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TAG Heuer Increasing Weekly Production To Meet Demand For Its Smartwatch (slashgear.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the have-some-more dept.

An anonymous reader writes: According to reports TAG Heuer is struggling to keep up with the high demand for its $1,500 TAG Heuer Connected Android Wear-powered smartwatch. Since its launch in November the company has sold about 100,000 units and plans to crank up production to 2,000 units per week. According to Slashgear: "Jean-Claude Biver, the CEO of Tag Heuer shares that more smartwatch models from the company will be unveiled at the end 2016 or early 2017 – with options of new materials and diamonds. Being the genius that revived brands such as Blancpain and Hublot, Biver has positioned Tag Heuer as the first luxury watchmaker that enters smartwatch business with a 'big bang' and ready to use large eco-system courtesy of Android Wear."

86 comments

  1. timeless pieces by greenfruitsalad · · Score: 4, Insightful

    and this is how we turn decades lasting timepieces into disposable trash.

    1. Re:timeless pieces by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly this. It would be one thing if they were selling some kind of frame / screen which had a swappable CPU/GPU/motherboard, etc.

      But it's abundantly clear at this point they these devices are primitive. And innovation is moving quickly.

      Who wants a $1500 piece of near-future garbage?

    2. Re: timeless pieces by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      After 2 years they will buy it back and give you a discount on a real watch

    3. Re:timeless pieces by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Correct. I learned my lessons the hard way with the Seiko Message Watch. Not nearly as expensive those days, and for modern days probably lasted quite long. But still it turned into something less useful over just a few years (it could still tell the time so it was not completely useless).

      --
      Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
    4. Re:timeless pieces by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      and this is how we turn decades lasting timepieces into disposable trash.

      Yup you can get a nice used TAG for about the same money.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    5. Re:timeless pieces by Bearhouse · · Score: 2

      Indeed. Although they could follow the Zeitgeist and offer a "rebuild" function in a few years time.
      The hipsters would love that, imagine "I just 'upgraded' my watch for only $500, darling!'
      Would only cost a few bucks in parts and labour for TAG, so probably profitable.

      I hope this happens - part of the "brand promise" of Swiss watches is the fact that they can be repaired and hence last virtually indefinitely.

    6. Re:timeless pieces by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I wonder about the veracity of this claim. It seems to me that the phone and jewellery business share similarities - symbols of success and conspicuous consumption. However, there are major differences too. With jewellery / watches, a high end item is still high end even years after purchase, whereas with technology, depreciation is rapid and brutal. What is the point of spending tens of thousands on a watch, adding diamonds to it to show off, when in a few months somebody else can come along, spend a lot less, and get a product which outperforms yours in a real tangible and respected way. (e.g.: Longer battery life, more processing power, newer capabilities which do not currently exist.) These may not add much to the day to day practical usage of the device, but it seems to me that most individuals with money to burn would for prefer the street cred associated with always having the latest and greatest model rather than one a few steps behind with diamonds and gold jammed into it. Could this be an attempt at pushing an agenda? - "All the cool kids are doing it?"

    7. Re: timeless pieces by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      I suspect if the smartwatch part takes off, in two years you will also have the opportunity to trade in for a watch with the new firmware/hardware in it.

      Why settle for a watch from an MP3 player maker* if a Swiss watch firm makes a smartwatch?

      (*the equivalent of selling sugar water to kids)

    8. Re:timeless pieces by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

      I think you are missing their target market here: People who have $1500 to spend on a watch...

      I don't think these people will be all that annoyed to have to lay down another $1500 next year on the next "new thing"

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    9. Re:timeless pieces by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They have a "convert-back-to-decades-lasting-timepieces" program built in the offering. If the user get tired of smart watches, they convert the clock, as far as I understood, at no additional cost.

    10. Re: timeless pieces by amRadioHed · · Score: 1

      Because watchmaking is the Swiss watchmakers expertise, something that has almost nothing to do with smartwatch making.

      --
      We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
    11. Re: timeless pieces by davester666 · · Score: 1

      Yes, you give it back and give them another $1500 and they give you a $1500 "forever" watch.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    12. Re: timeless pieces by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Nobody anywhere has expertise in smartwatch making*. Why not let experts in robust watch enclosure design take part in the technology?

      (*sellers of sugar water to kids are taking a stab at it)

  2. Intel Inside... seriously by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

    powering the Tag Heuer Connected with an Intel Atom Z34XX processor

    well i guess if you wanna be that dumb son of a bitch that dishes out $1500 for a watch that lasts "all day", you might as well enjoy the energy consumption of x86 on your wrist.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:Intel Inside... seriously by szy · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's a feature! It is a wrist warming device! Make sure you buy another one for your other wrist!

    2. Re:Intel Inside... seriously by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Energy consumption of x86? Are you dense? The chip pulls less than 4w. On average, it's only 2w.

    3. Re:Intel Inside... seriously by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The chip pulls less than 4w. On average, it's only 2w.

      2 watts? 2 watts for a motherfucking watch? What the fuck is wrong with you? Seiko's Astron SQ35, the first digital watch marketed worldwide, had a battery lifetime of over one fucking year - in 1969. Do you know what the average computer looked like in 1969, motherfucker?

      And now you gallop in on the coattails of that bastard iWatch with your maybe-a-day-if-you're-lucky running "on average, it's only 2W" processors? Are you high? Are you ill? It's not even an ARM! Not even a motherfucking ARM!

    4. Re:Intel Inside... seriously by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... Are you high? Are you ill? It's not even an ARM! Not even a motherfucking ARM!

      Yeah, but it's worn ON an arm!!! Also, please remember to take your Tourettes meds.

    5. Re:Intel Inside... seriously by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Intel don't seem to publish specs on the low power performance of that SoC, but it does seem like an odd choice for a watch.

      Personally I prefer smart watches without a full face display. It's pointless, a simple notification LED and maybe a one line, monocrhome LCD at most is all you need and will extend battery life greatly.

      Sony is releasing a device with a normal watch that runs for 3+ years on a normal watch battery, and then a secondary smart watch part that has a separate rechargeable battery and one week run time. It has Bluetooth and a pulse sensor, and a notification LED/vibration motor. That's all you need really, health sensors and notifications, and the watch part keeps working even if you forget to charge it or decide you don't want to use the smart features.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:Intel Inside... seriously by Alwin+Henseler · · Score: 1

      Don't know where you got that 2W number from, but TAG Heuer's product description specifies:

      "410mAh battery (minimum 25 hours battery life, based on typical usage)"

      Assuming that's a Li-ion battery (3.7V nominal), that would translate into ~60 milliwatt average power (or less). Obviously that means the cpu sleeps most of the time. And perhaps even that tiny display consumes more than the cpu? Or various embedded sensors? Who knows.

      Still a huge amount of power for a wristwatch imho. But hey a smartwatch is a little more than that...

    7. Re:Intel Inside... seriously by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not enough to keep you warm, but enough to drain your battery quickly.

    8. Re:Intel Inside... seriously by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can wear it on your "quark" if you wish.

    9. Re:Intel Inside... seriously by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      Intel don't seem to publish specs on the low power performance of that SoC, but it does seem like an odd choice for a watch.

      it's likely that Intel gave them an extremely discounted rate. they did the same thing to get some smartphone designers to use the chip but wouldn't ya know, two models later and they were right back to ARM chips.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  3. Sigh, more /. adverts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's stuff like this that make me wonder if this is just another paid(or schilled submission) advert shoved on a tech site for tech people to go ooh, shiny watch rare. /. is rapidly becoming a crafty advert feed for tech people.

    1. Re:Sigh, more /. adverts by gnupun · · Score: 2

      It looks like an ugly, bright screen compared to the elegant look a luxury watch. Why are people buyng this?

    2. Re:Sigh, more /. adverts by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      I hadn't even heard of this thing before seeing TFS, because I largely don't care about smart watches. But you're right - that's hideous. I'll keep my Movado.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  4. the new Swiss watch crisis by supernova87a · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Funny how things go round and round.

    In the 1970s the Swiss makers found themselves under attack from the new cheaper quartz watches. (wikipedia for "quartz crisis") They could no longer plausibly claim that their handcrafted puffery resulted in more accurate timekeeping. So they had to change their marketing message from "accuracy" to "heirloom timepieces" bullshit (hence why you see messages like, "you don't just buy a Pat** Phi***, you only take care of it for the next generation." etc)

    You would think that they (like religious science-deniers) would just accept that that is their niche, and stay with it. But now they have to catch up with the smart watch too, or risk losing the next generation of watch buyers.

    So let's see how their message of "preserving an heirloom timepiece" stands up against the reality of a battery that lasts for 24 hours, and consumer electronics that get thrown out after 2 years... When the guts of your watch are indistinguishable from a $75 piece of crap, who's going to believe the marketing hype?

    1. Re:the new Swiss watch crisis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When the guts of your watch are indistinguishable from a $75 piece of crap, who's going to believe the marketing hype?

      If it were just logic, everyone would just buy a $30-40 Timex Ironman or something in that area.

      The high-end watch market is not about utility or logic. First and foremost, it thrives on status.

      People accuse apple fans of being about status, but the fact of the matter is that their market is 75% utility, 25% status. If the devices didn't work well (for the demographic buying it), most people would jump ship. That's why I think the Apple Watch isn't going to be so hot, it won't have the 75% of the utility market and the 25% status market finds Apple too common and mainstream and will run for the Tag Heuer and other more exclusive brands.

      The same exact things would be happening in phones if a) the app ecosystem wasn't such a high barrier to entry and b) if tech wasn't such a mass consumer oriented industry. (Yes, Louis Vuitton could rebrand some android model if they haven't already... and it would come off as a rebranded phone).

      Switzerland's watch industry is pretty safe.

    2. Re:the new Swiss watch crisis by swb · · Score: 1

      I have a self-winding Tag I got for my 40th birthday. What I like about is never having to worry about replacing a battery. But on the other hand, I have a Seiko solar chronograph that doesn't need a battery replacement, either, or at least likely not in my lifetime.

      Not sure it will be an heirloom, but when I was at a Tag dealer to get the bracelet replaced I noticed that none of the displayed Tags had my movement -- day and date chronograph, so maybe it will be marginally more valuable due to a less common movement (or maybe it was discontinued because its a flawed movement..).

    3. Re:the new Swiss watch crisis by jandersen · · Score: 2

      Well, advertising is full of bulshit, we already know that.

      Still, as an engineer, I have a fondness for those little, mechanical thingies. I have several mechanical watches, but I don't wear a watch. Not that they are particularly expensive, but it is a joy to look at those tiny wheels and things and think of the amount of cleverness that goes into making it work so well. Maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic.

    4. Re:the new Swiss watch crisis by Sique · · Score: 1

      If it were just logic, barely anyone would wear a wrist watch anyway. Wherever I go, publicly visible clocks are aboundant, and even my cell phone and my car have one too. I gave up wearing a wrist watch ten years ago, they just got in the way.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    5. Re:the new Swiss watch crisis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes the cell phone has one and it is pretty accurate, but when it is in my jacket inside pocket and I am wearing gloves on a cold day it is so much easier to have a glance at my wrist watch. But that's just me...

    6. Re:the new Swiss watch crisis by Minupla · · Score: 2

      I stopped wearing a watch ~20 years ago due to this fact. Started wearing one again last year because a smart watch reminds me subtly of my next appointment and helps with my tendency to get caught up in things and miss my next meeting. It's also more socially acceptable in my company to look at your watch during a conversation with someone then pull out your phone and if I can see that my boss is ending emails with more and more !'s in the subject line I can excuse myself from the conversation and put out whatever fire has cropped up while I was away form my desk.

      Min

      --
      On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
    7. Re: the new Swiss watch crisis by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      I have a Casio. It's currently about two years old but I was in Walmart last night and checked. They still have it for $27. It's one of the few hybrids of it's type, with a mechanical quartz analog dial and a tiny LCD display on the bottom for calendar and stopwatch/alarm function. In my opinion it uses the right technology for the right functions like few other watches.

    8. Re:the new Swiss watch crisis by Freedom+Bug · · Score: 1

      In 2 years, you can trade in your Tag Heuer smartwatch for a $1500 discount on a 'real watch'.

    9. Re: the new Swiss watch crisis by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      It gets all gunky when you're shoving your fist in the Crisco can and in other places, I take it.

      Yes, abhorrent and unfashionable.

    10. Re:the new Swiss watch crisis by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      Mechanical watches can indeed be heirloom timepieces. I still wear my father's Longines Professional most days. He bought it when he was aircrew in the RAF in Cairo in 1941

      Sounds not too dissimilar to my the watch I wear every day. It was my uncle's watch he got while in the US Air Force in Vietnam. It was an inexpensive watch at the time ($17.50 or $22.50 at the px I forget which) made by Benrus for the US military. The watch is over 50 years old and keeps great time for a mechanical watch (runs about 3 seconds +-1 second fast a day). Also unlike so many modern men's watches it has a really clean look with a black face, crisp white numbers, parkerized stainless steel case. My only complaint is that the self illumination no longer functions as the tritium in the hands and hour markers has gone through over 3 half lives.

      --
      Time to offend someone
    11. Re: the new Swiss watch crisis by Sique · · Score: 1

      Sorry for your phantasies. Are you seeing some expert about them?

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    12. Re:the new Swiss watch crisis by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      So let's see how their message of "preserving an heirloom timepiece" stands up against the reality of a battery that lasts for 24 hours,

      Why are you talking as if the choice is one or the other. It's not like this watch is absurdly expensive. This battle is quite different from the early days of quartz where their biggest selling point was high quality = accurate time. That had to be refaced. The watch is now a fashion accessory and the introduction of a smart watch doesn't change this: case in point Apple's first release in the market included that gold piece of idiocy.

    13. Re:the new Swiss watch crisis by swillden · · Score: 1

      If it were just logic, barely anyone would wear a wrist watch anyway. Wherever I go, publicly visible clocks are aboundant, and even my cell phone and my car have one too. I gave up wearing a wrist watch ten years ago, they just got in the way.

      But all of those publicly visible clocks only tell you what time it is. They don't tell you when your next meeting is, or change their display to tell you it's in starting in five minutes. Nor do they do any of a hundred other things that your phone does... but when your phone is in your pocket it doesn't do those hundred other things that well, either.

      I stopped wearing a watch about the same time you did, but started wearing a smartwatch last year.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  5. Genius by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Being the genius that revived brands such as Blancpain and Hublot, Biver has positioned Tag Heuer as the first luxury watchmaker that enters smartwatch business with a 'big bang' and ready to use large eco-system courtesy of Android Wear.

    What a visionary! Who would've ever thought to do exactly the same thing that everybody else is doing and offer a wearable device leveraging the android operating system. Truly a luminary in his field.

    1. Re: Genius by janimal · · Score: 1

      Surprisingly few corpo types are capable of comitting on such a scale.

    2. Re:Genius by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This biver doesn't stink like the other ones. He's obviously done something right that others haven't.

  6. It's still a bargain by dremon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comparing it to Apple Watch for $10000.

    1. Re:It's still a bargain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Comparing it to Apple Watch for $10000.

      The people who buy those types of watches generally do not have "bargain" as one of their decision criteria.

      * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good

    2. Re:It's still a bargain by geekmux · · Score: 1

      Comparing it to Apple Watch for $10000.

      A company can only get as stupid about prices as their customers demand. I guess Tag isn't quite as popular with rappers who can't seem to spend enough money on a wristwatch, or tech geeks who just loooove rose gold finishes.

  7. Compared to Apple Watch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Tag Heuer Android watch:
    2,000/week x 52 weeks = 104,000 units per year

    Apple Watch:
    3.9 million units last quarter according to IDC.

    1. Re:Compared to Apple Watch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is there a more means better implication here?

    2. Re:Compared to Apple Watch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Apple Watch: 3.9 million units last quarter according to IDC.

      If Apple sold 99.99 USD/roll silver-colored higienic paper, all the forests in Finland, Canada and Siberia would need to be cut down to satisfy demand...

    3. Re:Compared to Apple Watch by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      No, I think it's a "Tag is a little out of their element if they already can't keep up with demand, at a rate of 0.9% of one of their competitors" argument. It was just the Apple watch that he mentioned - no mention of Samsung, Motorola, or LG.

      This just in: electronics manufacturers are better at manufacturing electronics at scale than boutique mechanical watch makers.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    4. Re:Compared to Apple Watch by chill · · Score: 1

      No, it is a different market. Apple isn't selling those watches for $1,500 each at that quantity.

      Your comparison is like saying Lamborghini is vastly outsold by Toyota, so why bother. Different niche.

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    5. Re:Compared to Apple Watch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, because Apple absolutely doesn't have a watch product to sell to the same people. Perhaps you missed all the memes about the "Apple Watch Edition" ?

  8. Re:Santa isn't coming this year by ad454 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The liberals just raised taxes again on his corporation North Pole Inc. and forced him to provide Obamacare for his elves. They also sued him for giving coal to bad children, saying it that every child should be a winner and it was unfair to black kids who grew up in worse situations than whites, so therefore Santa's policy was racial discrimination. The fine was $400,000,000.

    He is no longer able to make a profit and therefore had to declare bankruptcy. Sorry kids. ;(

    Vote for Trump in 2016 if you want Santa to come back. Make America great again!

    What? I thought that Santa Claus is Canadian, based on his legitimate Canadian mailing address:

    SANTA CLAUS
    NORTH POLE, H0H0H0, CANADA
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    So all of his elves should have be fully covered by universal single payer health care, decades before Obama was elected. And as a Canadian non-profit organisation, his corporate tax rate is zero.

    Besides I have no idea why you are praising Trump, when up north, there is no greater hero than Ted Cruz for renouncing his Canadian citizenship.

    http://trailblazersblog.dallas...
    http://www.dallasnews.com/news...

    If only we can get Justin Bieber to do the same.

  9. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  10. A lot of negativity here by DrXym · · Score: 5, Funny
    Don't you realise that these smart watches are hand made? Each CPU is painstakingly built by hand master craftsman one transistor at a time. The CPU is a soldered to a precision circuit board etched in gold and engraved with the individual maker's name. Horologists test the timing functionality of the device, placing miniature weights on quartz crystal to achieve the perfect clock frequency. The screen is painstakingly hand painted one pixel at a time with fine horse hair brushes. The metal case is formed by savants with the power of mind over matter. And finally the strap is hand-stitched and made from the hide of the last white rhino.

    So if you cynically thought Tag Heuer were just shoving some mass produced part from an Intel factory in Malaysia into a chunky metal case and pocketing the enormous markup then think again.

  11. Maybe I'm just too poor... by iampiti · · Score: 1

    ...but I'm actually surprised there's >100.000 people in world ready to buy a 1.500$ smartwatch. Which, in all likelihood, is something that will stop working after a few years and will be "current" for a couple of them at most.

    1. Re:Maybe I'm just too poor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you can find a torrent for it.

    2. Re:Maybe I'm just too poor... by asylumx · · Score: 1

      Seems like a big number off the cuff, but by definition there are roughly 72 million 1%-ers in the world. This 100k equates to 0.14% of the 1%, or 0.000014% of the world's population. If you put it in those terms, it's pretty easy to believe there are that many suckers with money to burn in the world.

    3. Re:Maybe I'm just too poor... by afidel · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and if you make more than $35k/year you're included in that global 1%, doesn't mean you've got the loose $ to buy a $1,500 watch.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    4. Re:Maybe I'm just too poor... by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Seems like a big number off the cuff, but by definition there are roughly 72 million 1%-ers in the world.

      Err...you don't have to be a 1%-er to have enough disposable income to drop a mere $1500 on a watch. I mean, no, a middle class person doesn't buy on every day, maybe once every couple years...at most.

      What is your definition of 1%-er? To me, that the folks raking in billions a year. Not a middle to upper middle class guy making around the $200-$250K a year mark.

      That type salary can easily afford this type of watch, and not sneeze at it much....but they are hardly rich!!

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    5. Re:Maybe I'm just too poor... by asylumx · · Score: 1

      Why not? People making less than that find ways to buy $1,500 TVs and other devices all the time. Why not a watch? Besides, what I said is that it's easy to believe that 100k of that 72,000,000 people are willing to throw that kind of money out on a watch, not that all 72,000,000 would be doing it.

    6. Re:Maybe I'm just too poor... by asylumx · · Score: 1

      When I said "by definition" I meant it -- 1% of approx. 7.2 billion is approx. 72 million. Obviously that varies based on what you use as estimated world population, but the point is still the same. Anyway, you're right, you don't have to be a 1%er to be able to afford this. You just have to have your priorities set in such a way that this is what you'd want to spend your money on. Even working class people here in the US could "afford" this watch, at least as well as they can afford the crazy TVs, cars, and other crap they buy all the time. For that matter, many people with smoking addictions spend far more on cigarettes than what this watch costs.

  12. Re:Santa isn't coming this year by Sique · · Score: 0

    Luckily, only the US-Santa lives at the Northpole. Other countries have different locations: Mo-i-Rana for Norwegians, Rovaniemi for Finns, just "out in the forest" for Germans, in Bari for Italians (and in theory for all other Catholics too)...

    --
    .sig: Sique *sigh*
  13. Re:Santa isn't coming this year by Feral+Nerd · · Score: 0

    The liberals just raised taxes again on his corporation North Pole Inc. and forced him to provide Obamacare for his elves. They also sued him for giving coal to bad children, saying it that every child should be a winner and it was unfair to black kids who grew up in worse situations than whites, so therefore Santa's policy was racial discrimination. The fine was $400,000,000.

    He is no longer able to make a profit and therefore had to declare bankruptcy. Sorry kids. ;(

    Vote for Trump in 2016 if you want Santa to come back. Make America great again!

    What? I thought that Santa Claus is Canadian, based on his legitimate Canadian mailing address:

    Santa used to be Canadian but that guy quit after Bill O'Reilly attacked him at Macy's and beat him into a pulp for wishing Bill 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas': http://dailycurrant.com/2012/1...

  14. Something funny with these numbers by johnw · · Score: 1

    So they've been making 1200/week and so far they've sold 100,000 in a month? That means they've been manufacturing them and stockpiling them for the last 83 months (nearly 7 years) prior to launching them.

    I smell some made up numbers put into a press release and then blindly copied by the meeja.

    1. Re:Something funny with these numbers by johnw · · Score: 1

      I should of course have said 83 weeks, not months. The number still smell though.

    2. Re:Something funny with these numbers by sexconker · · Score: 1

      They haven't sold a single one to an actual customer, as far as I know.
      These are all orders from retailers/distributors.

  15. Re:Santa isn't coming this year by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    His main office is in Lapland, but apparently he's bankrupt due to unpaid tax so you might not be able to visit this year.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  16. Apples comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    100 000 units? Well, thats cute. /Apple

  17. Lost opportunity to set themselves apart. by BadgerRush · · Score: 1

    TAG Heuer lost an opportunity to set themselves apart from the "childish" smartwatches from tech companies. They could have added, on top of the LCD (but below the touch-sensitive glass), proper clock hands driven by a precision step motor. This way it could vary the functions by changing the background labels and dynamically positioning the clock hands accordingly. So in clock mode it would look like a proper "adult" clock instead of a "child toy" like the other smartwatches.

    1. Re:Lost opportunity to set themselves apart. by amRadioHed · · Score: 1

      What about when your desired function is reading messages, and you've got two big, useless hands in the way.

      --
      We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
    2. Re: Lost opportunity to set themselves apart. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds too hipsterish. Using something obsolete to needlessly overcomplicate for the sake of aesthetics. Granted it is a market.

  18. Re:Santa isn't coming this year by asylumx · · Score: 1

    So you're saying the north pole is a US territory? It's not even land...

  19. Re:Santa isn't coming this year by KGIII · · Score: 1

    Santa's Village is in New Hampshire, in the White Mountains. I've driven by it but I've never been. I didn't grow up in the area. But, I've seen it. This time of year, it's closed but that's 'cause he's getting ready for the holiday season. I have sent a bunch of school kids there - I was invited to tag along but declined. It was one of the local recreation department things and wasn't fully funded so they weren't going to be able to go. Yeah yeah, I'm a sucker.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  20. Tim Cook is kicking himself. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

    He seems to have sorely underestimated how much the insecure rich bastards would be willing to pay to reassure themselves that they are successful and they stand apart from the unwashed masses.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  21. As hot as the sun by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

    Actually, with a contact area of roughly 2 square inches and a nominal maximum solar flux of about 1500W/m2, 2 Watts over a watch back really is about as hot as the sun here on earth.

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  22. Re:Microsoft's comment by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

    100 000 units? Wow - could you talk to our Surface team? /Microsoft

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  23. Tag Heuer is a luxury watch maker? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hahahahaha

  24. Slashvertisement Lies by sexconker · · Score: 1

    According to a report on Bloomberg, the watchmaker has received orders over 100,000 pieces of the Connected watch from retailers and dealers - while it is not a direct end-user orders, it is a good indicator of demand in the market.

    The only place I have heard about this thing is on Slashdot. The "articles" linked to are on SlashGear. That's a Slashvertisement inside a Slashvertisement, folks!
    And a big EL OH EL at the idea of retailer/distributor orders being a good indicator of market demand, ESPECIALLY in a new market with a new player with a high price tag.

  25. Re:Santa isn't coming this year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's an infinitesimally narrow slice of land, a dimensional portal where Santa disappears with his hreinn every Christmas to tame the mighty Jörmungandr.

  26. Next year they will use red bull to increase sales by bitflusher · · Score: 1

    Next year the Reb Bull F1 team will drive with Renault engines rebadged as TAG Heuer ( https://www.formula1.com/conte... ). Perhaps they are already ramping up production to meet demand.

  27. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  28. Re:Microsoft's comment by dave420 · · Score: 1

    Microsoft sold nearly 1.5 million Surface Pro tablets in Q1 2015 alone...