TAG Heuer to launch $15,000 smartwatch next week

Luxury Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer will next week launch a smartwatch aimed at taking on the Apple Watch, but with an asking price of $15,000, the company chief said in an interview published Sunday.

Jean-Claude Biver told the Le Matin Dimanche weekly that the titanium Carrera Connected watch would hit stores in New York at noon (1700 GMT) on Monday.

Three days later, the new watch will come to Europe.

"Our watch will have almost the same functions as an Apple Watch, but I don't want to divulge too much," he said.

TAG Heuer has joined forces with technology behemoths Google and Intel to develop a connected watch able to claw back some market share from Apple, which has shipped millions of its smartwatches since launching six months ago.

TAG Heuer's new watch will meanwhile target a more high-end clientele than the average Apple Watch buyer.

It had been rumoured to go for $18,000, but Biver said in Sunday's interview it would carry a price tag of $15,000 (14,000 euros).

"The Carrera Connected is an exclusive, luxury watch," he said.

In comparison, it is possible to acquire an Apple Watch for under $400, although more exclusive models can cost around $17,500, he pointed out.

Biver, an industry legend who also leads the watch division of TAG Heuer's owners LVMH, insisted that he does not consider Apple a direct competitor.

"We are not Apple. We are a watch brand. I forbid my colleagues to say Apple is our competitor," he told the paper.

He acknowledged that the two companies were engaging in "similar work", but stressed TAG Heuer had no interest in selling millions of connected watches.

For its New York launch on Monday, the brand will make nearly 1,000 of the connected timepieces available, he said.

The new TAG Heuer watch is based on the brand's Carrera classic model, Biver said, insisting that at a distance the two could not be told apart.

But like the Apple Watch, the Carrera Connected is able to connect wirelessly to a user's mobile phone to provide a range of functions, Biver said.

"It does not just count your steps or take your pulse," he added.

Buyers will be able to choose between six brightly coloured wristbands, and the appearance of the face of the watch can be modified just like the screen on a mobile phone, he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Tag Heuer, Intel to launch Android smartwatch

BASEL, Switzerland - Tag Heuer, French luxury group LVMH's biggest watch maker, said it will launch a smartwatch later this year using Google Inc's Android operating system in a venture with Intel Corp to compete head-on with the Apple Watch.

Tag Heuer Chief Executive Jean-Claude Biver declined to give any details about pricing, functionality or design, but said on Thursday that it aimed to launch what would be the first Android luxury smartwatch in the fourth quarter.

The Apple Watch is due to go on sale on April 24 and will range in price from $350 to $17,000 for an 18-karat gold model. It is the company's first major new product in five years and consumer demand for the device is being closely watched by competitors and investors.

The device needs an Apple iPhone to work fully, and analysts say the most likely pool of initial buyers will already have an Apple smartphone in their pockets.

"We believe wearable technology will take off," Michael Bell, vice president of Intel's New Devices unit, said at a news conference with Tag Heuer at the Baselworld watch and jewellery fair.

Intel struck partnerships with several consumer goods companies last year to develop smart wearable products, including eyewear brand Oakley, owned by Luxottica, watchmaker Fossil, and U.S. fashion brand Opening Ceremony.

"Tag Heuer’s decision to partner with technology companies to deliver a smartwatch ... will likely be the first of many similar deals," Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, said.

"With Apple Watch hitting the market it's no longer viable for Swiss watchmakers to bury their heads in the sand. Now Tag Heuer has signalled its intention to enter the smartwatch market we are certain others will follow."

Gucci said on Thursday that it would develop a smartband with i.am+ whose functions would include phone calls, text messages, emails and music. The unit of French luxury group Kering PRTP.PA gave no details of pricing or launch timing.

Some luxury executives remained sceptical about smartwatches, however.

Marc Hayek, who heads Swatch Group watch brands Breguet, Jaquet Droz and Blancpain, joined the chorus of luxury executives alongside Hermes and Patek Philippe who said they had no plans to launch a smartwatch.

"The Apple Watch is not a real watch but a consumer electronic," he told Reuters in Basel on Thursday.

Hayek forecast his three brands would enjoy a similar year in terms of sales growth to 2014, although trading in Hong Kong, one of his biggest markets, remained difficult.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com