If there’s one thing that we all love about Android it’s the ability to change key elements of the platform to our liking. Don’t like your keyboard? Change it. Fancy a different icon theme? Change it. Google’s operating system is incredibly flexible, and even though Android Wear is a little more locked down than its older brother, there’s still a lot we can do with it. Earlier this week, TAG Heuer introduced the Connected, their $1500 Android Wear smartwatch. While it’s clear this is perhaps more about the brand than it is the final product, it is undeniably a good-looking piece of hardware. Of course, this being an Android Wear watch, we can ‘borrow’ elements of the TAG Heuer Connected’s style and bring it to our own smartwatches.
The Watch Faces
Installing a watch face of a Swiss-made mechanical work of art onto a smartwatch is probably described as being ‘distasteful’ by some, but the TAG Heuer Connected is just one more of those watches now, so it’s fair game. To get these working on your Android Wear smartwatch, you’ll need to have the Watchmaker app installed. This will allow you to install and use community-created watch faces on your smartwatch. A quick search on Google+ will reveal a whole bunch of TAG Heuer watch faces for your Android Wear tinkering pleasure, but for the Connected specifically, some enterprising folk have took on the challenge.
Personally, this one is my favorite, put together by Google+ user Stud Muffler and I think it looks the best on my G Watch R. If users are looking for the associated bezel as well, they can take a look at this one here. It appears that a lot of these watch faces have been made possible by some clever coding from Mike McKee so a big thanks to him!
The Strap
This Hirsch strap is perhaps not the cheapest out there, but this firm make straps that are guaranteed to last, and this is pretty close to the black version of the strap that TAG Heuer introduced earlier this week. There are other, more affordable options out there though, for those that want a silicon strap with a little color this orange option is nice and cheap. There are tons of options out there online though, beyond Amazon, including eBay and of course your local jewellers. To save a little cash and do it yourself – which is super-easy to do – you can go ahead and purchase the tool to change straps yourself.
No matter how much we try, we won’t be turning our Moto 360s or Watch Urbanes into TAG Heuer Connecteds, but it’s always nice to play around with new styles and such. Besides, the Moto 360 is a fundamentally different design as it is, and should be celebrated as such. Still, there’s something a little satisfying about coming close, even if it’s not that close, to the sort of look and feel of a device that costs a hell of a lot more.