TAG Heuer, have teamed up with Google and Intel to bring their own connected smartwatch to the market in the form of a premium wearable.
TAG Heuer, the company behind some of the most sophisticated – and expensive – watches on Earth have teamed up with tech behemoths Google and Intel to bring their own smartwatch to the market.
TAG Heuer intends to produce a traditional mechanical watch with smartwatch features, which will be powered by an Intel processor and run on Google’s Android Wear operating system.
The smartwatch will enter a heavily contested field as Apple prepares to enter its own $349-$17,000 USD contender – the Apple Watch – into the field. Intel spokeswoman Ellen Healy stated that “This is really the first product of its kind coming from a luxury watchmaker”.
While mechanical smartwatches are indeed rare, TAG Heuer is not the first manufacturer to intend to produce one. In December 2014, new market presence Kairos unveiled their mechanical smartwatch, which is available for pre-order now. TAG Heuer, however, is the first major luxury watchmaker to enter the ring with Apple and a myriad of other smartwatch brands already on the market.
The luxury brand intends for the actual smartwatch components – the hardware and software which will enable the connected components to run – to be produced in Silicon Valley. However, the actual watch components will be produced in Switzerland alongside TAG Heuer’s other timepieces. The new collaboration will mark the first time that Intel will work alongside an Android Wear project.
The forthcoming smartwatch is expected, according to share the same design as the company’s current Carrera line of luxury timepieces, which cost between $3000 to $4000. The imminent smartwatch, while providing standard features such as messaging and GPS navigation, is also expected to include brand-specific apps as well as integration with TAG Heuer-sponsored sports, such as the marques’ continuing sport for McLaren in motorsport.
The forthcoming smartwatch will be released before the end of the year, according to the company.
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