Tag Heuer Becomes the First Official Watch of Coachella

Photo Credit: Getty Images for Tag Heuer

Coachella has gone high-end now that Swiss timepiece brand Tag Heuer has come on board as the festival’s official watch.

Fans of the brand were welcomed to the Tag Heuer lounge, an exclusive VIP area within the festival that featured various amenities including a photo booth that generates social media content and a Connected Watch display for guests to interact with TAG Heuer’s latest innovation, the Tag Heuer Connected watch.

Of the partnership, Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Tag Heuer & President of the LVMH Group’s Watches Division, said, “Tag Heuer is known in the US as a luxury sport brand, a perception which honors our heritage and mastery of the chronograph movement, however, we also want to distinguish ourselves in other spheres of life to reach different audiences. We’ve connected with new fans of Tag Heuer through our support of musical events and talent, and our ability to communicate with a younger generation will be furthered by this new partnership. We are proud to be associated with Coachella, one of the most popular music festivals in the world.”

The luxury brand also unveiled the mechanical version of the Connected Watch by introducing the Special Edition Carrera, which features an automatic Calibre 5 movement and will be exclusive to Connected Watch owners.

The watch, as designed by Tag—in partnership withIntel Corporation and Google—is primarily that of a true chronograph, with a case, back and lugs made from grade 2 titanium, a contemporary material ensuring the watch is lighter and more resistant to impacts than a traditional material such as steel or gold. Completed by a textured black rubber strap (six other colors – red, blue, white, orange, green and yellow – are available, sold separately) with a deploying buckle made of grade 2 titanium as well, it has all the elegance, characteristics and level of finish expected from a fine wristwatch.

The TAG Heuer Connected is a true watch, both in terms of its appearance, with its watch faces and its minute tracks, but also in its “interactive counters”, thanks to the unique way in which its applications are displayed.

The principle is simple: the dial and the hands remain, while the most pertinent information from partner applications is elegantly displayed inside the three counters on the chronograph dial at 12, 6 and 9 o’clock, completely integrated into the watch’s aesthetic environment. The watch features an Intel® Atom™ processor Z34XX and runs the Android Wear platform, engineered by Intel with an intelligence inside the watch to optimize performance and enable a multitude of connectivity options including audio streaming, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as well as allow users to harness the full range of features offered by the Android Wear operating system. With 4 GB of memory, and all day battery life thanks to its latest-generation lithium battery, the TAG Heuer Connected is equipped with a small microphone to communicate with via Google voice control and a sapphire crystal touchscreen – the indispensable complement to the crown at 3 o’clock which also houses controls. The entire piece has been made water resistant for everyday use and is IP67 water resistance rated.