Swiss Smartwatches Could Break Swiss Watch Industry
It is possible, we suppose, that Tag Heuer could somehow teach itself to become the world’s foremost wrist-computer company—and leapfrog Apple—by next year. But that seems extremely unlikely. Apple didn’t just take a heritage watch case, add a screen, and shove in a microchip and a bunch of sensors. And as [TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Claude] Biver is about to discover, trying to integrate one company’s microchip with another’s operating system and app ecosystem, then reconciling that combination with your company’s century-old design ideals is going to require some major compromises.
That’s no good. Luxury must be uncompromising. And as Frommer explains in the title of his piece, this is “why Swiss smartwatches have no chance against the Apple Watch.”
If companies like TAG Heuer, Frederique Constant, Alpina, Mondaine, and all the rest really want to invest the necessary resources to get into the smartwatch game, they’d do well to look at the cost of entry in terms of more than just money. Luxury brands are predicated on the notions of exclusivity and tradition and dignity. They live and die on brand integrity, and the slightest misstep in that regard usually warrants massive, expensive damage control.
With that in mind, just look at the suicide TAG Heuer’s committing: They’re dropping their “Swiss Made” label — literally selling their very soul — to cheapen their most iconic design in what every watch enthusiast knows is a halfhearted, wholly incompetent attempt to play tenth fiddle in a market segment that had no intention of spending a dollar on them in the first place. It’s humiliating. Luxury isn’t supposed to be “me too.” It’s supposed to be “me only.”
This isn’t the Quartz Crisis. This isn’t iPhone circa 2007. Apple isn’t Seiko, TAG Heuer isn’t Nokia, and Montblanc isn’t RIM. The worst thing any of these luxury watchmakers can do is to try to take on Apple in the mobile computing industry. It’s a waste of money.
But even more importantly, it’s a waste of face.