Garmin has introduced the third generation of its MARQ collection, six luxury watches designed as wrist tools for sport, adventure, flying and golf. The launch came less than a day after a leak had anticipated the lineup, a sign that the company chose to speed up its announcement rather than wait for the details to be confirmed officially.
The family includes the Adventurer, Athlete, Aviator, Commander, Diver and Golfer. The starting price is $2,500 for the Athlete, while the Adventurer costs $2,700 (2,750 euros in Europe), the model the DC Rainmaker reviewer says he would buy with his own money. Garmin describes a redesigned 47 mm case and the addition of satellite and LTE connectivity across the line, two elements missing from the previous generation.
The most significant change from the past concerns the technical substance. According to DC Rainmaker's review, the MARQ was until now a more refined version of a Fenix, with the same feature limits. This time, the reviewer writes, the MARQ brings hardware and features the Fenix line lacks, and includes the full Fenix 9 feature set plus more. The reviewer, while recognising the step up, leaves open whether the difference justifies a price that rises to around $3,100.
The design points to traditional mechanics. Garmin wanted watches that read as collectible objects: the titanium and ceramic case, the machined bezels and the vegetable-tanned leather straps make up a whole that operations director Brad Trenkle has described as built for function, not to imitate a mechanical watch. In the review of the Adventurer model the leather shows a slight colour change after a 90-minute trail run, while a gravel ride leaves it untouched.
The differences between the six models
The Adventurer has a 360-degree compass bezel with the cardinal points machined in, micro-knurled buttons and an Italian leather strap with an inner HNBR layer that limits damage from light sweat. The Athlete is the base model, with Fenix 9 software and AMP yellow accents, while the Diver, Aviator, Commander and Golfer add tools for diving, flying, navigation and golf.
Every model except the Athlete includes a spare silicone strap for workouts. Every MARQ 3 can scuba and freedive the same way a Fenix 9 can.
With the arrival of the MARQ 3, Garmin strengthens the premium positioning of a line that in earlier generations remained a niche. The open question is whether the public will accept such a high price for a watch that, in the words of the review, is no longer a lesser device in nicer materials but a product with its own features.
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