Swiss luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer on Thursday announced it will bring out a smartwatch by the end of the year developed in partnership with Google and Intel.
Detai ls regarding pricing and features are being kept firmly under wraps at this stage; all that was disclosed was an approximate schedule for the smartwatch’s unveiling and that it will run on Google’s wearables platform, Android Wear.
"We’re just revealing the most important thing: the partnership," said Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of TAG Heuer, at a press conference at Baselworld, a trade show for the watch and jewellery industries.
"Without the partnership, nothing can happen," he said.
He was joined on stage by Michael Bell, vice president of new devices at Intel, and David Singleton, director of engineering for Android Wear.
Until recently, tech companies like Pebble, Samsung, Apple and Google have been at the vanguard of smartwatch development, but Biver, Bell and Singleton took the opportunity to highlight the importance of partnering with companies that understand fashion as well.
"We can achieve so much more working together than we could working alone," said Singleton.
TAG Heuer is the second big name in Swiss watchmaking to make inroads into smartwatches.
Launched in February and pitched at the beach volleyball market, the Swatch Touch Zero One incorporates motion sensors that track a player’s movement and activity during a game, calculating the distance travelled and the number of calories burned. It connects via Bluetooth to a dedicated smartphone app that stores the information and can be used to set fitness goals for the wearer.
However, TAG Heuer’s Biven insisted that his company will bring the world’s first Swiss-made luxury Android Wear watch to market.
"Only the dead fish swims in the direction of the current of the river. We will never be dead fish," he said, shortly before a ceremonial cheese-cutting with his new partners from Google and Intel.
