Last week, in an unexpected turn of events, the Swiss luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer debuted a smartwatch and sneaker created in collaboration with American athletic innovator New Balance. You may not have had this link-up on your bingo card, but the two brands actually have a lot in common: over a century’s worth of heritage, a shared commitment to excellence, and a brand ambassador, two-time Olympic champion and world record-holder hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
The Connected Calibre E5—or the Connected E5—is Tag Heuer's fifth smartwatch. In fact, the brand was the first luxury Swiss watchmaker to enter the category all the way back in November 2015, mere months after Apple released its first Apple Watch.
Try mentally placing yourself 10 years ago, before tracking your steps and checking emails from your wrist became the norm: The idea was quite novel. Now imagine being a Swiss luxury watchmaker back then, unsure of the impact a product designed for the mainstream (by Apple, who already was rendering analog watches obsolete by putting a smart phone in everyone’s hands) would have on your industry. The idea was threatening to many, but TAG Heuer stared this could-be opponent directly in the eyes.
Perhaps it learned from when, decades earlier, the watch industry faced a similar existential crisis as the advent of the quartz battery—a more efficient, affordable method of powering a watch—nearly drove mechanical watchmaking to extinction. The industry "was nearly decimated," says veteran watch journalist Roberta Naas. “But it learned from its mistakes, and when smartwatches started stealing wrist space around the world, savvy brands were quick to jump on the bandwagon.” (According to a Deloitte study, smartwatches now dominate everyday wristwear.)
Naas name-drops TAG Heuer specifically as the “prime example of diving in head-first." The 165-year-old brand has been at the forefront of many game-changing moments in watchmaking. It was the first watch brand to partner with a Formula 1 team back in 1971, changing the course of sports marketing as we know it today.
In the "avant garde" spirit the brand's name suggests (TAG stands for "Techniques D'Avant Garde"), that first Connected watch was more of a statement than anything. Now in its 5th generation (hence: “E5”), its tech has caught up with the symbolism. “In 10 years, they’ve built up a dynamite Connected watch business and they’re making smart moves by teaming with contemporary lifestyle brands,” Naas says. (Before New Balance, TAG Heuer worked with KITH on the reissue of the cult-favorite F1 watch.)
The Connected E5 clocks in at 40mm (a decidedly unisex case-size in this context, the same as the smallest Apple watch) and is predominantly made out of black DLC-coated Grade-2 titanium. This table of elements-sounding material is at once lightweight, robust, and comfortable.
Rather than a generalized device, the Connected E5 is designed for the modern runner interested in optimizing their performance, whether they’re seeking to beat the next world record at the LA Olympics in 2028 (like McLaughlin-Levrone, the face of this campaign) or just trying to hit a marathon PR. That’s where partnering with the authority on all things running came in: The E5’s proprietary operating system was developed in close collaboration with New Balance, and features a slew of apps that synthesize navigation and personal fitness metrics into a user-friendly experience designed to help you, dear runner, run your little heart out.
Aesthetics-wise, New Balance and TAG Heuer landed on a striking color palette of muted purple and what I like to call “Gatorade green” that seamlessly finds its way on the watch itself, as well as the accompanying sneakers. The FuelCell SuperComp Elite v5 is equipped with a carbon fiber plate and an ultra-responsive PEBA midsole. (It's seriously the lightest shoe I’ve ever held in my hands.) They were created in a literal lab—specifically, New Balance’s Sports Research Lab, directed by a woman named Jinger S. Gottschall who holds a PhD in integrated physiology.
TAG Heuer’s engineers also worked closely with New Balance’s specialists to introduce the patented Cushion Comfort System, made with a textile from the shoe’s inlay, for the watch strap, so your wrist won’t chafe as you hit mile 19 in your marathon training.
The focus on running is no accident. If you feel like your Instagram feed has been flooded recently with images of cool people running in cool athletic wear, you’re not alone: We’re currently undergoing a running boom, sparked by the pandemic when shuttered gyms and spin studios left few other options for exercising. According to the New York Road Runners (NYRR), a nonprofit that produces the New York Marathon, a record-breaking 200,000 people applied to run the 2025 marathon, a 22 percent increase from 2024.
Running has also become a popular social activity. According to the fitness app Strava (which you can sync your Connected E5 watch to), participation in run clubs grew by 59% in 2024. Female runners are a large driving force behind this swell in popularity; the BBC states that 45% of the 56,640 participants in this year’s London Marathon were women—and women made up 49.55% of UK applications for the 2026 ballot.
At the highest level, professionals like McLaughlin-Levrone represent a shift in how the world perceives competitive running. If you watched the Paris 2024 Olympics, you likely caught her seizing the gold medal in the women's 400m hurdles, setting a new world record of 50.37 seconds. Not only was she wearing a TAG Heuer Link watch (her lucky “world record watch,” as she calls it), but she was in a full face of makeup, along with the rest of her opponents. Female runners at this calibre are not only breaking records, but they look good doing it, conveying a message of fierce glamor that younger women look up to.
“When you talk about some of the top athletes in track and field, most of them right now are women,” says McLaughlin-Levrone in a hotel suite in Boston, fully decked in New Balance and her E5 watch. “We’re seeing this generation doing amazing things, and I’m grateful to be a part of that and expand upon that. The question is: How can we help elevate them to the position they deserve to be in?”
Despite all of the accolades, there's great room for growth. According to TOGETHXR, a platform dedicated to achieving gender equality in sport, “women make up 44% of all participants in sport yet only receive less than 16% of sports media coverage.” Gender aside, McLaughlin-Levrone points out how “track and field, at this current moment, does not have the structure to make the stars in the sport stars: Unlike, say, basketball or football—two sports that have transcended the game by venturing into the category of entertainment—it doesn’t have a television deal.
“Our sport has some amazing characters, and these athletes don’t get their just due because of things like this,” she continues. “I really hope in the future that there can be the infrastructure to professionalize our sport, because there’s no real distinction at the moment between pro and amateur, then also [to] create those opportunities through TV deals, through brands, sponsorships and endorsements for the stars that we do have, to help them grow.”