There have also been a handful of luxury smartwatches including Apple’s models which could cost you up to $17000 or LG’s Android Wear devices that could weigh $1200. Linig that market up, Tag Heuer, the 155 year old Swiss watchmaker has today unveiled the Tag Heuer Connected, a $1,500 smartwatch built in partnership with Google and Intel. It’s a beautiful device, made of titanium and runs Android Wear.
If the premium feel and amazing looks of the new smartwatch from the Swiss brand are not enough to impress you, here’s something that could. The Connected ships with a promise that after two years when the device becomes obsolete, you can trade it in for a $1,500 mechanical watch, which the company said, at the launch event in New York, will look identical to the smartwatch.
We are the only brand where you can buy a connected watch and transform it into eternal,
said Tag Heuer CEO Jean-Claude Biver.
This new collaboration between the Swiss watchmaker and Google is a very interesting development and could lead to many newer innovations in the coming days. Explaining this ‘wedding’ between Silicon Valley and Switzerland Biver said:
We want to be connected to tomorrow. How could we get connected to tomorrow in our Watch Valley? In the Watch Valley, as the name says, we are producing watches. But we are producing mechanical watches. But we are producing traditional watches … watches that people love.
But can we do in Watch Valley a connected watch that people want? No. So what did we do? We tried to do it, and we went to Silicon Valley. So today if there is something to be said, today is the marriage of Watch Valley and Silicon Valley. It’s a marriage between America and Switzerland…
So this wedding, what does it mean? It means for TAG it’s a milestone for our brand. But it’s also a milestone for the Swiss watch industry. The Swiss watch industry has entered today, thanks to Intel, Google… the Swiss Watch industry is connected to the future. That is the importance of the event today. That is why I’m excited. That is why I am proud to be here.
