LVMH-owned TAG Heuer is apparently working on its very first smart watch, which could be unveiled at some point next year.
“We want to launch a smartwatch at TAG Heuer, but it must not copy the Apple Watch,” head of the company’s watch business, Jean-Claude Biver, told Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.
With the rise of smart watches, Switzerland’s watch industry may face a competition from an unlikely candidates such as Apple, Samsung, LG, Motorola as well as many other players joining Google’s Android Wear eco-system.
“We cannot afford to just follow in somebody else’s footsteps,” Biver said, adding that the Swiss watch industry would present smartwatches at the Basel watch fair next spring, if not before. He did not give further details on the planned smartwatch. Like whether it will rely on Android Wear or some other off-the-shelf platform, or they’ll build their own OS from the ground-up.
It’s worth adding that TAG Heuer isn’t exactly unfamiliar with mobile technologies, having already unveiled a few Meridiist smartphones, which wasn’t made for the masses; rather it was an exclusive device with a TAG Heuer-like premium price tag. When the company finally launches a smart watch, chances are it too won’t be something folks on a budget will be able to buy “just like that.”
[Via: Reuters]