IWC Schaffhausen plans to use the strap of Big Pilot’s watches to debut its entry into the smartwatch marketplace. Called IWC Connect, the new device is designed to give wearers control over certain online devices and will allow fully realized activity tracking,. In this way, owners of IWC timepieces will be able to control their connected Internet of Things (IoT) environment directly from the wrist while also maintaining the integrity of a handcrafted mechanical timepiece, according to IWC.
“Seeing that many of our customers and brand ambassadors are wearing connected devices alongside their IWC watches, we chose to work with a like-minded digital technology company to develop an elegant, aesthetically complementary solution that eliminates the need to have additional devices on the opposing wrist to your IWC,” said Georges Kern, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen. “But, and this is essential, we do not touch our beautiful watches – an ‘IWC’ stays a mechanical handcrafted timepiece. We’ve engineered an intelligent design solution which perfectly integrates and underlines our product worlds.”
IWC says it will provide additional details and pricing by early summer.