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Speaking with CEO Frédéric Arnault, Augustman discovered that TAG Heuer is not just re-entering the high horology segment with an eye on reinventing the chronograph, but doing so while making Connected watches which collectors would appreciate

- JONATHAN HO

In terms of the Golf series, the Connected watch occupies a very firm niche in the industry. You're also into crypto payments and NFCs. As one of the more aggressive watchmakers in this sector, what is your thought process behind this strategy?

We talked about it a lot last year because also it was a huge trending topic. But what we actually launched was limited yet impactful. First, we received crypto payments in dollars and we don't take any risk on it because it was managed by a partner. Second, we launched the NFT viewer which was a service we offered to be able to display NFTs on the Connected watch. Currently the crypto market is down, but we are still believers of the segment. This might actually be a good correction because only the most serious and passionate collectors remain incepted in it. We are still seeing growth in our NFT functionality in spite of the market.

The fact that the market is down doesn't dampen your enthusiasm, do you still believe in the underlying technology?

We still believe in the technology but that it will need more time to deploy and develop itself. We have more projects in the pipeline.

Even Mercedes-Benz, once a traditional carmaker, is creating the MBUX car operating system. Since the Connected watch is now a key pillar for TAG Heuer, is this a direction you see the brand headed towards?

We have a very strong tech team developing the Connected watch in-house, but we are also working with a series of partners because it's a very complex product and we cannot have it fully vertically integrated. Google provides the operating system but we are doing a lot of the UI and the UX for watch faces, apps and navigation; we have a dedicated team in-house in those areas.

Do you foresee this tech department within TAG Heuer growing faster than the manufacturer?