Garmin has announced the Marq Gen 3, a new version of its family of high-end luxury smartwatches it last updated in 2022. And luxury is the key word here: While the Fenix 9 Pro—the watch the Marq most closely resembles—isn’t cheap at $1,100, it’s definitely cheaper than the $2,500 starting price of a Garmin Marq Athlete. Of course, that money isn’t necessarily wasted. All the Marq watches support the company’s inReach LTE network so you can stay connected without a smartphone, offer the usual health and fitness features, and come preloaded with maps that will make them great for navigation right out of the box. Still, it’s safe to say Garmin’s newest smartwatch is for a very particular kind of affluent customer.
The Marq Gen 3 is available in the same Athlete, Adventurer, Golfer, and Aviator styles as the previous generation, along with two new third-generation additions, Commander and Diver. All the watches are made from Grade 5 titanium, a more scratch-resistant blend of the already scratch-resistant Grade 2 titanium on the Fenix 9 Pro, and come with a sapphire lens that covers their 1.4-inch AMOLED touchscreen. Depending on the style you pick, you’ll get a slightly different design on the ceramic bezel and different watch bands, too, ranging from a silicone band on the slightly more affordable Athlete model to a leather band on the Aviator.
The actual features of the smartwatch span the gamut of Garmin’s recent releases. Any Marq Gen 3 watch will be able to track heart rate and heart health issues like atrial fibrillation, sleep, workouts, and recovery. They’ll also be able to connect to the company’s new Garmin Epic feature, which summarizes multiple types of workouts into a longer narrative, and have the ability to see notifications and take calls from a connected smartphone. Unique to these new watches, Garmin says they’ll also come preloaded with worldwide TopoActive maps and support up to 18 days of battery life.
Given their exorbitant prices, the real draw of these watches is their looks and the more personalized features they ship with. For example, the Athlete watch features ClimbPro, a software feature that can display information about your upcoming climbs, while Garmin’s Aviator model includes a collection of navigation tools for pilots. If you’re paying thousands of dollars for a smartwatch, it might as well cater to your specific luxury hobby.
The Garmin Marq Gen 3 watches are available to order today and will ship in the coming weeks. The Marq Athlete starts at $2,500, the Marq Adventurer starts at $2,700, the Marq Golfer starts at $2,800, and the Marq Aviator, Commander, and Diver models all start at $3,100.
