Garmin MARQ vs. Luxury automatic watch

I've had a Omega Seamaster Professional for 15 years.  

Until buying a Garmin watch, I'd worn it all day almost every day, including doing diving, sailing, drinking, fighting (only joking).   It's been great, virtually indestructible and the battery lasts about 7 years. The strap has a little extension link that you can use to wear the watch on the outside of a wetsuit. Back on land, it still looks great, almost as good as new, and only the luminous dots have faded slightly.  I also have a gold chronograph version for special occasions. 

Since buying a Garmin watch, however, the Omegas have languished in a drawer.  I've hardly worn them at all. Now I simply can't live without Garmin Pay (I no longer go out with a wallet most of the time, not just on exercise) and really appreciate having all-day calorie and heart rate monitoring. What really makes it indispensable outside of workouts though is the smart messages: I find I can stop embarrassing myself in meetings because I've left my phone on. Now the phone is kept on silent and my wrist just buzzes discretely when somebody texts or calls me.  It's so useful that even when there's a special occasion that would previously have called for the Omega, I find myself sticking with the Garmin. 

I brought the Seamaster for £1,200 and it's probably worth at least £1,000 today, according to my local jeweller. In today's money, a new equivalent Seamaster costs about £4,000.  

The Marq by contrast isn't realistically going to last more than 3-4 years.  Thus whilst it's cheaper to buy, the Marq probably works out more expensive per day, although not massively so, and you probably will use it for more things during the day. 

I bought a Seamaster because I think they're beautiful, I appreciate exquisite engineering and it suited my lifestyle, not for other people's opinions.  Still it's nice when other people notice. That's quite rare with an Omega though because they're relatively common. I'm still sometimes tempted to buy another one as the latest versions are more beautiful still. I'd hardly ever wear it though. It seems so old-fashioned now. 

By contrast the Marq is up there with an Omega in terms of build quality (perhaps not with the very latest but getting close) but it is much more distinctive and unique. Add to that other innovations like being able to change the straps easily and for me now it would be the Marq every time.