Swiss watch brand TAG Heuer’s latest partnership takes digital fitness to new levels. In pursuit of innovation, it has entered an ongoing collaboration with Nintendo. Last week they officially unveiled their first collaboration, TAG Heuer x Super Mario Limited Edition watch. In a “Sporty yet elegant” timepiece, they have animated your favourite Nintendo character with the intent to gamify fitness experiences and incentivize wearers to reach activity goals.
With this creative endeavour, TAG Heuer is continuing their existing connected watch collection. The brand has rapidly penetrated the wearable technology market, priding itself as a leader in ‘connectivity combined with design excellence.’ This collaboration with Nintendo will become the 10th digital watch in their range. Digitalizing the Nintendo icon intends to unite traditional approaches to watchmaking with intelligent functions and a sense of spirit. According to Tag Heuer CEO Frédéric Arnault, “The inspiration for this collaboration came from our desire to gamify and bring excitement to our new wellness application, and Super Mario instantly came to our minds.”
The lively design features Nintendos most famous character, Super Mario. This inclusion is a strategic design play that aims to increase the wearer’s physical activity. Mario’s “upbeat and active personality” mimics a digital coach that sets goals and challenges for the user and rewards them when they move, encouraging heart health, increased activity and physical development. Like the most recognized video game, the smartwatch sets the wearer a goal to achieve for the day and interacts with them to keep them accountable. The day starts with a digital salute from Mario on the watch face. It transforms throughout the day into different icons as the user achieves 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of their step target, including super mushroom and superstar symbols. Reaching 100% of the step goal rewards the user with Mario scaling the goal pole with a celebratory animation. The watch also features a “gamification rewards system”, which means as new levels are unlocked with bonus activity, a different icon will reward the wearer – reminiscent of critical features from the video game.
Game-like features make the timepiece an interactive accessory that combines exceptional design and gaming. “The Tag Heuer Connected is the perfect companion for connected life and every active person’s best friend. With this Super Mario limited-edition smartwatch, they can add a bit of fun and originality to their activities and wellness,” Arnault says.
The watch face is unique in that the user can select from four creative digital designs; one that stands out is the Timekeeping dial. This face mimics “retroelements from the 1985 version of Super Mario Bros. with Mario, all in pixels” and gives the user rewards in “game stats”. But the Super Mario Bros. inspired watch not only infuses playful graphics into the watch but represents them in its physical design.
The stainless steel, 42mm watch offers two interchangeable strap options: a sporty red rubber and black leather that honour Mario’s well known red and black colours. Push buttons, the crown and the bezel all feature exceptional detail. The bezel highlights the watch in the iconic Mario red colour and includes different game icons such as the super mushroom, the pipe and the superstar. In the final visual praise for Super Mario, the letter M is engraved onto the crown dial. Other exciting performance features of the watch include OS combability, giving users access to Google Assistant, calendar and weather updates, along side Fit progress tracking on the clock. It’ll also offer TAG Heuer’s connected Sport, Golf and Wellness apps for upgraded fitness tools. In addition, the watch is water-resistant up to 5ATM, and the brand promises its 430mAh battery can last a full day.
The outstanding timepiece will be available in limited release from tomorrow, the 15th of July. TAG Heuer has stated it is only releasing 2,000 of the collaborative watches on sale in specific boutiques and across the website. Due to its exclusivity, this unique timepiece will be priced on the higher end of the connected range for $2,150.