NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – While payments wearables, in general, are taking off more slowly than expected, a number of manufacturers are incorporating the feature in their high-end watches and that includes Switzerland-based luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer.
The watchmaker continues its support for Android Pay in its new Connected Modular 41 smartwatch, announced last month, which follows TAG Heuer’s first foray into payments last spring with the predecessor watch in the Connected series, the Connected Modular 45. The company told NFC Times that “feedback from our clients about Android Pay was 100% positive, so it made sense for us to include this function in the new Connected (Modular 41) watch.”
A TAG Heuer spokeswoman said the Connected Modular 45, released last spring, has been one of company’s “top sellers,” though it remains unclear how large a role Android Pay played in those sales. But NFC payments was on the company’s radar to a sufficient extent to warrant inclusion in the latest smartwatch, the Connected Modular 41. The company announced this smartwatch last month. The Connected Modular 41 has a smaller watch face, 41 millimeters, than its predecessor, the Modular 45, at 45 mm. It also retails at a lower starting price, around US$1,200, compared with a starting price of around $1,600, for the Modular 45. Both run the Android Wear 2.0 operating system.
