Intel, Google team up with TAG Heuer to make Android smartwatch

The announcement came at the start of Baselworld, the world-famous watch show in Basel, Switzerland where companies like TAG and Swatch are looking to retain market share.

The partnership is very much from the same vein as Intel’s partnership with Fossil and Luxottica Group.

Intel clearly knows it needs help from top consumer brands to bring wearable products to market. TAG, part of the LVMH Group, is also looking at the Apple Watch as an oncoming threat.

By creating a higher end smartwatch for luxury-loving Android users, an audience obviously underserved by the current Android Wear crop, Hauer, Intel, and Google can try to stake a claim in the smartwatch space.

“Swiss watchmaking and Silicon Valley is a marriage of technological innovation with watchmaking credibility. Our collaboration provides a rich host of synergies, forming a win-win partnership, and the potential for our three companies is enormous,” said LVMH Watch Group President Jean-Claude Biver.

These sorts of partnerships won’t be isolated events, an expensive Android Wear watch is actually a compelling product to some consumers and once electronics manufacturers move from the cerebral to the emotional they will need all the help they can get.

TAG, for its part, is a master of marketing and it should be interesting to see what they come up with.