emails, and calendar notifications, as well as NFC payments with Google Pay, Google Maps and GPS and weather alerts. But the key updates are in the TAG Heuer Wellness app and the TAG Heuer Golf app, both of which have been improved this year.
The key updates for 2021 can be seen in the updated TAG Heuer Connected Wellness app, which maintains the same functionality when it comes to tracking specific activities, but is much improved in tracking your day-to-day biometrics. Using a display that shows your progress throughout the day with a pair of rings, one of which is your steps and the other is your calories burned, it’s a more functional way of communicating your incidental activities like, say, walking to work, rather than just a dedicated running session.
These metrics help track the intensity of your daily activities and how much effort your body has exerted as a result and translate the data into easy-to-understand information on the app, which you can then use to track your progress.
TAG Heuer has also made strides in the Golf app, which now features more accurate 3D and 2D maps of the 40,000 golf courses that the app contains, with better textures and detail including forests and even single trees. TAG Heuer worked with the SceneKit framework to allow the app to render these details faster and smoother. Another improvement in the golf app is the club recommendation tool, which will now suggest the best club to use for a stroke depending on the conditions and distance. The club recommendation tool learns from your clubs you select and the performance you get out of each club, making it more accurate the more that you use it.
In a post-COVID world you’re probably looking to get your 5km time back down to pre-pandemic pace and the TAG Heuer Connected is certainly a watch that can help you get there. Building off the latest generation 3 from last year, these incremental changes are focused on improving the experience of using the watch, as well as making it more functional to use everyday. TAG Heuer continue to double down in the smartwatch space and it’s good to see that they believe the generation three has enough fundamental strength as a platform to only need tweaking to make significant improvements.
TAG Heuer Connected watch price and availability:
The TAG Heuer Connected watch in steel on rubber strap has an RRP of AUD$2600 while on steel is is AUD$2900. The TAG Heuer Connected Golf Edition is AUD$3700. For more details, visit TAG Heuer right here.
Made in partnership with TAG Heuer. However, the opinions expressed in this article are our own in accordance with our Editorial Policy.