When smartwatches were first announced, many Swiss luxury watchmakers seemed dismissive of the idea, and while for the most part many still seem reluctant to embrace it, some have come around such as TAG Heuer. It looks like TAG Heuer won’t be alone in their smartwatch endeavors because Hublot has launched their own luxury smartwatch.
Dubbed the “Big Bang Referee”, this is a smartwatch that the company has designed for the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup. The watch is powered by Google’s Wear OS (formerly known as Android Wear) and will feature a 35.4mm watchface, a 400×400 AMOLED screen, support for Bluetooth and WiFi, and is expected to last an entire day thanks to its 410mAh battery.
However don’t expect this smartwatch to be Hublot’s main foray into the world of wearables. It will be a limited run device with only 2,018 models made, but perhaps if there is enough demand we could see Hublot venture into creating something more permanent. That being said, the watch will also come with specific World Cup features, like a countdown to the event, notifications for start times, and will also notify wearers when a goal has been scored.
Referees will also be given a special version of the watch that works with goal-line technology. In fact the device has actually been in testing in secret since 2017. Unfortunately given Hublot’s branding and the fact that it will be limited edition, the Big Bang Referee will not come cheap with a price tag of $5,200.
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