Garmin is a multinational technology company founded in 1989 that has keenly focussed on the aviation, sport, automotive and marine industries. It has specialised in leading GPS technology and its name is synonymous with reliability, robustness and accuracy. Today, Garmin watches are hugely popular with mountain explorers, trekkers, deep sea divers, globe trotters and fitness fanatics. Some of the most innovative timekeeping tools equipped with a myriad of gadgets and features are those from the MARQ collection.
Garmin originally went by the name ProNav. It was founded by Gary Burrell and Min H. Kao who combined their names together to create the Garmin label. It started out creating navigational tools and handheld GPS gadgets for use within the marine industry and the US military during the early 1990s, followed by the GPS III developed for the automotive industry in 1997. Success within the aeronautics field continued with models developed by Garmin in collaboration with AirCell. Joining navigational technology with waterproof capability, the eTrex followed in the early 2000s with a compact, reliable and durable design. Panel mounted GPS systems and UPS Aviation Technologies were then integrated into cockpit systems, shortly before Garmin focussed its efforts in watchmaking.
When Garmin began creating wristwatches it focussed on syncing accurate timekeeping with running equipment, which has remained the brand’s niche ever since. In doing so, lifestyle and fitness have remained synonymous with the Garmin name, enabling the brand to perfect technical tools like the Smartwatch, which can be utilized for running, athletic training, climbing, swimming, hiking and biking. The wearer is thus able to monitor performance, calories burnt and heart rate simultaneously to track progress and compare personal bests.
From 2016 onwards, Garmin became the official timekeeping partner for the English Premier League several times and created the MARQ watch collection. This series of watches was born from a bold concept. To unite high end materials with cutting edge technology. Simple in context but remarkably complex in reality, Garmin wanted this focus on design to keep in line with the personality of the brand and its audiences from the flying, racing and sports world. Furthermore, it needed to appeal to the brand’s aviation, automotive, fitness, outdoor and marine business segments. Each watch was tested within the specific area that its design was intended for. Popular models from the collection include the MARQ Driver, MARQ Aviator, MARQ Captain, MARQ Adventurer and MARQ Athlete, as well as the MARQ Commander. The Garmin MARQ watch collection features wristwatches developed from premium materials like titanium, ceramic and diamond like carbon coated bodywork. Features like a battery power saver, along with altitude and barometer functions, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and topographical maps enable explorers to get the most out of their Garmin MARQ watch. The MARQ Athlete model, in particular, is a smartwatch that comes equipped with a VO2 max scale on a titanium bezel, GPS, countdown timers and advanced running and cycling dynamics for advanced sports tracking.
The breadth of Garmin’s range of watches means that there are styles and designs out there for every kind of sporty woman or gent. Just some of the brand’s most popular models to date are the Forerunner 45 which makes for a great all round everyday watch. Its size and data size limit impresses, whilst its price remains affordable. The Fenix 6 Multi Sport watch also has a multi day battery life and impressive mapping and tracking features for hikers and explorers to utilize.
