Garmin's adventure-based smartwatch line starts at $1,500

How much would you pay for a smartwatch with an engraved tachymeter?

Garmin is hoping its new line of smartwatches will strike a chord with the kind of thrill seekers you might find flying planes and racing cars — and we might assume they’re expensive planes and cars, given the high asking prices. The new MARQ collection, as it’s called, is geared toward pilots, ship captains, explorers and athletes. The smartwatches range from $1,500 to $2,500 and can supposedly do everything from calculate your performance vehicle’s average speed to send email notifications while you zip around a racetrack.

If driving isn’t your sport, the collection includes the Aviator ($1,950), with a slide rule for calculating jet fuel usage; Captain ($1,850), which has wind speed, temperature and tide information; Expedition ($1,750), with an etched 360-degree compass bezel; and Athlete ($1,500), which can display your recovery time on the its face.

As Gizmodo points out, the smartwatches do a good job of looking like regular timepieces. In addition to hobby-specific tools, they share much of the smartwatch technology that Garmin already uses in its other wearables. That includes email and call notifications, a reflective display, music with Bluetooth streaming, NFC payments and an optical heart/pulse oximeter sensor.

This isn’t the first time Garmin has released high-end, niche watches. In 2016, its Fenix Chronos golf watch sold for $899. Given the MARQ collection’s high prices, these may go the way of the Apple Watch Edition, which was a luxury but was discontinued after three years. Basically, while these are for sale, they might also be for show.