Tag Heuer announced the latest version of its Connected smartwatch, the line it has produced in multiple iterations since 2015, and its third dedicated golfing model.
The Connected was the Swiss watch industry’s first luxury smartwatch, introduced hot-on-the-heels of the debut of the Apple Watch at a time when many suggested the latter spelled doom for mechanical watchmaking.
That seems laughable now, and though the Connected represents a fraction of Tag’s £600m+ worth of annual sales – five per cent by volume, according to a 2020 estimate – the brand has only doubled-down on its support for the range. It is certainly forging ahead with its lightweight Golf Editions – the latest of which is a collaboration with the hip California-based clothing brand Malbon Golf.
Promising to bridge the previously underappreciated gap between golf and streetwear, Malbon Golf is big on rugby-style sweatshirts, logo’d bucket hats and jacquard polo shirts.
Less so on plus fours, ties and tartan sweater-vests.
“Most golf parties, I don’t want to go to,” founder Stephen Malbon told The New York Times in 2019. “It’s all white dudes in blazers and khaki pants. It’s like a bank party with a bunch of, like, bankers.”
Malbon Golf has form as a serial lifestyle collaborator – with brands including New Balance, Beats by Dre and Girls Skateboards. And now Tag Heuer. The new Connected model features Malbon Golf’s partied-out golf ball mascot and adopts its loud green, white and yellow branding. Underneath it runs the established Golf Edition software – transforming the watch into a ‘wrist-worn caddie’ that automatically tracks every shot, analyses the wearer’s performance and displays more than 40,000 courses around the world in tee-sharp 3D detail.
Smartwatches are big on the golf scene – there’s plenty of dedicated models from Garmin, Samsung, etc – but Tag Heuer is best-known for its roots in motorsport. So why has it bet big on a sport which – some might say – ranks at the opposite end on the thrill-o-meter?
We spoke to George Ciz, who heads up marketing for the luxury watch brand from Tag’s Swiss HQ, and asked him.
How did this collaboration come about, then?
Frédéric Arnault [former CEO of Tag Heuer, recently promoted to heading up the whole LVMH watch division, adding Hublot, Zenith and others to his day job] is an avid golfer, and he’s very well connected. He and Stephen Malbon golf. And they thought it was a good idea for the two brands to get together and do a cool project.
Presumably the fact that Malbon Golf is targeted at a young, urban crowd – and not old white men – is a plus, too?
A younger audience is the Holy Grail of luxury brands. Not just luxury brands – most brands are trying to get to the younger consumer. Malbon speaks the language of the younger consumer. The design language is exactly what they are looking for. Golf is a cool sport. But they make it look even cooler and hipper and younger and more exciting. We are also trying to position our Connected watch as a disruptor. That’s the most important thing with collaborations. Partnering with them makes it very believable, authentic and credible. You want people to say ‘Oh, that makes perfect sense’.
TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4 45mm 2022-Golf Edition
TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4 45mm 2022-Golf Edition
Tag Heuer was one of very few Swiss watch brands to embrace smartwatches when they launched. Not everyone was convinced that was a clever move. It looks clever now.
You’ve got to have a stomach for disruption. My favourite kind of projects are ones where you take a step and you wonder ‘Is there the ground in front of me? Or is there a black hole I’m going to fall into?’ The Connected watch gives us a quite distinctive position within the world of luxury. Yes, there are other brands that have connected watches – but I believe none of them are playing at the level that we are with the Connected watch. For us its not just a little gadget, a little fun thing on the side. We have a team of 60 people in Paris who are constantly working on this product. Really, really bright people!
Why golf?
We have been [involved with] golf for a long, long time. Tiger Woods was a Tag Heuer ambassador for a long time. We actually made a very special mechanical watch for him [the 2005 Tiger Woods Professional Golf Watch]. Yes, motorsport is the heart of Tag Heuer, absolutely. But there are parts of the heart where other sports exist. Golf is one of them. High performance with speed and precision – that’s what golf is. So it’s a nice connection to the brand. It was natural that we went to it. And we felt like the technology was right [with the Connected watch] to do something special in golf. So that’s why we doubled down.
Isn’t golf a bit niche, though?
Golf is a super-popular sport. It’s a specific audience, as you know – higher income, people with more disposable income that can easily spend €2,000 on this [watch]. For people who follow golf it’s a huge part of their lives. It’s very difficult to say that its niche when there are more than 40,000 golf courses around the world, you know? It’s a great sport, I think. And it’s perfectly aligned for a luxury brand to be part of. That’s why you see many of our competitors are involved in golf, on the traditional side [ie: sponsorship]. And they are simply going there for the audience, for the demographic. But we wanted to be a little bit different. We wanted to deliver a product that they can have fun with.
Why should people buy your golf watch and not one by Garmin or Samsung?
First, shot tracking, course recommendations and all of that functionality of the watch that really sets the benchmark for the whole golf industry. The presentation of it is by the far the best – there is nothing to discuss, in my opinion. The fact you don’t have to touch the watch while you play [ie: it carries out all its functions automatically]. The cleverness of the product I think sets it apart. When you look at those devices you just mention… they look like devices, you know? They look like something clunky, and big – it doesn’t look like a classical watch. Our watch looks the way it looks because of 160 years of watchmaking codes in the case. You can clearly see similarities in the shapes and the curves with our Carrera collection, and so on, right? Those other devices have, what, 10, 15 years’ worth of [design experience]? It’s a massive difference. Our watch is fantastic on the performance side. But it also something that is fantastic in your day-to-day life. You can wear it to the boardroom. You can wear it on a date. It’s super-elegant.
We know you won’t reveal sales figures, but give us an idea – are sales of the Connected line still going in the right direction?
It’s growing really well. When Frédéric [Arnault] started one of his strategies for the company was to grow the Connected band into a true pillar. And we have been improving it from the start – ease of pairing, ease of use, battery. The watch is getting better. I can tell you it’s super-successful online. In the US, which is our biggest market, it’s the Number One online [seller].
Lots of golfers in the US
Yes, absolutely!
