This week Garmin unveiled the latest addition to their highly coveted MARQ collection, the Garmin MARQ Captain American Magic Edition smartwatch. The modern tool watch has been designed and created in collaboration with one of the world’s greatest sailing teams, American Magic, in preparation for the 36th America’s Cup. With a remarkable regatta timer with GPS technology and sail grinding workouts designed by the team themselves, this Garmin boating smartwatch is a must-have for anyone who takes part in the sport or is inspired by those that do.
The American Magic sailing team was first formed in October 2017, bringing together two successful racing programs unified by a campaign to win back the America’s Cup, reconnect the American sailing base with the premier event in the sport and win back competitive sailing in the United States once again. The Garmin MARQ Captain American Magic smartwatch perfectly brings to life the team’s dedication and passion for the sport with a stunning nautical inspired aesthetic and unwavering technical prowess.
“We are honoured to be a part of the legacy of American Magic and its challenge for the America’s Cup, the pinnacle of sailing and the oldest trophy in international sports. We are confident our watches will give the team the tools they need as they compete for the trophy, and we’re excited to be a part of their success on the water.” – Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales.
BOATING & SAILING FEATURES
Having been designed in collaboration with the American Magic sailing team, the Garmin MARQ Captain American Magic Edition smartwatch already has a hefty dose of credibility, but for true boating and sailing professionals, the features that it offers are crucial to its usability on the water. From what we can see, the tool watch does not disappoint with a remarkable selection of classic and new innovations for nautical adventures. Perfect for those ready to race, the GPS Regatta Timer allows you to determine start points and predict how well you will finish. The countdown timer shows time to the gun while GPS calculates your ideal position for the win and even gives you insight into how wind speed, direction, tide information and temperature may impact your regatta.
One of the biggest questions we are sure many of you have is, what’s the difference between the new Garmin MARQ Captain American Magic Edition and the original Garmin MARQ Captain base model released last year? As well as some tweaks to the external design, the MARQ American Magic includes two new features: Sail Grinding Activity and Team Workouts, both carefully designed by team members and trainers of the American Magic sailing team themselves. Those looking to reach the same optimal performance as the American Magic sailors, these features are a must-have. The Sail Grinding Activity function has been designed to help you increase your athletic performance both onshore and offshore while the Team Workouts provides you with three workouts exclusively designed by the American Magic trainer.
“Our athletes meet the physical demands of racing by working even harder in the gym. Through tracking metrics such heart rate and training load on the water and in the gym, we are able to adjust training volume in order to optimise performance. Garmin wearables and technology allows me to track each athlete’s workload on and off the water, giving me the information to modify their program accordingly.” – Baden Cashmore, American Magic’s Injury Prevention Specialist and Trainer
For those not necessarily into racing but sailing and boating in general, the Garmin MARQ Captain American Magic watch continues to impress with a Tack Assist feature so you can stay on top of wind direction, Man Overboard function so that in case of an emergency you can quickly mark the point of a man overboard and help execute a swift recovery and Auto Pilot mode for access to GHC 20 autopilot control unit to change heading, turn and steer the boat. The Garmin MARQ Captain American Magic also provides you with all the Boat Data you could need no matter where you are on your vessel, so you can easily add waypoints to your chart plotter remotely, plus it is compatible with the Fusion-Link Lite app so you can control any StereoActive products and other compatible devices enabled with ANT+ technology straight from your wrist.
CASE & STRAP
Differentiating it from the base MARQ Captain model, the Garmin MARQ Captain American Magic Edition comes with a tailored design to tribute the American Magic sailing team. It’s 46mm brushed titanium case now includes five reshaped pushers that are now wider with a character line near the top while the nautical blue bezel has also been updated with a new mix of Arabic numerals and indices around its circumference alongside the addition of “American Magic” text. The design still showcases a 100 metre water resistant rating, just enough for sailors likely to be splashed or shallowly submerged, and scratch resistant sapphire crystal glass protecting the dial.
The dial of the Garmin MARQ Captain American Magic smartwatch has also introduced some changes including two unique sailing-focused watch faces. The first is an analog watch face which presents a T-minus countdown to race day in Auckland and secondly a digital watch face shows off a silhouette of Defiant, the team’s new foiling monohull sailboat. Alongside these two new watch faces, you are still treated to all the standard watch faces also available on the original MARQ Captain. The modern tool smartwatch also comes with a choice of two engraved rubber straps detailed with a striped pattern. The first is dark red with a navy keeper and the second a deep navy blue with a contrasting red keeper. Both are fitted with a classic pin buckle and engraved with American Magic text.
BATTERY LIFE
Garmin are renowned for extended battery life and the Garmin MARQ Captain American Magic watch is no exception. It promises up to 12 days of battery life in standard smartwatch mode and up to 28 hours of power in GPS mode. You can also get up to 48 hours in UltraTrac mode and 9 hours when using both GPS and music. Like all MARQ smartwatches, the American Magic edition comes with the Power Manager function so you can make handy battery saving changes on the fly by giving you advice on which features to turn off to make your battery life longer.
LOCATION TRACKING & FITNESS FEATURES
As well as boasting a remarkable selection of boating smartwatch features, the Garmin MARQ American Magic comes with all the functionality you need for everyday fitness training including wrist based heart rate monitor, Pulse Ox sensor, respiration tracking, performance metrics, multi GNSS sensors, ABC sensors and round trip routing. The fitness tracker also features the brand’s incredible PacePro technology which allows competitiors to enter custom start and finish points and target competition times. This means that the watch will tell you exactly how fast you should be aiming to run, cycle or swim to complete each mile and ultimately reach your goal while even considering hills and slopes.
SOCIAL FEATURES
Keeping in touch with life on land is always essential when you spend so much time on the water, and the Garmin MARQ Captain American Magic ensures you are always connected with smart notifications right on your wrist. This means you are instantly notified of any new emails, texts or alerts when paired with a compatible smartphone. With music storage for up to 2,000 songs and access to music apps like Deezer, Amazon Music and Spotify you can enjoy life on the water even more, and for when you’re back on land, the Garmin Pay feature allows you to make quick and easy contactless payments at checkout.
The Garmin MARQ Captain American Magic Edition smartwatch is already out and available to order at a retail price of £1,599.99. If you’d like to order your own today, we highly recommend checking out the Jura Watches website here where you can order all the latest Garmin smartwatch releases with free next day delivery and interest free finance options available.
