Tag Heuer to build luxury smartwatch with Google

Swiss watchmaker surprises industry by announcing 'luxurious and seamlessly connected' smartwatch

Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer Director General Guy Semon, Tag Heuer CEO Jean-Claude Biver, Intel's new device general manager Mi
(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images)

The luxury Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer took the industry by surprise yesterday when it announced a partnership with Google and Intel to develop a top-end smartwatch.

Until now, most luxury watchmakers have resisted the trend towards internet-enabled smartwatches and analysts have suggested that only mid-range watches – up to about £650 – are expected to be affected by the arrival of smartwatches, rather than the brands at the top end of the market.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The first Tag Heuer smartwatch is expected to launch in autumn 2016 and is thought to include features similar to the Apple Watch including geolocation, health-tracking software and an altitude monitor, Reuters reports.

Biver said that he thought the entry of Apple devices into the market would actually have a positive effect on the top-end brands.

"Apple will get young people used to wearing a watch and later maybe they will want to buy themselves a real watch," Biver said.

Lower-end watchmakers have also had to change their strategy in response to the arrival of smartwatches from Apple and other manufacturers. Last week Swatch, the world's bestselling watch manufacturer, announced plans to include smart functions in its products. Traditional mechanical watchmakers Patek Philippe and Hermes said at the Baselworld watch fair that they currently had no plans to build smartwatches.

"For the moment, Hermes is observing what is going on," Guillaume de Seynes, a managing director at Hermes said. "We still do not know how the smartwatch market will evolve."

Explore More