Last September, Tag Heuer chief Jean-Claude Biver bemoaned the Apple Watch’s lack of sex appeal, adding that it was too feminine and looks like it could have been designed by a student in their first trimester.
Fair enough.
So over the past 14 months, his company has been refining their own version of a do-everything wrist accessory; a smartwatch for James Bond, if you will, that’s as much a product of timeless Swiss watchmaking as it is Silicon Valley gadgetry.
“We are going to do a watch, not a computer,” said Biver. “Even if there is a computer inside, it’s a watch that will [last] for eternity.”
Yesterday, Tag Heuer offered a first glimpse of its creation, the Connected Watch. It’s undeniably luxurious, with a luxury price tag to match: just under $2,000.
Photo: Raymond Wong/Mashable
It features a pretty massive screen (46mm compared to Apple’s 42mm and 38mm versions) with a full day of battery life, which is strapped to your wrist by an admittedly dorky looking rubber band. But hey, it comes in seven colours, which is neat. Aside from that, it’s pretty elegant, and allows you to choose from several faces modelled after timeless Tag Heuer designs. The screen is made of sapphire, the case of grade 2 titanium.
Sex appeal achieved.
More important, of course, is what’s inside. Namely, what its Intel 1.6 GHz dual-core processor is capable of. The apps are what you’d expect of smartwatch – alarm, weather, stocks, news, email, flight info, Shazam, audio player, GPS, etc. – albeit designed with a touch of class unparalleled by other smartwatches. A creative perk is that you can trade it in (plus pay an extra $2,000) after two years to get a classic Tag Heuer Carrera watch, often valued above or around $4,000.
Photo: Raymond Wong/Mashable
So, is it worth the high price? Mashable’s Raymond Wong offered an ineffective “I’ll actually have to try it out before I can make that call” in reviewing the watch, but it’s fair to say Connected’s can’t be evaluated under the same microscope of its competitors.
“This is a watch built for people who like watches first and foremost,” says one online commenter who collects higher end watches and had no interest in a smartwatch until Tag Heuer’s release. “I think it is a great design and looks fantastic.”
Apple, meanwhile, has been trying to carve out its own space in the luxury smartwatch market with its $14,000+ gold-cased Edition timepiece, a device Biver dismisses as “expensive, but not necessarily luxurious.”
[ad_bb1]