Best daily deals

Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.

Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer will unveil a smartwatch today - is Google involved?

Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer is gearing up to release a smartwatch of its own. It’s not clear for now if TAG Heuer embraced Android Wear for its first smartwatch, though comments from CEO Claude Biver seem to hint at that.
By
March 19, 2015
tag heuer carrera

Update: Tag Heuer and Fossil have announced at Baselworld that they will release Android Wear devices this year. Read on for more details.

Original post:

A year ago almost to the day, Google announced Android Wear, a version of Android designed just for smartwatches. Among the several companies that were listed as partners in the announcement, Fossil stood out as the only conventional watchmaker on the list. We haven’t heard anything about Fossil’s Android Wear smartwatch since then, but we do know that Google is at least interested in putting its OS in the body of a more traditional watch.

While Fossil seemingly abandoned Android Wear, Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer is gearing up to release a smartwatch of its own. It’s not clear for now if TAG Heuer embraced Android Wear for its first smartwatch, though comments from CEO Claude Biver seem to hint at that.

According to Reuters, TAG Heuer is partnering with Intel for the mystery device, but Pocket-lint suggests Google is involved as well. Intel has dabbled into making smartwatches before, having bought Basis Science in March 2014.

The watch coming today will be a “digital replica” of the original black TAG Heuer Carrera (a version of which is pictured above); presumably, the device would look just like the Carrera on the outside, while the watch face will be a digital reconstruction of the Carrera’s dial. The device will be announced today, with a release scheduled for this autumn.

All the pieces of the puzzle suggest this “Carrera smartwatch” could be powered by Android Wear, but we have no guarantee for now. But even if Google isn’t involved, the release of Swiss-made smartwatch that looks like a conventional timepiece is still important for the budding field of wearables.

TAG Heuer is expected to make its announcement at 8AM ET, and we will update you with the official info as soon as we can.