Tag Heuer Chief Calls Apple Watch 'A Fantastic Product' Just Months After He Said It's 'Too Feminine' And 'Has No Sex Appeal'

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Apple Watch showcase

AFP

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Perhaps Tag Heuer learned it's not so easy to make a smartwatch after all.

According to a Bloomberg interview with Jean-Claude Biver, who runs the watch division for Tag's parent company, LVMH, Tag Heuer is working on an Apple Watch competitor that won't have the "Swiss made" label it's known for.

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Biver said making the watch in Switzerland just wasn't an option.

"We can't produce the engine, the chips, the applications, the hardware - nobody can produce it in Switzerland," he said.

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The components for Tag's watch will come from Silicon Valley, even if the designs are Swiss.

Though Biver's smartwatch will compete against Apple, he says he is now bullish on the Apple Watch.

"It's a fantastic product, an incredible achievement," he said. "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."

This is a complete reversal from September, when Biver heavily criticized the Apple Watch, claiming it "has no sex appeal."

"It's too feminine and looks too much like the smartwatches already on the market," Biver said at the time. "To be totally honest, it looks like it was designed by a student in their first trimester."

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