Hands-on with the $1,500 Tag Heuer Connected smartwatch

Tag Heuer has teamed up with Google and Intel to launch the Connected Watch, its first Android Wear timepiece. The Connected isn't just any average Android Wear watch, however. It's a $1,500 luxury timepiece clad in titanium and bearing more than a passing resemblance to Tag Heuer's analog watches.

Tag says it went through great efforts to make sure the Connected didn't look like a smartwatch, but rather the luxury timepieces that the company is known for. The titanium construction makes the watch very light on the wrist, and the construction of the watch is a step above other smartwatches on the market.

The Connected has what's called a "transflective" display, which makes it readable in direct sunlight, and it has an always on mode to display the time. The screen itself is sharp and vibrant, though in our brief time with the watch, it was possible to discern pixels when we looked close.

The watch runs the same Android Wear software as timepieces from Motorola, LG, Samsung, Huawei, and others, but Tag has developed its own watchfaces and a handful of apps for it. But the overall capabilities of the Connected are no different from a Moto 360 or some other Android Wear watch, meaning you are paying mostly for materials and prestige here. Performance with the Intel processor was very smooth, however; it will be interesting to see how it compares in real-world usage.

We hope to spend more time with the Connected in the near future, so hang tight for more analysis.