TAG Heuer to launch $15,000 smartwatch next week

GENEVA, Switzerland - Luxury Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer will next week launch a smartwatch aimed at taking on the Apple Watch, but with an asking price of $15,000, the company chief said in an interview published Sunday.

Jean-Claude Biver told the Le Matin Dimanche weekly that the titanium Carrera Connected watch would hit stores in New York at noon (1700 GMT) on Monday.

Three days later, the new watch will come to Europe.

"Our watch will have almost the same functions as an Apple Watch, but I don't want to divulge too much," he said.

TAG Heuer has joined forces with technology behemoths Google and Intel to develop a connected watch able to claw back some market share from Apple, which has shipped millions of its smartwatches since launching six months ago.

TAG Heuer's new watch will meanwhile target a more high-end clientele than the average Apple Watch buyer.

It had been rumored to go for $18,000, but Biver said in Sunday's interview it would carry a price tag of $15,000 (14,000 euros).

"The Carrera Connected is an exclusive, luxury watch," he said.

In comparison, it is possible to acquire an Apple Watch for under $400, although more exclusive models can cost around $17,500, he pointed out.

Biver, an industry legend who also leads the watch division of TAG Heuer's owners LVMH, insisted that he does not consider Apple a direct competitor.

"We are not Apple. We are a watch brand. I forbid my colleagues to say Apple is our competitor," he told the paper.

He acknowledged that the two companies were engaging in "similar work", but stressed TAG Heuer had no interest in selling millions of connected watches.

For its New York launch on Monday, the brand will make nearly 1,000 of the connected timepieces available, he said.

The new TAG Heuer watch is based on the brand's Carrera classic model, Biver said, insisting that at a distance the two could not be told apart.

But like the Apple Watch, the Carrera Connected is able to connect wirelessly to a user's mobile phone to provide a range of functions, Biver said.

"It does not just count your steps or take your pulse," he added.

Buyers will be able to choose between six brightly colored wristbands, and the appearance of the face of the watch can be modified just like the screen on a mobile phone, he said. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Ready for this atomic-powered wristwatch?

If you have more than $12,000 to spare and don't mind wearing something bulky on your wrist, you could line up to buy this super-accurate watch, powered by an atomic clock.

The Bathys Cesium 133 atomic clock wristwatch claims to be accurate To one second every 1,000 years, according to the wristwatch site ABlogToWatch.com.

Maker Bathys Hawaii said the watch contains its own atomic clock "and does not need to collect information from any external source to remain this accurate."

While it said there could be problems initially setting the watch, it could "connect to the internet and update itself with the correct time when/if the battery dies." the blog said.

"Bathys promises that the Cesium 133 will be produced first as a limited edition of 20 watches in 2014, with more watches to perhaps come later. The projected price of each Bathys Cesium 133 atomic clock watch is $12,000. Which of course is expensive in the scheme of electronic watches, but not much at all in the scheme of the larger luxury watch market," it added.



ABlogToWatch said that, while Bathys' device may not be the only atomic clock sold on the market, most of the others merely receive radio signals from any of six local government atomic clocks around the world.

Powering the watches would be chips that are miniaturized versions of the cesium-based atomic clocks developed in the 1950s.

"Inside the chip are the complete components necessary for an atomic clock including cesium gas, a laser, heater, microwave filter, and a photodiode detector. The chips are actually available for everyone to purchase at about $1,500 each," it said.

However, this does not yet include an output or power source.

Final version

The blog said the final version of the Cesium 133 may include LED status lights and a "more attractive case," along with a lightweight carbon fiber case, and the classic Bathys moon phase dial - and improved battery life.

Presently, however, the prototype measures 60mm wide by 50mm tall, and 23mm thick. — TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com