Luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer has announced its partnership with international video game mascot Mario for the design of a connected watch.
Nintendo’s most famous character stars in the latest collaboration from the Tag Heuer watchmaker. The Italian plumber with a moustache first appeared in 1981 in the game Donkey Kong.
Mario quickly became the biggest star of platform games and his first dedicated game was released in 1985, originally designed by Japanese Shigeru Miyamoto to be the sequel to Donkey Kong. Today, its success is no longer in question, and Tag Heuer has understood this.
The Swiss watchmaker, which belongs to the LVMH group, has thus revealed the fruit of this surprising collaboration. This exclusive watch is inspired by the Super Mario game series, which has sold more than 330 million copies worldwide, one of the biggest successes in video games.
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“Always on the move, the character runs, flies, swims, plays golf and tennis, and leads a hectic life. Full of energy and optimism, he invites the owner of the watch to spend time with him,” say the designers of the model.
“This unique product, which combines luxury, sport and fun, encourages its owner to move and spend more time with Mario, discovering the pleasure and satisfaction of progress,” they add.
This is not the first time a watch brand has decided to feature the Italian plumber. Already, in 2015, RJ Romain Jerome chose to wear the red of his cap. In Japan, three models of Mario watches are born: Famicom Mario, Big Size Mario and Active Mario.
Designed to be much more than a simple timepiece, this new model is designed to evolve and adapt to the sporting progress of its owner. According to Tag Heuer, the model will be “a fun and stimulating way to stay active throughout the day“.
“Mario welcomes you each morning and follows you through the hours. Accumulated steps unlock rewards and a different animation appears on the dial each time you reach a new level of your goal for the day: 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%,” Tag Heuer details.
“This way you get the famous Super Mario boosters throughout the day: at 3 o’clock, the mushroom that makes Mario grow; at 6 o’clock, the teleportation pipe; and at 9 o’clock, the invincibility star. When the target number of daily steps is reached, Mario climbs to the top of the mast carrying a red flag, another famous element of the video game,” adds the brand.
Beyond its playful and interactive aspect, the Tag Heuer Super Mario has a design faithful to the universe that will delight fans of the license. Four of the dials on the Tag Heuer Connected have been redesigned, such as the Timekeeping dial, which features a pixel art Mario.
This collector’s edition of the Tag Heuer Connected will be limited to 2,000 pieces, for a price of about €2,000.
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Featured photo : © Press
