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LG has just announced a luxury smartwatch which is actually a limited edition of its Watch Urbane, priced at $1,200 and featuring gold plating.
The timepiece was designed by LG in collaboration with REEDS Jewelers and it will be displayed at the IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) electronics show in Berlin, scheduled to start on September 4.
The launch comes just a few months after the original Watch Urbane became available to the buyers. That older model was announced at the Mobile World Congress in February, with a price tag of approximately $350.
This however can be considered a strategic move, aimed to challenge Apple, the company’s main competitor in the luxury wearable market. While Apple Watches feature 18-k gold and retail at at least $10,000, the new LG timepiece boasts superior plating, at a fraction of the price.
500 premium watches will be created, which means that buyers will join an exclusive club. Those who are interested in making a purchase can already pre-order on the REEDS website now, but shipping of the products will only commence in October.
The LG Watch Urbane Luxe has been characterized as a ‘luxurious wearable’, especially designed with a certain wearer in mind. It has 23-karat gold plating and a handcrafted, genuine alligator leather strap, as well as a personalized deployment clasp.
Regular watches use 18-k gold but this luxury smartwatch has a sturdier type of plating, avoiding however 24-k gold, whose softness wouldn’t be advisable for such a device. Moreover, each of these premium timepieces ‘is individually numbered and presented in a piano gloss lacquered case with a signed certificate of authenticity’.
The technical specs are the same as for the basic model: 410mAh battery, 1.3-inch P-OLED (plastic-organic LED) Display screen, 320×320 pixel resolution, 245ppi, 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC processor, 512MB LPDDR2 RAM, 4Gb built-in memory.
‘This blending of craftsmanship and technology is a natural evolution of the smartwatch, which is becoming more of a lifestyle accessory than a piece of hardware’, declared Chris Yie, LG Mobile’s Vice President and Head of Marketing Communications.
The new Watch Urbane Luxe crafted by the Korean company aims to compete with other high-priced smartwatches, such as the Helvetica 1 Mondaine or the Tag Heuer Carrera Wearable 01.
The luxury smartwatch is designed to be not just an extension of the wearer’s smartphone, but also an extension of the actual person. This isn’t the first LG watch that works using the Android Wear platform, but it is certainly the most luxurious item it has produced so far.
Image Source: Indian Express
