TAG Heuer is Now a Luxury Phone Maker

Since 1860 TAG Heuer has been making luxury watches, specifically sporty looking chronographs, but lately it seems as though this Swiss company is making more luxury cellular phones than it is men's and women's watches.

In September of this year TAG released the Meridiist to not so rave reviews. There is a huge variety of cell phones to choose from and when it came to basic specs, the Meridiist didn't go above and beyond (except of course in looks and price tag). It came with a 1.9" QVGA main screen, monochrome OLED on its outer rim, 2-megapixel camera, MP3/AAC/MPEG-4 playback, and 7 hours of battery time, which is standard in most phones. It's made of corrosion-resistant, watch-making steel and comes with a back of crocodile, leather or rubber; all reflective of that fact that it is branded: TAG Heuer, as these are common materials used in the bands and straps of luxury watches. Who came up with the price of $5,300 to $6,100 is the question?

There are many TAG watches that are available for less than this. In fact, practically every TAG collection of men's and women's watches has pieces for way under $5,000. Check out the TAG Heuer Aquaracer, Carrera, Grand Carrera and Formula 1 collections to see what I mean.

Soon after releasing the Meridiist, TAG came up with a way to make it better, fancier, more exclusive; basically to add some bling and jack up the price tag. The same phone which was selling for $5,000 and up is now going for between $10,000 and $30,000. What?! It's common knowledge that luxury watches can sell for this amount, but who's heard of a cell phone entering this price range. Called the Meridiist Diamant, the phones are available in two styles; one with 208 diamonds or the "imperial regalia of mobile phones" and one with 1232 diamonds. TAG Heuer admitted that these phones would be marketed toward women. And to make this phone seem like a piece of coveted jewelry, TAG was placing each Meridiist Diamant in a wooden jewelry box, "in which to preserve and store your investment for future generations." Saving diamonds is one thing, but come on; the idea of saving a cell phone for the next generation is ridiculous being that the technology changes and gets constantly upgraded.

So, now fast forward almost two months later and TAG Heuer launches yet another version of its Meridiist cell phone, this time really upping the ante (aka the price tag) by partnering with Italian luxury automobile brand Lamborghini.

Called the TAG Heuer MERIDIIST Automobili Lamborghini, only 1,963 of these quad-band Bluetooth phones will be sold worldwide. The number is a tribute to the year that Lamborghini was founded.

The inspiration for the phone's design comes from the Murcielago (which means "bat") by Lamborghini; one of its sleekest, fastest and most exclusive cars. The phone measures about 4.5 inches by 1.8 inches, has an above-average battery life: seven hours of talk time or 28 days of standby power. Standard cell phone features include a WAP 2.0 Web browser, a 2-megapixel camera, and 2GB of internal memory.

The handset is made from "black titanium carbide coated 316L stainless steel" and has the Murcielago signature on the battery cover, which is similar to the one seen on this car's LP 640's V12 engine block. The case is made from brushed stainless steel (a metal often used in TAG watches) and has a "backlit mechanical stainless steel keypad customized with Automobili Lamborghini's trademark Taurus bull on the steel central button." The display is made from scratch resistant sapphire crystal, another common feature of luxury watches. The phone is built by ModeLabs.

As of now, you can reserve one of these new phones through select TAG Heuer and Lamborghini retail locations. It comes in different colors of real leather or alligator skin, but so far there is no price listed. Hopefully, it's closer in price range to a TAG Heuer watch than a Lamborghini!

You can learn more about all the Meridiist phones on the official TAG Heuer website.