Tag Heuer Connected Watch is an eye-wateringly expensive Android Wear smartwatch

ag Heuer developed its first smartwatch in collaboration with Google and Intel

ICONIC Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer has unveiled a new tech timepiece which goes head-to-head with the Apple Watch.

 

Tag Heuer this week became the first Swiss watchmaker to offer a "smartwatch" to customers that combines Swiss design with US technology.

The iconic brand hopes the combination will help it tap a growing market for wearable devices amid flagging sales of traditional watches.

Co-developed with Google and Intel, the Tag Heuer Connected will set you back a staggering $1,500, or some £995 converted.

One thousand units are immediately available in 15 stores across the United States, with Britain, Germany, and Japan following in the coming days.

 

With a titanium case, thick black rubber strap and digital watch hands, the Tag Heuer Connected is designed to look like a classical watch.

But gone are the ticking mechanical workings inside the watch – replaced instead by throbbing 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z34XX processor and 4GB of storage.

The Tag Heuer Connected lets watch wearers connect to the internet, stream music and run apps via Google's Android Wear platform, which includes favourites such as Google Fit and Google Maps.

The watch tethers to an Android smartphone responds to voice commands and finger swipes.

 

It can give the weather, set up a calendar reminder or tell the wearer how many steps she or he has walked that day, for instance.

The Connected will compete in part against Apple's Apple Watch range, which has breathed life into the smartwatch category.

Apple's luxury wearables range from £299 for the entry-level Sport edition, to a staggering £13,500 for an 18-Carat Gold Watch.

Tag Heuer Chief Executive Jean-Claude Biver described the Connected watch as a way to get new customers and warm them up to traditional watches.

"The Apple Watch will never be eternal," Mr Biver said at an event in New York. "Our watch will. It's a big advantage."

 



The Tag Heuer is powered by a 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z34XX processor and 4GB of storage



Customers can swap their smartwatch for a mechanical one at the end of a two year warranty if they pay $1,500 more.

Mr Biver believes this strategy will allow the company to protect its traditions and cater to younger clientele who could be tempted by offerings from Apple.

Asked about potential sales of the new product, he said: "I don't really know ... I only have the gut feeling that we're just at the beginning, and that the first (connected) watches are like the first phones we had twenty years ago."

Unfortunately, the 46mm Tag Heuer Connected is not as high resolution as some of its cheaper rivals, which is disappointing from such a top-end watch.

 

The Connected will compete in part against Apple's Apple Watch range

Tag's new luxury smart timepiece also runs on Google's open-source Android Wear OS and – aside from a handful of custom faces – the software offers nothing more over reasonably-priced watches, like the Huawei Watch.

Whether traditional watch fans will opt to ditch their trusted timepieces for tech remains to be seen.

"If you want to offer a smartwatch as sophisticated and complete as the Apple Watch, that is practically impossible for a Swiss company alone," Mr Biver said.

"We cannot develop microprocessors to that level."

"Many Swiss watch brands are not keen on partnerships. We were keen because I believed that my price range could be hit by the competition of smartwatches," he said.