Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

TAG Heuer Announces Smartwatch Plans as Threat From Apple Watch Looms

tonyy said:
Arrogant? Says the person that wants to gloat in people's faces 3 years from now?

I work in the TRUE high end luxury watch segment and let me tell you - no one is talking about smart watches or the Apple Watch around here.

Those watches don't even come close to the value, quality, and history of the watches that I work on. Not even close and we know it.

Yes, we agree there's a market for it and people will buy it. You act as if only one type of watch can exist. It's Apple Watch or nothing with people like you. Smart watches will compete with entry level "luxury" watches if I can even consider Tag, Movado, Tissot, etc. that.

But those in the true upper echelon of watches are not worrying one bit.

Another note - why do you think Tag Heuer is the brand out of all the other Swatch owned brands entering the smart watch arena? Because it's the same market that Apple Watch is entering.

You know the high end swiss watchmakers will start worrying when Omega, Glashutte, Piguet, Rolex, Audemars, Panerai, and Patek start jumping on the smart watch bandwagon.

Believe me, Tag Heuer is not high end Swiss luxury and does not represent the Swiss luxury watchmakers.
Click to expand...

Right... Did I talk about the other watch. The top end for now (yes, for now)... Are safe. Please read what I write and what you think I wrote. And the fact that you work in that industry was plain by your tone before you even mentioned it.

I may not know all the intricacy of the watch market, but know A LOT about how product pricing, marketing and tech work. I've been involved at all levels of tech and R&D, product development and marketing since the late 1980s.

For mid market goods, were most watches are sold and the Apple watch will appear, there is not an unlimited amount of money. Any money spent on the Apple watch and its accessories will impact heavily sales and profits of other watchmakers there. That alone will have an impact on any high end watch maker which makes models there.
 
Keirasplace said:
Oh, right. Wait and see. Hope your online in 3 year so I can gloat in your face.
Click to expand...

Keirasplace said:
Right... Did I talk about the other watch. The top end for now (yes, for now)... Are safe. Please read what I write and what you think I wrote. And the fact that you work in that industry was plain by your tone before you even mentioned it.

I may not know all the intricacy of the watch market, but know A LOT about how product pricing, marketing and tech work. I've been involved at all levels of tech and R&D, product development and marketing since the late 1980s.

For mid market goods, were most watches are sold and the Apple watch will appear, there is not an unlimited amount of money. Any money spent on the Apple watch and its accessories will impact heavily sales and profits of other watchmakers there. That alone will have an impact on any high end watch maker which makes models there.
Click to expand...

Right. So at the moment there are literally hundreds of brands of watches with hundreds more different styles, colors, and shapes. Now, next year Apple Watch will be introduced and you're saying that's going to upset the entire industry? Wow.

I'm as big of an Apple fan of anyone out there but this is getting ridiculous. Honestly, I like what the Apple Watch will bring and will most likely buy one for fitness purposes.

I came here to post the opinions and experience of the watchmakers side and not marketing 101.

I'll be sure to come back here in 3 years to let us know how we're doing. If we're still around :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Shaun said:
Do you understand English? "Sold" does not equate to "currently in use". Phones get broken, damaged, lost, stolen/bricked, etc. Try and find an iPhone 4 without a broken screen. What you going to do when you upgrade - answer is probably throw it in the bin.

----------



Once again you're making the figures up as you go along which was my point. What is your source for the figures you quote? Show me a link to the exact number of iPhones sold since launch.
Click to expand...

Lol, I did post the source. It was not made up. I will NOT repost it to appease you. You're pompous. I have NO respect for you & I dislike you. I'm adding you to my block list. I deserve better in life than being exposed to toxic people.
Lol, who cares if there are 400m iPhones currently in use or only 375m?? At that volume, there's scarcely a difference. There's CLEARLY a large amount of potential buyers for Apple Watch. THAT'S the point & you know it. You're nitpicking and grasping at straws because for some reason that pleases you. While I am sorry for you; your issues are not my problem and I will not be exposed to you further.
 
imageWIS said:
Not at all. No one says to themselves: should I buy a Patek or an Apple watch?
Click to expand...

Yes, but people will ask if they should buy a $2000 gucci with 10 cent digital display or a $1200 gold iwatch.

The only challenge will be the charging. That's pretty crappy compared to an automatic.
 
Wow four months ago. Apple likely started four plus years ago.

Good luck Tag.

This has all the makings of the Motorola iTunes phome.

----------
imageWIS said:
Not at all. No one says to themselves: should I buy a Patek or an Apple watch?
Click to expand...

Yeah most people either say to themselves "I want to buy a watch" then look around and pick one or they see a particular watch that catches their eye and decide to buy it.

----------
iansilv said:
In their first trimester??
Click to expand...

In Switzerland only pregnant women attend school.
 
I suspect the TAG smart watch won't touch the Apple Watch in terms of tech and functionality, few things touch Apple products for that.

Aesthetically though that's a tough one. Apple will design something modern, slick and techy. I would have thought TAG would want something classic looking.

I have a TAG and love the fact it has a classic look to it and not a gadget look.

Either way I'll be interested to see what they come up with and how it compares.
 
A realistic view of some points on a smart watch timeline

2010-01: Steve Jobs jokes that an iPod Nano could be worn as a watch.

2011-10-05: Jobs passes away.

2014-04-10: swiss watchmakers are attentive; some speak of contacts with companies that envisage connected watches –

… Les horlogers suisses sont prudents face à l'arrivée des smartwatches. Pas question de revivre le même échec que lors de l'arrivée du quartz. Ils sont donc attentifs …

Certains reconnaissent des contacts avec les firmes qui ont imaginé les montres connectées, d'autres travaillent dessus …
Click to expand...


2014-07-15: Tag Heuer to give birth to a smart watch (analysis) –

… Différentes sources font part du projet de Jean-Claude Biver de lancer une montre intelligente. …

Le numéro un mondial de l'horlogerie est-il sciemment en train de passer à côté de la révolution en se disant que la T-Touch de Tissot suffit, ou se prépare-t-il dans le plus grand secret? À ce stade, rien ne filtre. …
Click to expand...


2014-09-09: Apple – Press Info – Apple Unveils Apple Watch—Apple’s Most Personal Device Ever

Minutes after the unveiling:

Interviewer: "Did (Steve Jobs) have any idea the Apple Watch was coming?"

Tim Cook: "Yeah, we started working on it, er … after his passing. But …"​


2014-09-11:

grahamperrin said:
… there's the broader question (somewhat off-topic) of why work did not begin in Jobs' lifetime – when he knew that there was significant interest from the public and press. …
Click to expand...


2014-09-14:

… "We cannot afford to just follow in somebody else's footsteps," Biver said, adding the Swiss watch industry would present smartwatches at the latest at the Basel watch fair next spring. He did not give further details on the planned smartwatch.

Biver and TAG Heuer could not immediately be reached for comment. …
Click to expand...


2014-12-16:

… Biver said TAG Heuer … would make an announcement once it had a good product to present, or late 2015 at the earliest.

"We'll only do it if we can be first, different and unique," he said. …

Biver, who took over as head of LVMH watches in March, has initiated a restructuring … pulled out of … luxury mobile phones. …
Click to expand...


MacRumors said:
… Biver … already has outlined plans for a smartwatch device … "We started on the project about four months ago. …" …
Click to expand...

iStig said:
… Apple … has been working on their smart watch for at least 5 years now. …
Click to expand...

What work was that in 2009?

Less than five years ago, the iPod Nano thing was a joke, and from what Tim Cook said: it seems that there was no work on the Apple Watch in Steve's lifetime.
 
Keirasplace said:
Right... Did I talk about the other watch. The top end for now (yes, for now)... Are safe. Please read what I write and what you think I wrote. And the fact that you work in that industry was plain by your tone before you even mentioned it.

I may not know all the intricacy of the watch market, but know A LOT about how product pricing, marketing and tech work. I've been involved at all levels of tech and R&D, product development and marketing since the late 1980s.

For mid market goods, were most watches are sold and the Apple watch will appear, there is not an unlimited amount of money. Any money spent on the Apple watch and its accessories will impact heavily sales and profits of other watchmakers there. That alone will have an impact on any high end watch maker which makes models there.
Click to expand...

I disagree, a vast majority of my watches are in the $300-$1000 category i.e. low end in that price range I'm getting a decent Asian movement or a nice quartz. The key is though I'm buying an actual watch a mechanical thing, if you head over to places like WUS you'll find most of us are the same the appeal is the watch. I think what Apple and the rest of the wearables companies will do is put watches back on the wrists of people who stopped wearing them.

TL:DR People who buy mechanical/quality quartz watches buy them for what they are no amount of smart will change that.
 
lowendlinux said:
I disagree, a vast majority of my watches are in the $300-$1000 category i.e. low end in that price range I'm getting a decent Asian movement or a nice quartz. The key is though I'm buying an actual watch a mechanical thing, if you head over to places like WUS you'll find most of us are the same the appeal is the watch. I think what Apple and the rest of the wearables companies will do is put watches back on the wrists of people who stopped wearing them.

TL:DR People who buy mechanical/quality quartz watches buy them for what they are no amount of smart will change that.
Click to expand...

People who buy a 300-1000 € mechanical watch and feel it's special because of its nature are a (vast vast vast vast)*1000 minority, something Apple won't worry about since they plan to sell millions. I'm, as I said, a watch enthusiast, and I truly believe anything below Omega will get real damage. Or what's the same, anything with less prestige than Apple for the masses or its buyer's social circle. Obviously someone who buys an A Lange & Söhne, Patek, AP, JLC, Zenith, Panerai... won't be worried about what the masses think about his watch or if they know it, but maybe he's worried about what their forum, yacht club... mates do. This person won't give a f-word probably about the apple watch, BUT it's a vast minority too. Nobody thinks someone with real high end watches is going to change them for an Apple watch, if something like the AW gets essential in the future then I'm sure someone will sell something similar in a bracelet form so you can use it wearing your watch too.

And no apple edition watch will fix that because an upper class grown man with a gold apple watch will feel like a clown. IMO any man over 40-50 with any kind of apple watch will look ridiculous.
 
Last edited:
crjackson2134 said:
I doubt Apple's watch' will dominate over high quality fashion watches. I'll probably have one of those too, but if I'm attending a high profile public event, I'll just wear my Rolex.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, so if you are just wearing it because of looks, why do the internals matter so much? I mean unless you are the time keeper at these public events, your watch is nothing more than a nicely designed piece of jewelry, that just happens to be time piece. Fashion changes, style changes. that's why you are wearing a Rolex and not carrying a pocket watch. In two or three generations, automatics will be relagated to just being kept in boxes, and rarely, if ever on wrists.
 
Bentov said:
Hmmm, so if you are just wearing it because of looks, why do the internals matter so much? I mean unless you are the time keeper at these public events, your watch is nothing more than a nicely designed piece of jewelry, that just happens to be time piece. Fashion changes, style changes. that's why you are wearing a Rolex and not carrying a pocket watch. In two or three generations, automatics will be relagated to just being kept in boxes, and rarely, if ever on wrists.
Click to expand...

I don't think so, the only difference between mechanical pocket (which also exist today) and wristwatches is how you wear them, the nature of its movement is the same. Mechanical engineering and handcrafts have a romantic charm because of its own nature, partly because they have a very intuitive and visual way of working. The same happens with noble animals and so on...

That's why, IMO, high end cars, watches... from classic brands will always (undefined time) have a mechanical "engine". And why you will still see people riding expensive horses in 200 years time. And why things made of fine leather will be loved, while there are other high tech much more advanced materials...

Electronic things can be very useful and fascinating but you can't really see or maybe understand without previous explanation how they work. It's hard to explain. What probably will happen is that mechanical watches and cars will get even much much more expensive.

And of course, the main if not only reason why someone buys a high end watch are its looks, the exterior, interior or both, and prestige, they're pure vanity objets.
 
Last edited:
unplugme71 said:
That's fine. But it'll never be in the "luxury" category. It's a tech gadget. Nothing wrong with that. It'll sell millions too!
Click to expand...

I would agree with you although Apple pushing a gold one is strange for sure. That shocked me. There is still so much we don't know about the long term direction they want to take. I really would like to sit down with them and hear what they think the future is going to look like (in terms of wearables). We shall see I guess...
 
lowendlinux said:
Thank you, I don't know where this Tag is high end thing came from. They just recently started making their own movements not rehashing existing ones.
Click to expand...


I'm just glad there are a few people in this thread that understand TAG, with the exception of maybe the Monacos and Carreras, are NOT luxury watches and arent watches that true watch fans aspire to own. The vast majority of their lineup is what I'd consider "high end FASHION watches", not "heirloom quality" pieces to be handed down. The company has such a tarnished rep within the watch world from devaluing their brand over the past 15-25 years that they are in a position to possibly be threatened by Apple's smart watch. They HAVE to be proactive in this area, as it's the price point most of their models sell in. The true "luxury watch" segment has no threat from Apple at this point. How TAG got lumped into the luxury segment, I have no idea. A $1200-$2000 watch isn't luxury no more than a $50,000 car is "luxury" anymore.
 
Eh… if the iWatch actually looked like some of those watches then maybe they'd have a reason to be worried, but I still think the iWatch is a really ugly looking watch. It might have great functionality, but it's incredibly expensive for an iOS accessory and not that good looking, it also IMO doesn't have the attention to detail I would expect for the money.
 
calebbakerable said:
I would agree with you although Apple pushing a gold one is strange for sure. That shocked me. There is still so much we don't know about the long term direction they want to take. I really would like to sit down with them and hear what they think the future is going to look like (in terms of wearables). We shall see I guess...
Click to expand...

Yeah it is strange and I wonder if the Burberry lady pushed for it at all. I'm sure she wants Apple to succeed as a fashion wearable and most likely has enough "in" to make it so.

While Apple is a very strong brand and recognized as somewhat an upscale company - think Microsoft as Toyota and Apple as Lexus. It's no Ferrari.

I'd put Apple in lines of DKNY, CK, maybe Hugo Boss - but definitely not an exclusive designer brand.
 
Bentov said:
Hmmm, so if you are just wearing it because of looks, why do the internals matter so much? I mean unless you are the time keeper at these public events, your watch is nothing more than a nicely designed piece of jewelry, that just happens to be time piece. Fashion changes, style changes. that's why you are wearing a Rolex and not carrying a pocket watch. In two or three generations, automatics will be relagated to just being kept in boxes, and rarely, if ever on wrists.
Click to expand...

Well, you're not understanding the statement at all. A Rolex isn't just for looks, or keeping time. I never said anything about public events, let alone being a timekeeper of such events. I said Social, as in exclusive gatherings. The truly high end timepeice has nothing to do with keeping time. It has to do with prestige, status, and showing wealth. In some circles, this show of status is important. Just like a cheap Suit will cover your body the same as a "William Westmancott Ultimate Bespoke", you won't robe yourself with a "Jos. A Bank" item for particular activities. The Apple Watch will be fine and do well in day to day life, but not at SOME exclusive gatherings. I could elaborate more but I don't think you are grasping the context.
 
FieldingMellish said:
I envision Swatch as a company to be concerned about doing a computerized watch, not TAG. TAG, do what you do best and do not water yourself down with me-to failures and waste of resources chasing a nerd market that typically wears rags to work.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with you here.
 
nando87 said:
Image

At least they have personality. I
Click to expand...

I Love the look of this watch! until smartwatches can start replicating this sort of personality, they'll contineu to be a 'geeky' wristworn computer.

Apple has done nothing to change that image. Putting a gold band around a square screen doesn't change that you're still doing the exact same thing that every other smart watch maker is basically doing.

And I find it UGLY for a watch.

The Apple watch is not a watch I envision managers and executives from corporations wearing everyday. it doesn't hit that "jewelery" look.

Thats what I think a company like Tag can do a lot better than Apple, Moto, or LG. These are tech companies first. not fashion companies.
 
goobot said:
So you're admitting your comment was a waste of space? Okay, thx, bye.
Click to expand...

Obviously you did not get the point that you assume too much in that Tag's smartwatch will be a mobile computer instead of a real watch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back