After 155 years of making mechanical watches, TAG Heuer finally decides to give in to the public demand for smartwatches. The Swiss giant has experienced a fall in sales since 2009. The graph further depreciated after the success of Apple Watch. The company therefore decided to partner with Intel and Google, in what the CEO of TAG Heuer calls the “marriage between Watch Valley and Silicon Valley”.
The new watch would be made available for sale this Monday in the US. It comes with a price tag of $1500. In an odd pitch, the company said that buyers would be able to exchange their smart watch with a mechanical one after two years if they pay an additional fee. Various manufacturers have made watches using Google’s Android wear system, but they typically look like a computer on a wrist. Even the Apple Watch has been called by many as “a watch with no soul”.
At this time, TAG Heuer provides with an option that combines the old and the ‘so called’ eternal design with the newest technology. Apart from design and the default screen display, the specifications are not much different than those of Apple Watch. TAG Heuer Connected comes with a transreflective LTPS LCD display with multiple finger recognition built made of scratch-resistant sapphire crystal with a 360×360, 240ppi screen resolution. It also has a titanium push button which you can use for other options.
TAG Heuer Connected contains a 410mAh battery. It comes with 1.6GHz dual core processor, 1GB RAM and 4GB storage memory. It also has wifi and Bluetooth functions available to connect to the internet or your phone. Apart from this, it has a built-in gyroscope, tilt detection sensor, haptic engine and a microphone for your daily use. You may connect this watch with any Android or Apple device. However, the applications shall only work if connected to an Android platform.
With a price tag of $1500, this seems like a poor strategy since most consumers in this price range prefer iPhone over other phones. The company is also unable to brand the device “Swiss made”, because the majority of its components – including an Intel processor – were made elsewhere. TAG Heuer’s CEO, Jean-Claude Biver admitted that it’s really difficult to compete with a company like Apple and that is why they partnered with Intel and Google. Therefore, we may conclude that the upcoming competition would be really intense and exciting.