A Classic Swiss Watch, but Smarter
TAG doesn’t build gadgets, it builds Swiss watches that happen to be smart. And its newest watch, the Connected E5, just happens to be one of the smartest devices in the watch business.
The E5 is the latest lap in a race that TAG has been running for decades. The 1970s Heuer Chronosplit Manhattan GMT combined analog hands with a digital LED/LCD screen, while the 2000s' Monaco Sixty Nine went even further with mechanical time on the front and digital on the flip side.
The E5 is just building on the language that TAG already established in that middle ground between Swiss luxury and digital timing, where both world's aren't balanced so much as they're given equal consideration.
This is a watch first, a smartwatch second.
TAG's Connected E5 looks more like the company's signature Carrera racing watch than a computer strapped on top.
A round steel or black titanium case surrounds the watch face, as opposed to the sleek square brick synonymous with smart watches. Racing DNA shows in the watch's bezel and lugs, with pushers and a crown lifted straight from a chronograph.
But this isn’t a timepiece built for life on the track.
Instead, the E5 is designed for the golf course, indicated by its automatic score tracking and pre-loaded course maps, though its built-in GPS and heart-rate tracking make it useful for nearly any activity.
The E5's customizable faces are aimed at TAG loyalists, with digital versions of Carrera chronographs and Aquaracer dials included. They’re tributes to TAG’s icons, fully functional and customizable within the watch.
Unlike most luxury smartwatches, the E5 wears like a true Swiss watch. It just so happens to check your daily activity.
Before leaving TAG in 2018, former CEO Jean-Claude Biver launched the first edition of the brand's Connected series. These watches was never intended to beat Silicon Valley at its own game, their aim was to give luxury buyers a smartwatch they’d actually wear to dinner. The new E5 feels like the culmination of that idea.
And its race lore fits neatly into TAG’s lore as Formula 1 timekeeper. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, TAG didn’t just slap logos on McLarens, it developed timing systems accurate to 1/1000th of a second. That same pursuit of digital precision produced watches like the Chronosplit and, later, the Microtimer.
Available on TAG Heuer’s website, the Connected E5 demonstrates how proper Swiss watchmaking can still evolve. TAG is one of the few watchmakers in its class exploring what mechanical heritage means in a data-driven world.
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