Tag Heuer today announced a partnership with Intel and Google to make an Android Wear smartwatch. A damn nice one, we hope.
The watch will probably be in a case that echoes the classic Tag Heuer Monaco "square but not quite" shape pictured here, but we can't say for sure as there were no details of shape, price, features or differentiators of any kind, and the launch date is "By the end of the year".
Dead fish, alive fish
He was on stronger ground with his tech metaphors, though: "Only the dead fish swims at the speed and direction of the river," he declared, adding, "We will never be dead fish. We are a fish that is alive. Being first, different, unique gives you the assurance you will be ahead."
An interesting question this raises is whether such a watch could be described legally as "Swiss made" – a crucial point for watch aficionados. On this, Biver was pragmatic, saying: "We can say 'assembled and made in Switzerland'. Which is similar and everyone understands what it means. If we put 'Intel inside' it has more value on this kind of watch anyway…
"It will be made in Switzerland. 80% of the value will be from Switzerland. But if its engine is a microprocessor and that comes from outside of Switzerland we can't name it 'Swiss made'."