It’s Mario Time!
TAG Heuer taps into gaming culture with a limited edition Connected watch featuring everyone’s favourite Italian plumber.
Gaming culture is fashion’s new frontier. From Louis Vuitton’s digital skins for League of Legends and Valentino’s foray into Animal Crossing to Gucci setting up a digital Gucci Garden in Roblox, luxury fashion brands are recognising the need to venture into the gaming scene to capture the attention—and spending power—of a tech-savvy millennial audience. Even watch brands are taking note: Breitling has become the first watch brand to partner up with gaming app Drest (pg. 82) and now TAG Heuer has teamed up with Nintendo to create the TAG Heuer Connected x Super Mario Limited Edition smart watch. First introduced in the early ‘80s, Mario the Italian plumber has gone on to entertain and amuse generations of gamers through the decades and is still as popular today as ever. “The inspiration for this collaboration came from our desire to gamify and bring excitement to our new wellness application and Super Mario instantly came to our minds—and it’s not just his international and intergenerational appeal that clinched it,” says Frédéric Arnault, chief executive officer of TAG Heuer. “Mario is the ultimate super-active character whose perseverance and tenacity get him out of every situation. The new hero watchface gives life to this iconic character and encourage users to team up with Mario to get out there and be more active.”
You don’t have to be a Super Mario fan to appreciate the design of this TAG Heuer Connected Limited Edition model. Elegant yet sporty in a new-look steel case, the bezel graduation, push buttons and crown logo are filled with red lacquer as a nod to Super Mario’s famous crimson cap. The watch also comes with two interchangeable straps—black leather on red rubber, and red perforated rubber—and the back of its 45 mm case is inscribed with “TAG Heuer x Super Mario Limited Edition”.
Of course, as a smart watch, all the fun is really in the animation. There are four dial designs to choose from: the signature TAG Heuer Timekeeping watchface is now reskinned with pixelated elements from the 1985 version of Super Mario Bros.; the Heuer 02 watchface comes in two versions dressed in red and blue; and the Orbital watchface replaces its neural network with iconic elements associated with the game.
Adopting the gaming experience, Mario is always on the move, whether running and jumping, or playing sports (and he looks so cute doing them!). To encourage you to stick to your daily goals, the watch’s gamification rewards system unlocks animated rewards at different stages of your daily target. So the more active you are, the more animated the watchface becomes.
But good luck trying to get your hands on this special Connected watch.Word has it that it’s already sold out in all markets. However, this won’t be the last of TAG Heuer’s collaboration with Nintendo. So expect more gaming-related models from TAG Heuer in future, for that truly is fashion’s next level.