Garmin

Gary Burrell and Min Kao founded Garmin in 1989 — the name is a contraction of their first names — to build GPS receivers for aviation and marine use. Consumer navigation came later, and wearables later still.

Unlike most names in this directory that arrived from outside watchmaking, Garmin is not a licence. It designs and builds its own devices, writes its own software and runs its own satellite-positioning stack, which is why its watches do things Swiss houses do not attempt.

The fenix line established the template in 2012: a rugged multi-sport GPS watch with mapping, altimeter and week-long battery life. Forerunner covers running, Instinct the hard-wearing end, Venu the smartwatch end, and the MARQ line puts the same electronics in titanium and sapphire at Swiss prices.

Battery life is the differentiator. Where most smartwatches are measured in days, Garmin measures in weeks, and in solar-charging models sometimes in months.

These are instruments rather than heirlooms, and they date the way electronics date — but for anyone who actually trains, they are among the few watches on the market that earn their place.

Garmin holds 66 models, from £270 to £2,799. Half cost less than £779, and a quarter less than £405. 12 of 66 are automatic. 44 are stocked by more than one retailer, giving 113 offers in total. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.

1989

Founded by Gary Burrell and Min Kao.

2003

The Forerunner brings GPS to running watches.

2012

The fenix line defines the multi-sport GPS watch.

2019

MARQ places the electronics in titanium and sapphire.

2020

Solar charging extends battery life to months.