Have it your way

TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 Collection

TAG Heuer shake up the smartwatch sector for Baselworld 2017 with its all new Connected Modular 45 wristwatch, which offers a real mood choice between being a high tech gizmo or a good, old fashioned automatic Swiss mechanical ticker.

With the dust now well settled following the rowdy stampede which marked the arrival propre of the smartwatch in 2014, and the rebellious aspirant party-crasher shown to its seat where it respectfully raises its hand to speak, for those who are willing to dig a little bit deeper and dip their toe in the waters of mechanical watches, or for those for whom the whole smartwatch thing seems like some kind of low rent infidelity, TAG Heuer's Connected Modular 45 is certainly something to tempt the undecided. And it will. And so it should.

Based on the Carrera model, it's as much a system of interchangeable elements with a pair of central modules - connected or mechanical - it's a clever and typically well made Swiss watch which is for which 'click and connect' extends beyond the digital.

Designed and engineered in a continuing collaboration with Intel, the smart module's HD screen morphs through Android Wear 2.0 functionalities or limitless TAG Heuer dials which are themselves further customisable.

And when the occasion calls for formality, or indeed sophistication, the mechanical module is available as a time and date with the Calibre 5 movement, or as the Tourbillon Chronograph with TAG Heuer's remarkable and relatively accessible 02-T COSC tourbillon movement.

With a wide range of materials, including ceramic, aluminium, steel or rose gold, and an even greater choice of bracelets, leather or multi coloured rubber straps, right down to lug material, there are some 56 variants to choose from. It can be exuberantly bright, or it can be sultry and dashing, or any point in between.