TAG Heuer Connected Watch: A connection to eternity
A Swiss luxury watchmaker jumps into the line of crafting connected watches; and this time, the avant-garde brand TAG Heuer joins the watchmaking revolution, and unveils its remarkably unique TAG Heuer Connected Watch, engineered with Intel Inside and powered by Android Wear
For the past 150 years, TAG Heuer has been inventing and manufacturing elegant sports watches in the city, including some of the most accurate chronographs produced by the Swiss watch industry. On the 9th of November, 2015, the luxury watch maison TAG Heuer writes a new chapter in its brand history as it reveals its latest timepiece, the TAG Heuer Connected Watch, at the LVMH Tower in New York, USA. In a press launch hosted by Jean-Claude Biver, Chief Executive Officer of TAG Heuer & President of the LVMH Group's Watches Division, accompanied by Brian Krzanich, Chief Executive Officer of Intel Corporation, and David Singleton, Vice President of Engineering for Android at Google, the world has finally made a peek at the outstanding craftsmanship that connects tradition and innovation.
The timepiece in attention, the TAG Heuer Connected Watch with Intel Inside, is an actual watch that benefits from over 150 years of Swiss expertise, savoir-faire and heritage as cultivated by TAG Heuer, a watch manufacture based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the cradle of Swiss watchmaking and a UNESCO World Heritage site set at an altitude of 1000 metres, in the middle of Alpine pastures and mountains. With its massive 46 mm diameter, this watch follows suit a true chronograph, featuring a case, back and lugs made from grade 2 titanium, a contemporary material ensuring the watch is lighter and more resistant to impacts than a traditional material such as steel or gold. Completed by a textured black rubber strap in six colours – red, blue, white, orange, green and yellow – that are sold separately, with a deploying buckle made of grade 2 titanium as well, the TAG Heuer Connected Watch has all the elegance, characteristics and level of finish expected from a fine wristwatch.
To further reinforce its watch DNA, TAG Heuer has developed – for the first time – three digital watch dials (known as watch faces), which feature the immediately recognisable design codes of TAG Heuer's Carrera collection, including hands, index, counters, date window and minute track. Available in a choice of three colours such as black, deep blue or pearl white, the chronograph dial, the 3-hand dial and the GMT dial display the date, faithfully reproducing the appearance and functions of a true dial, with shadows under the hands and the beautiful sunburst effect of the light. And because the TAG Heuer Connected is above all a watch, the digital hands and indexes remain visible at all times, even when the watch is in ambient energy-saving mode.
What makes this luxury watch rather remarkable is the presence of its "interactive counters”. The principle is simple: The dial and the hands remain, while the most pertinent information from partner applications is elegantly displayed inside the three counters on the chronograph dial at 12, 6 and 9 o'clock, completely integrated into the watch's aesthetic environment. The TAG Heuer Connected watch is brings together the best of both worlds since it is a TAG Heuer watch with computing intelligence.
In developing the timepiece, TAG Heuer worked closely with Intel and Google to create a luxury watch that combined connectivity and computing intelligence with Swiss watchmaking heritage. The watch features an Intel® Atom™ processor Z34XX and runs the Android Wear platform. Intel engineered the intelligence inside the watch to optimise the performance, enable a multitude of connectivity options including audio streaming, bluetooth and wi-fi, and allow users to harness the full range of features offered by the Android Wear operating system.
Android Wear opens the watch up to an almost infinite universe, an ecosystem that enriches itself night and day. Thousands of Android applications are already available for the TAG Heuer Connected watch user to download. The key applications such as Google Fit, Google Translate, Google Maps and Google Search (including voice recognition) are ready for use on the watch, with the information at reach with just a glance.
The watch’s connectivity is easy to use and makes information simple to read, enabling the user to stay focused on the essential, without this spoiling the watch's classic appearance. The TAG Heuer Connected Watch also comes with customised apps including Insiders (lifestyle), GolfShot Pro (golf), RaceChrono Pro (motor racing) and Viewrangers (trailing), which are offered with free subscriptions.
With 4 GB memory, and all-day battery life, thanks to its latest-generation lithium battery, the TAG Heuer Connected Watch is equipped with a small microphone to communicate with via Google voice control and a sapphire crystal touchscreen – the indispensable complement to the crown at 3 o'clock which also houses controls. The entire piece has been made water resistant for everyday use and is IP67 water resistance rated. The watch can also be easily synced with a phone running either on Android 4.3+ or iOS 8.2+. It is charged using a contact charger. Simply place the watch on top to recharge it.
Indeed a smart piece of technology, the watch continues to connect to the cloud, calculate, display and exchange data, as long as it has a Wi-Fi connection. Meanwhile, its resident applications (music, timer, alarm, step counter) remain active even when no connection is available.
Like any TAG Heuer watch, this timepiece benefits from a two-year warranty. At the end of the connected watch's two-year warranty period, customers can go to the TAG Heuer store of his or her choice to exchange the TAG Heuer Connected watch for a mechanical Swiss Made Carrera watch. With similar design, also made from grade 2 titanium, this mechanical watch has been exclusively developed and reserved for owners of connected watches.
To complete the experience, a dedicated online platform tagheuerconnected.com has been created to share the latest new features and obtain the partner applications available for the interactive counters watch faces.
The TAG Heuer Connected watch is available for sale right now from the site tagheuer.com and in more than 100 TAG Heuer boutiques and 150 carefully selected retailers across the world.
