The smartwatch era has been around for nearly a decade, but the traditional Swiss watch industry’s place in this burgeoning market continues to evolve. While big brands across the industry have made uneven progress in the smartwatch space, no other group has been as active in this tech arena as LVMH. The giant luxury conglomerate has launched an impressively diverse line of smartwatches from its top brands, including Hublot and Louis Vuitton, but since 2015, TAG Heuer has been the tip of its marketing spear. The original TAG Heuer Connected was hailed as the first established Swiss challenger to the Silicon Valley tech giants’ smartwatch monopoly, and in the ensuing years the line has grown, refined, and moved in a truly novel style direction. 2022 will see the arrival of the fourth generation of the Connected series, with a sleeker, curvaceous case, new guided workout routines, and a set of new dial options that offer more useful data than ever before. The new TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4 series aims to keep Connected at the forefront of Swiss smartwatches with an improved microprocessor, Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, and an updated OS that is expected to come online soon after the watch’s initial release.
Available in both 45mm and new 42mm sizes, the TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4 series features a sleeker, more tapered case. The 45mm model aligns even closer to the established Connected formula, with both stainless steel and matte-blasted black DLC titanium options. The polished black ceramic bezel from the previous generation carries over here, featuring the same narrow profile and engraved minute track. In the rest of the case, however, TAG Heuer has taken a decidedly more rounded direction than the third-generation series. The case shows clear throwbacks to the Carrera series, such as the inner lug bevels, but the overall impression is more streamlined than its predecessor. Rather than harsh angles and broad polished surfaces, the Connected Calibre E4 adds depth and complexity to its shape with narrower, more flowing case-side chamfers and new brushed segments above the tapered lugs. The wide, wedge-shaped pushers have also been reimagined in a sleeker style, without the previous generation’s characteristic angular midpoint bend, and with new partially blacked-out cutouts instead of the previous generation’s full accent grooves. TAG Heuer also claims to have tweaked these pushers to have a more mechanical feel when actuated, which should give the Connected line a clearer tactile connection to the brand’s legacy products. The stainless steel case of the new 42mm offering follows most of the streamlined design elements of its larger sibling, but here the brand has taken the basic shape in an even smoother, more refined direction. In the first images, the bezel has been completely removed to achieve a high-tech, all-dial look, with the brand instead opting for an internal chapter ring with the same minute scale. In keeping with this sleeker, less aggressive philosophy, both the crown and pushers have been visually simplified. As for the pushers, the improved shape retains the accent notches, and the black rubber crown of the 45mm model has been replaced with a fully polished steel pillbox crown. Both case size options are water resistant to 50 meters, which is appropriate for a smartwatch.
TAG Heuer has introduced an OLED digital touchscreen dial to the Connected Calibre E4 series, with improved brightness and contrast for better visibility in bright sunlight. Calibre E4 adds a few more features to the digital dial design options carried over from the previous generation, including the meditative Riverside dial, which uses animated, flowing effects to show the passage of time, and the Wellness dial, which allows users to view their heart rate, steps, and other fitness tracking options directly from the main dial. But the most substantial update to date is the expanded TAG Heuer Sports app, which now offers users customizable workout routines guided by animations, without the need for a smartphone or TV. In addition to tracking workout progress and notifying users to switch exercises when complete, the TAG Heuer Sports app also includes updated tracking options for swimming, cycling, running, walking, and golf. TAG Heuer plans to add more dial options in the coming months. At launch, the user interface will run on Google Wear OS 2, but owners will be offered a free update to Google Wear OS 3 once the new operating system is released.
The TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4 also features strong hardware improvements, including a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 4100+ smartwatch processor. The Snapdragon 4100+ offers 30% longer battery life than the previous Connected’s Snapdragon 3100, giving the 45mm model 24 hours of power reserve on a full charge, even with five hours of power-hungry sports tracking apps. TAG Heuer claims that the 42mm model will achieve even better battery life, allowing for a full day of sports app use. The Snapdragon 4100+ also enables the Connected Calibre E4 to connect using Bluetooth 5.0, enabling wireless data transfer twice as fast as the previous Connected generation. In addition to the familiar connected sensor suite – accelerometer, heart rate monitor, compass, barometer, NFC chip, gyroscope and GPS module – Calibre E4 also features a new altimeter sensor for more in-depth tracking of outdoor sports like running and cycling. TAG Heuer is also offering a new charging stand for the connected Calibre E4. The stand acts as a watch display while charging, activating a low-brightness time-only dial for overnight charging. A full charge from zero takes just 90 minutes.
TAG Heuer pairs the Connected Calibre E4 with a range of strap options in leather and rubber in a wide range of styles and colors, as well as an optional stainless steel H-link bracelet. To encourage existing Connected users to purchase a Calibre E4, TAG Heuer is offering a trade-in recycling program for previous generation models. Unfortunately, trade-in prices are closer to the cost of used electronics than the resale value of a luxury watch, ranging from 200 CHF for the first generation Connected model to 450 CHF for the Connected models released in 2020 and 2021.
With a sleeker, more streamlined look, more case size options, a series of technical improvements, and more features than ever before, the TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4 series is the result of the brand’s strong efforts to remain at the top of Swiss smartwatches. All models in the TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4 series will be available through authorized retailers in March 2022. The suggested retail price for the 42mm model is $1,800, while the 45mm model ranges from $2,050 for a stainless steel watch with a rubber strap to $2,550 for a titanium-cased model at the time of writing. For more information, please visit the brand’s website.
