Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer teams up with big tech for smartwatch.

REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann.

ZURICH (Reuters) - LVMH's Tag Heuer became on Monday the first Swiss watchmaker to offer a "smartwatch" to customers that combines Swiss design with U.S. technology, seeking to tap a growing market for wearable devices amid flagging sales of traditional watches.

Co-developed with Google and Intel , the "Tag Heuer Connected" will cost $1,500 (993 pound). One thousand units are immediately available in 15 stores across the United States, with Britain, Germany, and Japan following in the coming days.

With its titanium casing, black rubber strap and digital watch hands, it is designed to look like a classical watch. But Connected houses an Intel Atom processor beneath its touchscreen that lets wearers connect to the internet, stream music and run applications via Google's Android Wear platform, from existing favourites such as Google Fit and Google Maps to customised lifestyle and sports apps designed for the watch.

Customers can also swap their smartwatch for a mechanical watch at the end of the two-year warranty period if they pay another $1,500, encouraging what the traditional industry hopes will be a trend among young smartwatch wearers to buy "real" timepieces as they mature.

"We are going after new customers ... once they have bought a connected watch, they are ready to buy another watch one day," Tag Heuer Chief Executive Jean-Claude Biver told Reuters, adding the similar looks of the new connected watch and other Tag Heuer models would make the transition easier.



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By Silke Koltrowitz and Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi.