Hublot, the 40-year-old Swiss luxury brand, has unveiled its first consumer smartwatch, the Big Bang e, widely available to anyone who can afford the $5,800 price tag

The 42mm Hublot Big Bang e is clearly for those who are drawn to premium watches and want to keep up with the smartwatch-wearing crowd, but are interested in something more orthodox looking than the rectangular Apple Watch

Unlike many good smartwatches, however, the Big Bang e does not have a heart rate monitor, so it won't be a good gym buddy But then again, neither do the non-smartwatch Big Bang models

In fact, it would be difficult to tell the difference between Hublot's connected and mechanical Big Bang models without seeing the display A public video of the smartwatch shows 42 parts put together like a sandwich, with screws, pushers, and a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal case

The Big Bang e is available in titanium and black ceramic, with interchangeable bands The touchscreen AMOLED display can be operated with a digital crown or a finger

Luxury is present throughout the interface, with an art gallery of faces and captivating animations every hour There is also a virtual Hublot store to get new faces

As for specs, the Big Bang e is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor, 1GB RAM, and 8GB storage According to Hublot's website, it offers "~1 day" battery life, similar to the Apple Watch

Unlike the Apple Watch, however, the Big Bang e runs on Google's WearOS and has access to the Google Play Store app, Google Assistant, Google Pay, and more

So is this $5,800 model really a competitor to the Apple Watch? Because one is designed for an elite group of Swiss watch enthusiasts looking to step into the digital age, while the other is designed for the tech-savvy masses

For example, when I tried the $1,800 TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 Golf Edition at the Links, I oddly preferred the $200 Garmin Approach S20 for everyday use

And for what it's worth, WearOS tends to be better for these luxury brands Apple's watchOS remains the premier wearable OS, and watchOS 7 will be released in the fall with upgrades such as sleep tracking and mental health tools