Apple has poached luxury Swiss watch brand TAG Heuer’s vice president of sales, Patric Pruniax, with the finger of suspicion pointing to its much-rumoured iWatch.
The word comes via TAG Heuer itself, as the company confirmed Pruniax had gone over to Apple to news outlet CNBC. Jean-Claude Biver, chief executive of TAG Heuer’s parent company, LVMH, spoke to CNBC speculating that Pruniax would probably end up working on the iPhone maker’s smartwatch project in its marketing department. Apple has not commented on the move, or Biver’s speculation.
Biver and analysts have suggested Apple is trying to brand its iWatch as “Swiss-made”, in a bid to hit the conventional watch market as well as the new smartwatch sector. Pruniax will allegedly help with this, but it seems like it’s a bit of an uphill struggle for Apple.
According to luxury goods analyst, Mario Ortelli of Bernstein, Apple has been approaching Swiss watch-makers (something we’ve heard before) but added that “the Swiss have got no great interest in working with Apple – if you are a luxury producer and you cooperate with Apple, you have got a dilution.”
“The iPhone is designed in California and assembled in China,” he added, “so they don’t want to dilute the value of the Swiss name.”
“They do not want to creat a device like the iPhone,” he said.
Despite the poaching, there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood either. Biver said he was happy that his colleague had taken the role. “If it had been a direct competitor, I would have felt a bit betrayed, but if he goes to Apple I think it is a great experience for him,” he said.
by pbriden via Featured Articles
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