In brief
- On the official websites consulted on 11 October 2026, two major maisons are still selling a smartwatch in France: TAG Heuer with the Connected Calibre E5 (from €1,600 to €2,550) and Hermès with Apple, whose Apple Watch Hermès ranges from €1,599 to €3,499.
- The most expensive is the Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 4 on a titanium Grand H bracelet, at €3,499 on the Apple store.
- The most enduring is the Garmin MARQ (Gen 2), from €1,950 to €3,250: up to 16 days in smartwatch mode, compared to 24 hours for the Apple Watch Hermès Series 12.
- The Hublot Big Bang e, the Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Light Up, and the Montblanc Summit are no longer in their maisons’ French online catalogues. Breitling does not offer any connected models.
- At resale, a smartwatch does not hold its value like a mechanical one: TAG Heuer takes back any old Connected for a €210 credit.
Between 2015 and 2020, TAG Heuer, Montblanc, Louis Vuitton, and Hublot each launched their own smartwatch, with touchscreens housed in steel, ceramic, or titanium cases. In 2026, the landscape has narrowed. Some maisons have discreetly withdrawn their models, while others have chosen to develop their own systems. Here are the models actually on sale today, with public prices recorded on 11 October 2026 on official sites, their materials, battery life, and what sets them apart.
TAG Heuer Connected, an in-house system
Among the watchmaking maisons reviewed for this guide, TAG Heuer is the only one still offering a complete connected collection. Its current generation, the Connected Calibre E5, is available in 40 mm and 45 mm, with thirteen references on the French site. Prices range from €1,600 for the 40 mm in steel to €2,550 for the Golf and Formula 1 editions in black DLC-coated titanium and for the TaylorMade edition in titanium. In between: a Golden Bright version in rose gold PVD-coated steel (€1,900), a New Balance edition in black titanium (€1,650), and a Running Edition in sandblasted titanium (€2,400), whose ceramic bezel features a pace, speed, and distance scale.
The most profound change is invisible: the watch no longer runs on Google’s Wear OS. TAG Heuer has developed its own system, TAG Heuer OS, based on the Android Open Source project, and compatible with both iPhone (iOS 18 or newer) and Android (13 or newer). Under the sapphire crystal, a 1.39-inch OLED screen displays 454 x 454 pixels, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 5100+ chip. The 45 mm case is water-resistant to 50 metres and accepts interchangeable straps.
Battery life remains that of an electronic object: TAG Heuer announces 17 hours in running mode and up to 3 days in low-power mode for the 45 mm, 1.5 days at full performance and 2 days in low power for the 40 mm. Golf, wellness, and sports apps (running, cycling, swimming, hiking) are pre-installed.
Apple Watch Hermès, luxury under watchOS
Hermès and Apple extend their collaboration with a 2026 collection built on the Apple Watch Series 12, presented by Apple on 9 September. For the first time, the Apple Watch Hermès Series 12 is available in glossy gold titanium, in addition to polished silver titanium. This gold finish is exclusively paired with the black Satin Clou de Selle strap, with matching clasp and saddle nail.
On the Apple store, the Apple Watch Hermès Series 12 is listed from €1,599 in 42 mm and from €1,649 in 46 mm, all in GPS + Cellular versions. The most expensive configuration found, the 46 mm case on a steel link Grand H bracelet, reaches €2,399. The straps define the style: knitted Rocabar Club, inspired by show jumping bars, Simple Tour Kilim in rubber, Toile H, Grand H, and Grand H Fin. The Hermès watch faces are exclusive.
The downside is well known: the Apple Watch only works with an iPhone (iPhone 11 or newer running iOS 27), and its announced battery life is one day, up to 24 hours in normal use and 38 hours in power-saving mode.
The Ultra 4 Hermès, the top of the range
More massive, the Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 4 adopts the 49 mm titanium case of the Ultra 4, with the same health, sport, and safety functions. It starts at €1,699 on the Scub’H Diving or En Mer straps. On the new titanium Grand H bracelet, it costs €3,499, making it the most expensive major maison smartwatch sold in France today. This bracelet features an extension mechanism to be worn over a diving suit. Apple announces up to 50 hours of battery life in normal use and 84 hours in power-saving mode. Four new Hermès watch faces illustrate the seabed, from the surface to the dive.
Garmin MARQ, the tool in titanium and carbon
Garmin is not a traditional watchmaking maison, but its MARQ collection has established itself in the same price range. The MARQ (Gen 2) is available in Adventurer, Athlete, Aviator, Captain, Commander, and Golfer editions, from €1,950 to €3,250 on the brand’s French site. The 46 mm case is available in grade 5 titanium, Fused Carbon Fiber, which Garmin says is 11% lighter than titanium, or forged and folded Damascus steel for the Adventurer Damascus Steel Edition, the most expensive.
Its decisive argument is battery life: up to 16 days in smartwatch mode, 6 days with the AMOLED screen always on, and up to 21 days in power-saving mode. Domed sapphire crystal, 10 ATM water resistance, built-in mapping, and contactless payment complete the spec sheet. The MARQ runs on Garmin’s proprietary system, with its own app store, Connect IQ.
What has left the catalogues
Several icons from the years 2017 to 2022 have disappeared from official boutiques. Hublot launched its first smartwatch in 2018, the Big Bang Referee for the FIFA World Cup, then the Big Bang e in 2020. As of 11 October 2026, none of the 162 Big Bang references on Hublot’s French site are connected, and the old Big Bang e page returns an error.
At Louis Vuitton, the Tambour Horizon Light Up no longer appears in the watch collections on the French site (Escale, Monterey, Color Blossom, Tambour, Tambour Convergence, Tambour Originale, and Objets du Temps), and its product page is nowhere to be found. Montblanc no longer sells the Summit on its French store: the smartwatch section only offers chargers for Summit 3, Summit 2, and Summit Lite (€50 each) and straps. As for Breitling, none of the watches in its Professional collection, the most technical, are presented as connected.
Table of recorded prices
Public prices in France recorded on 11 October 2026 on the official sites of TAG Heuer, Apple, and Garmin. Price differences are mainly due to the case material and the strap, rarely the electronics.
| Model | Public Price | Case | Announced Battery Life | System |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 4 | €1,699 to €3,499 | Titanium, 49 mm | 50 h (84 h in saving) | watchOS |
| Garmin MARQ (Gen 2) | €1,950 to €3,250 | Titanium, carbon or Damascus steel, 46 mm | 16 days | Garmin |
| TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E5 45 mm | €1,750 to €2,550 | Steel or titanium, ceramic bezel | 17 h racing, 3 days in low power | TAG Heuer OS |
| Apple Watch Hermès Series 12 | €1,599 to €2,399 | Silver or glossy gold titanium, 42 or 46 mm | 24 h (38 h in saving) | watchOS |
| TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E5 40 mm | €1,600 to €1,900 | Steel, DLC titanium or rose gold PVD | 1.5 days (2 days in low power) | TAG Heuer OS |
| Hublot Big Bang e | No longer in catalogue | Ceramic or titanium | n/a | Wear OS |
| Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Light Up | No longer in catalogue | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Montblanc Summit | No longer in catalogue | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Smartwatch or mechanical watch: which to choose
The two objects do not meet the same need. The smartwatch measures heart rate, sleep, workouts, displays notifications, and serves as a means of payment. It is recharged every day or every few days, and its lifespan depends on its battery and the brand’s software support. A mechanical watch, however, can be passed down for decades if serviced regularly, as explained in our guide to maintaining an automatic watch.
For the same budget, the choice is real. For the price of a TAG Heuer Connected, Frédérique Constant lists, for example, its Classics Index Small Seconds Automatic at €1,295 and its Classics Moneta Handwinding at €1,995 on its official site. Nothing prevents you from wearing both: a connected one for sport and the week, a mechanical one for the rest. If you must only keep one, ask yourself what you expect from it in five years. For a selection of mechanical pieces, consult the most beautiful luxury watches for men in 2026.
What is a smartwatch worth at resale?
On the second-hand market, the logic is reversed compared to mechanical watchmaking. A smartwatch ages with its battery, its processor, and the gradual end of updates, and each new generation lowers the interest in the previous one. Auction records remain the domain of mechanical watches, as shown by our ranking of the most expensive watches in the world, where no smartwatch appears.
The maisons have therefore organised trade-ins themselves. TAG Heuer offers a Connected Watch Trade-in programme: any TAG Heuer Connected from previous generations entitles you to a €210 credit towards the purchase of the latest one, in-store or online within thirty days, and the traded-in watch is dismantled to recycle its materials. Apple, for its part, offers a credit of €25 to €470 towards a new Apple Watch via Apple Trade In. To resell in good condition, keep the box, charger, and invoice. Summit owners can still buy a replacement charger from Montblanc. For a purchase intended as an investment, it is better to turn to mechanical watches, as detailed in our guide to investing in a luxury watch.
Updated 11 October 2026. Public prices recorded on 11 October 2026 on the official sites of TAG Heuer, Apple, Garmin, and Frédérique Constant; catalogues of Hublot, Louis Vuitton, Montblanc, and Breitling consulted on the same day.
