Balancing Luxury Watches and Garmin Epix Pro Smartwatch - Seeking Advice

It's a legitimate concern and one I share. I also have a collection of luxury watches and I enjoy wearing them. At the same time, I love my Epix and I value the data I get from wearing it 24/7.

I tend to wear my Epix almost 24/7 and I wear my luxury watches only when I go out socially. This is somewhat disappointing for me, because part of the allure of a Rolex or an Omega is that it can be worn every day, under a multitude of conditions, with a variety of outfits. However, the pure functionality of the Epix, including the smart notifications, renders those luxury watches fashion items for me at this point.

I don't think you give up much data if you wear the Epix only for workouts and for sleep. But you do give up a great deal of other functionality, such as smart notifications, flashlight, maps, music controls, etc. I use all of these on a regular basis throughout the day, so giving them up in order to wear a watch that only tells the time is a tough tradeoff for me.

It is disappointing for me that my luxury watches sit in their box most of the time. On the other hand, I still get lots of enjoyment when I do take them out and wear them, and I love wearing my Epix on a regular basis.

7828711 said:

I'm not keen on having something on both wrists and would prefer a balanced solution within the Garmin family.

One possibility is attaching your Epix to the ankle, when you want to wear your luxury watch. Although you will not easily see the display, and the notifications (apart of the vibrations), you still get recorded all the metrics (yes, the OHR works well even on the ankle). 

That was very well said.  I agree.  One line you wrote about the luxury watches are mainly a fashion choice, really rings true.  Thanks for your thoughts, glad to know I am not alone here, LOL.  

I'm assuming it does since it's literally attached to the moving limb, but does wearing it on your ankle accurately count steps?

A moving limb is not important to the OHR, rather the veins. And yes, it does detect steps correctly. Often it is even the preferable way - for example when the hand with the watch is not free in its movement, like pushing a troller, cart, holding on the railing, using hiking poles, etc.

This is exactly the same dilemma I faced when I came into the ecosystem.  I love my luxury watches, but I really wanted my data throughout the day.  It's kinda frustrating.

The marq 2 series right now doesn't fill the hardware gap, since as much as it looks extraordinary, the lack of latest-gen sensor tech, large battery, and limited screen size drove me to an Epix Gen 2 Pro 51.  (All marqs are 390px round displays, but the epix 47 is 416px and the 51 is 454 -- that's a lot more screen real estate!)

And the marq 2 and the epix don't fill my software gap, since watch faces seem so technical and "flat." 

You might like these watch faces, some of which are inspired by:

• Rolex Daytona
• Omega Seamaster
• TAG Heuer Carrera - Calibre 16
• TAG Heuer Carrera  - Calibre 7

This has scratched my itch.  

Here's the TAG Heuer Carrera - Calibre 7 one.

Here's the upcoming Movado-inspired one I'm trialing right now.

With these, I feel confident wearing this into business meetings and generally feeling good about it (vs. like I'm wearing a toy).

my mechanical collection is all gone now - except for 2 sentimental watches that sit in a draw.

I prefer the limited connectivity that my garmin gives me and I feel the epix looks good enough to cover all events - especially considering that the vast majority of my collection were dive type watches (i.e. 10-20 bar watches - so generally +42mm case size and generally a lot more bulky than the epix and certainly weighed a lot more.

I just got really tired of the continual maintenance issues and it was getting really costly to (generally +£140 every couple of years for each watch in my collection to have the mechanism serviced, the seals replaced and then pressure tested.

So instead I just wear the epix, and adjust the watch face and straps as required depending on the activity/event/general I am attending.

Nice to read, I have the same struggle. I currently wear a Marq Gen 2 Carbon and love it (I have tried a lot of smartwatches both from Apple and Garmin). The carbon looks understated and sporty enough, not like a sports watch that pretends to be a luxury watch (I somewhat have that impression with the regular Marq Athlete Gen 2 especially with "nicer" straps). My mechanical watches sit in the drawer and I wear them only during special occasions and even then I miss wearing the Marq.

I was (am) frustrated that Garmin did not include the latest tech in the watch, but decided to choose form over function (as I would do with the purchase of a mechanical watch). A bit silly, I know but for an item you wear every day it is worth it for me.

I had the same dilemma but my Epix Pro always wins. Can’t remember the last time I wore my Submariner. Got it out to get valued a couple of months ago now it’s back in its case.

The problem I have is that I struggle to wear my Epix 51mm at night because of its too big. I move a lot therefore notice it and it keeps me awake. I’ve only just managed to wear it 24/7 for 3 weeks to see what the HRV metric would look like and now it’s off again at night, which is a pain as your metrics really do suffer.

A solution that would work in both our cases is if Garmin made a wearable similar to the Whoop, with all the best sensors but minus a screen. Doesn’t need a big battery as could be charged regularly, in my case I’d only wear it at night. All data could be synced using TrueUp in Connect.

A long shot but I sent the idea to Garmin. If more people do, and they think there’s a market for it, they might give it some serious thought….

www.garmin.com/.../

CRB said:

The problem I have is that I struggle to wear my Epix 51mm at night because of its too big.

Again, the same remedy as suggested previously, may help - wear the watch on the ankle, it may disturb you less, and you will get all the metrics.