Luxury watch maker TAG Heuer will launch its own smartwatch by October or November, with the device to carry a price of $1,400.
With the planned release of its own wearable device, TAG Heuer becomes the most significant Swiss competitor of Apple in the rapidly expanding smartwatch industry.
According to Jean-Claude Biver, the President of the Watch Division of TAG Heuer's parent company, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE and TAG Heuer's CEO, the battery of the planned TAG Heuer smartwatch will have a life of around 40 hours on a single charge. The expected battery life is more than twice that of the Apple Watch, which was designed to last up to 18 hours on a single charge but can be extended beyond that if fewer functions of the device are used.
Biver said in an interview with Bloomberg that the Apple Watch could attract more consumers from the younger demographics to purchase and begin wearing watches. Apple is selling models of the Apple Watch that have prices starting from $349 from the Apple Watch Sport collection up to $1,099 from the mid-range Apple Watch collection.
Devices from the Apple Watch Edition collection, however, come with gold components and with prices of $10,000 to as high as $17,000.
"I hope they sell millions and millions and millions of them," said Biver right before the official opening of a new boutique for luxury watch brand Hublot in the Dubai Mall.
"The more they sell the more a few people will want something different and come to TAG Heuer," Biver added, confident that TAG Heuer's device will draw customers away from Apple.
Last month, TAG Heuer revealed that it is teaming up with Intel and Google to develop luxury smartwatches that are based on the Android operating system.
The announcement, which was made just 10 days after the official release of the Apple Watch into the market, "signifies a new era of collaboration between Swiss watchmakers and Silicon Valley, bringing together each company's respective expertise in luxury watchmaking, software and hardware," as stated in a press release.
"The difference between the TAG Heuer watch and the Apple Watch is very important," said Biver. "That one is called Apple and this one is called TAG Heuer."
Biver's statement means that TAG Heuer, and perhaps all other luxury watch companies, will not allow Apple to simply take over the industry as the company did with the smartphone and music industries.
TAG Heuer, Intel and Google have some catching up to do, with their combined efforts being planned to come to fruition before the end of the year.
Photo: Taco Ekkel | Flickr
