The Tag Heuer Linked Modular 41 is a Put on OS (previously Android Put on) smartwatch that blends Google smarts with the design, craftsmanship and value of a luxurious Swiss watch. It comes a 12 months after the Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45 and brings with it a couple of key enhancements.
Firstly, the quantity within the names of those watches refers back to the diameter of the case in millimeters. Thus, the brand new Modular 41 is 4mm smaller than the Modular 45 (which stays on sale). This makes the brand new watch extra interesting to these with slimmer wrists and probably opens up Tag Heuer’s smartwatch division to a bigger viewers than earlier than.
Moreover, the brand new mannequin will get a better pixel density, plus a doubling of RAM and a doubling of onboard storage.
The Modular a part of the watch’s identify means the identical as with the 45, in that the strap and lugs might be simply eliminated and swapped for alternate options relying in your temper and elegance. You’ll be able to even swap out the case for a Tag Heuer Calibre 5 mechanical motion, if you happen to fancy a day with out Put on OS’s notifications and health monitoring.
Naturally, a smartwatch costing from $1,200 (£1,000, AU$1,600) isn’t going to be for everybody. You could possibly purchase a number of alternate options for that – or, y’know, a laptop computer, or an Xbox One X and a 4K TV – however that isn’t actually the purpose. Luxurious Swiss watches have completed little greater than inform the time for many years, but enterprise on the shores of Lake Geneva is all the time booming.
Tag Heuer Linked Modular 41 value and launch date
- Very costly for a smartwatch, however comparatively good worth for a Tag
- Begins at $1,200 / £1,000 / AU$1,600
Similar to its greater brother, the Linked Modular 41 runs Google’s Put on OS working system, and as such works in the identical means as smartwatches just like the Huawei Watch 2, LG Watch Style and others from the likes of Fossil, Casio and Michael Kors.
These examples additionally take fashion into consideration – they aren’t simply miniaturized smartphones in your wrist – however the Tag Heuer will get to boast about its identify, historical past and the ‘Swiss Made’ motif to take issues to a different stage.
As such, the $1,200 / £1,000 / AU$1,600 beginning value is unlikely to shock these acquainted with the remainder of the Tag Heuer vary, and we suspect those that already personal a Tag are the sort of people that see four-digit worth within the identify and emblem on their wrist, as a lot as what it’s really able to.
Whereas the bigger Linked Modular 45 presents a variety of bezel designs (white gold and diamonds, anybody?), the 41 retains issues easy.
Due to a web-based configurator you possibly can select from titanium or black ceramic for the bezel, then choose from a variety of rubber straps, or a titanium bracelet in black or silver. The silver titanium mannequin with a ceramic black bezel ups the fee to $2,100 / £1,700 / AU$2,800.
Design and show
- Similar premium design because the bigger mannequin, however in a extra compact case
- Blends the appears to be like of a luxurious watch with the touchscreen of a smartwatch
- Though the case is 4mm narrower, it’s virtually as thick
Similar to its predecessors, the Tag Heuer Linked Modular 41 neatly blends the design of a luxurious Swiss watch with the touchscreen, button, microphone and charging connector of a smartwatch. The Tag’s grade 5 titanium case appears to be like and feels powerful however isn’t overly heavy on the wrist.
What we like about this watch – and its bigger sibling – is the way it doesn’t shout too loudly about what it’s. Those that know their watches will know, in fact, however to everybody else the Linked Modular is a pointy trying sports activities watch which (at first look) could or will not be a smartwatch.
Not like the square-screened Apple Watch 3, the Tag takes an method shared by different Put on OS gadgets from watchmakers: it appears to be like like a conventional watch.
There’s a single button at three o’clock, mimicking the crown of a mechanical watch. A press of this wakes the watch up (as does a faucet of the display or elevating your wrist), then a second press reveals a listing of the watch’s purposes. Press once more and you’re taken again to the watch face.
Under the button is the watch’s microphone, which is used for chatting with Google Assistant and dictating for if you wish to reply to a message.
The watch will get its identify from how the strap and lugs might be eliminated and changed with alternate options, thus making it a modular design. There’s a button the place every strap connects to the case; press this whereas concurrently pulling the strap in the direction of the again of the case, and it slides free. It’s a easy however well-engineered mechanism and one we really feel might be trusted to maintain the watch safely in your wrist.
At 41mm throughout, the Tag Heuer’s case is in regards to the common dimension of a males’s wristwatch. Although, this downsizing can be welcomed by anybody who felt the 45mm model was simply too large for his or her wrists. Nonetheless, the brand new mannequin is simply very barely much less chunky, because the depth of the case is 13.2mm in comparison with the 45’s 13.75mm.
When you think about the Apple Watch three is a thin 11.4mm, you understand the brand new Tag – whereas extra accommodating than ever earlier than – isn’t fairly as compact because it appears to be like when seen face-on.
It ought to nonetheless slip beneath the sleeve of all however the tightest of fitted shirts (and the strap tapers to a thinner width than on the 45), however it’s nonetheless a chunky timepiece. The Tag’s inherently sporty design helps the chunky dimensions look deliberate, and we really feel it nearly will get away with the case being as thick as it’s.
The round, 1.2-inch (30.4mm) show sits beneath 2.5mm-thick, scratch resistant sapphire glass. It’s an AMOLED panel which has a decision of 390 x 390, and whereas that is 10 pixels fewer than on the bigger Linked Modular 45, the smaller dimension means a pixel density of 326 per inch, up from 287 on the 45.
What all which means is the smaller mannequin really has the higher-quality show – and it’s a stunning show at that. Watch faces are fantastically crisp, with each digit, quantity, hand and dial trying sharp. You’ll be able to nonetheless inform it’s a digital show and never an actual watch face, in fact, however it is rather pleasing to the attention and simple to learn in most circumstances.
We are saying ‘most’ as a result of it may be tough to see at a look on sunny days. Indoors was by no means an issue, however exterior on a vibrant day we typically questioned if the watch had by some means switched itself off, such was the dearth of visibility.
A flick of the wrist, press of the button or faucet of the show fixes this, bringing the watch to life and changing the energy-saving monochrome watch face with a vibrant, full-color and extremely detailed face.
Putting a steadiness between battery life and providing an always-on show vibrant sufficient to see open air is one thing all smartwatch makers are nonetheless grappling with, so we are able to’t single Tag out for this.
Lastly, the Tag Heuer 41 is waterproof to a depth of 50 meters, so you possibly can take it swimming with out a drawback.