The CEO of Tag Heuer nailed a 'huge problem' with the luxury Apple Watch

The CEO of Tag Heuer has fired off a volley against Apple ahead of the launch of Tag Heuer's own high-end smartwatch, claiming the luxury Apple Watch Edition has a "huge problem" — obsolescence.
Speaking to CNBC on Monday, Jean-Claude Biver said: "Above $2,000," or£1,310, "the connected watch has a huge problem. There is no eternity, it means it will become obsolete, and who wants to buy a $10,000 - $20,000 watch, that becomes obsolete after five or 10 years?"


The vast majority of Apple's smartwatch sales come from the Apple Watch Sport and the regular Apple Watch, which retail for from $349 (£299 in the UK) to $1,099 (£949). But the California-based company also offers the ultra-pricey Edition, which starts at $10,000 (£8,000) and runs to an eye-watering $17,000 (£13,500).

Tag Heuer's forthcoming smartwatch, the Connected, is a relative steal in comparison, going for around $1,800 (£1,180). The Swiss watchmaker teased the device in a tweet on Monday evening, and it also launched an online countdown to its official unveiling on November 9. It will run Android Wear, Google's smartwatch operating system.
Tag Heuer is owned by LVMH, the French luxury-goods conglomerate.

Get ready to experience the next step in innovation. #connectedtoeternity http://t.co/nViLajHIUw pic.twitter.com/MmX56NbPP9
— TAG Heuer (@TAGHeuer) October 12, 2015

Sure, Biver conveniently places the point at which smartwatches encounter the obsolescence problem at ever so slightly more than the Tag Heuer Connected retails for. But he is on to something.

The best watches are timeless (no pun intended). They can easily last decades, and a large part of the prestige of luxury watches is down to this; Patek Philippe, for example, uses the tagline, "You never actually own a Patek Philippe, you merely look after it for the next generation."

Meanwhile, Apple continues to ape the trappings of the finest watches — 18-karat gold, exclusive rare versions worn by celebrities, the new $1,250 (£1,150) Hermès watch strap. But what good is all that if the battery dies in two or three years?

Biver has been a vocal critic of the Apple Watch before. In September 2014, before the device launched, he claimed that it had "no sex appeal" and was "too feminine." He added: "To be totally honest, it looks like it was designed by a student in their first trimester."

He subsequently rowed this comments back, saying: "It's a fantastic product, an incredible achievement ... 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."

The CEO also praised Apple's sales when talking to CNBC on Monday. "How successful has Apple been? We don't know. In the beginning, they were speaking about 10 to 20 million pieces, then sometimes we say they only sold 5 million. Nevertheless, to sell 5 million watches when you have not been a watchmaker is genius. It's phenomenal ... Now how will it act on the Swiss traditional watch industry? Certainly a big competition, huge! It will be a tsunami, for me. In the price segment, between say $200 and up to eventually $2,000."