Unboxing Garmin's elegant Chronos sport watch (pictures)

The Fenix Chronos is like no other Garmin device before it

The watch comes packaged in a premium wood box.

Sliding the cover off reveals the stunning watch.

This is the Fenix Chronos Titanium model. It features a titanium casing and brushed titanium band. It looks great, but it's expensive, costing $1,500.

There's also a stainless steel model that can be paired with a leather strap ($900) or 316L stainless steel band ($1,000).

In addition to the watch, the box contains an instruction manual, charging cable and a second silicone watch strap.

The Chronos is quite stunning. It features a 1.2-inch always-on display that is protected by ultra-durable sapphire crystal glass.

On the back sits an optical heart-rate sensor.

The Chronos has an omni-directional GPS and GLONASS antenna for tracking a variety of different activities, including running, biking, swimming, triathlons, hiking, climbing, skiing, rowing, paddle boarding and golfing.

Other features include all-day activity tracking for things like steps, distance, calories burned, sleep and heart-rate, as well as smartphone notifications when connected to an iPhone or Android phone.

It also includes an altimeter, barometer and compass, and is waterproof up to 100 meters (about 328 feet).

A long press on the top right button jumps right into the tachymeter, which you can use to manually measure speed.

The watch is essentially a Fenix 3 HR in a slimmer and more premium shell, although the Chronos has some differences.

The optical heart-rate sensor on the back doesn't bulge out as much, which makes it a little more comfortable to wear.

But the Chronos doesn't include Wi-Fi and instead relies solely on Bluetooth to upload data.

It also a has a smaller battery compared to the Fenix 3 HR (180mAh vs. 300mAh).

The Chronos will last up to 13 hours with an active GPS signal (3 hours less than the Fenix 3 HR) and up to a week as a watch and activity tracker.

A special UltraTrac mode will extend battery life to 25 hours when using GPS, but it disables the heart rate sensor and reduces how often the GPS is pinging the satellite.

You're trading style for performance with Chronos when it comes to battery.

The Chronos is quite stunning and I've really enjoyed wearing it the past few days. It has all of the features that you could ever need for training, competing or walking around town. And it doesn't look like a normal sport watch.

It doesn't do anything new, but if you put a premium on design and have some extra cash laying around, the watch has everything a budding athlete with a large checking account could ask for.

Learn more about the Fenix Chronos in our hands-on post.

Here you can see the Chronos (left) next to the Fenix 3 HR (right).