TAG Heur Executive Changes Tune, Praises Apple Watch: Swiss Watch Brand to Make First Smartwatch With Help From Silicone Valley, California
The Swiss have always made good watches, but they have not been able to produce a smartwatch. Now, one Swiss watchmaker is changing his mind on Apple's upcoming smartwatch.
TAG Heuer chief Jean-Claude Biver previously said the Apple Watch "had no sex appeal" and that it "was too feminine," Yahoo reports. Now, Biver has a different opinion.
"It's a fantastic product, an incredible achievement," he said. "I'm not just living in the tradition and culture and the past, I also want to be connected to the future. The Apple Watch connects me to the future. My watch connects me to history, to eternity."
TAG Heuer's parent company LVMH will too create a smartwatch to compete with the watch Biver is now calling fantastic. One small problem: the watch won't exactly be Swiss.
"We can't produce the engine, the chips, the applications, the hardware -- nobody can produce it in Switzerland, " he said.
The watch may be Swiss-designed, but it will not have the "Swiss made" label on it that Swiss watches and Swiss Army Knives are known to have.
Instead, TAG Heuer will send their trust to Silicon Valley.
Biver explained why this will be the first TAG Heuer watch not developed in Switzerland.
"We are not in the communications industry," Biver said. "The hardware and the software will come from Silicon Valley, but the watch case, the dial, the design, the idea, the crown, that part of the watch will, of course, be Swiss."
Of course, Biver has to be concerned about Apple's entry into the watch world. He has called it the "biggest threat for watches priced at less than $2,000."
There is no word on the pricing for the TAG Heuer watch, which will debut later in the year, but expect it to command a hefty price, similar to their other watches.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com