Tag Heuer Connected: Swiss watchmaker unveils its £1,100 luxury Android smartwatch

Owners will be able to trade in their smartwatch for a regular Tag Heuer watch after the two-year warranty is up

The Tag Heuer Connected smartwatch, with its realistic virtual watch face Tag Heuer

Luxury Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer has unveiled its first-ever smartwatch, the Tag Heuer Connected.

The company has previously labelled their watch "the world's first luxury Android Wear smartwatch," and with a price of £1,100, it seems to live up to the name. 

 Measuring 46mm across, the watch is fairly big, but its titanium body and replaceable rubber strap keeps it light, so you don't feel like you're carrying an anvil on your wrist.

The digital watch faces are true to typical Tag Heuer design - rather than going with the minimalist, obviously virtual dials that you see on the Apple Watch or other Android smartwatches, they've made it look like a real watch face, with lifelike hands, numbers and a date window.

Based on the launch videos, it looks a little odd at first - they've even included fake shadows under the hands - but it appears to be fairly easy to read and fits in well with the overall design.

The smartwatch features look to be fairly well integrated into this realistic design - the face has 'interactive counters', which look like those small mini-dials that you see on expensive watches.

Tag Heuer teases first images of their $1,400 luxury Swiss smartwatch

Placed at the 12, 6 and 9 o'clock positions, these small dials display basic information from the apps running in the background, whether they're fitness trackers or messaging apps.

They've also launched some of their own apps exclusively for the watch -  a golf app (obviously) that can track your shots and show you information about the course, a motor racing app, and a couple of others designed specifically for the device's intended customers.

Because it runs Android, there's also access to thousands of Android smartwatch apps, like Google Maps, Google Translate, weather apps and even Tinder.

Obviously it can also be synced with an Android or iOS phone, so you can reply to messages and check directions without taking your phone out of your pocket.

All of this is powered by an Intel Atom processor and a hefty battery which promises a full day of life on a single charge.

All in all, it works like a typical Android smartwatch, but with a nice design and some exclusive apps.

Obviously, the Tag Heuer name doesn't come cheap, with its price tag making it much more expensive than comparable Android smartwatches.

Shortly after the company announced they were making a smartwatch, there was some talk of making the device's hardware upgradeable - if you're going to spend £1,100 on a smartwatch, you don't want it becoming obsolete or failing a couple of years down the line.

A spokeswoman for Tag Heuer told Wareable in March that owners would be able to change their watch as technology progresses - when you buy a luxury watch, you want to keep it for decades and hand it down to your children, and the company said they wanted to keep that longetivity even as they moved into the smartwatch market.

It's a nice idea in a tech world full of built-in obsolescence, but it doesn't seem to have made it to the final product.

Instead, after the watch's two-year warranty is up, owners will be able to exchange it for a regular mechanical Tag Heuer Carrera watch, which has a similar design but lacks any of the electronics or smart features.

It seems like a slightly odd idea, but at least it means you get value for money if you want an upgrade to another, more advanced smartwatch in a few years.

The pricing means it's out of the reach of most consumers, but then again, it's not meant for everyone.

 But when the only existing luxury smartwatches are the Hermés Apple Watch (which starts at £1000) or the outrageously pricedApple Watch 'Editions' (£8,000 for the 18-carat gold version), it's a fancy smartwatch for those who want a bit of luxury with their tech.