LVMHʼs Tag Heuer on Monday (US time) became the first Swiss watch maker to offer a "smartwatch" to customers that combines Swiss design with US technology, seeking to tap a growing market for wearable devices amid flagging sales of traditional watches.

Co-developed with Google and Intel, the "Tag Heuer Connected" will cost $1,500. One thousand units are immediately available in 15 stores across the US, with Britain, Germany, and Japan following in the coming days.

With its titanium casing, black rubber strap and digital watch hands, it is designed to look like a classical watch.

But Connected houses an Intel Atom processor beneath its touchscreen that lets wearers connect to the Internet, stream music and run applications via Googleʼs Android Wear platform, from existing favorites such as Google Fit and Google Maps to customized lifestyle and sports apps.

The watch, which electronically tethers to a phone, responds to voice commands and finger swipes. It can give the weather, set up a calendar reminder or tell the wearer how many steps she or he has walked that day, for instance.

The Connected will compete in part against Apple Incʼs Apple Watch, which has breathed life into the smartwatch category. With prices of $350 to $17,000 it competes with some traditional luxury timepieces.

Tag Heuer Chief Executive Jean-Claude Biver described the Connected watch as a way to get new customers and warm them up to traditional watches.

"The Apple Watch will never be eternal," Biver said at an event in New York. "Our watch will. Itʼs a big advantage."

Customers can swap their smartwatch for a mechanical one at the end of a 2-year warranty if they pay $1,500 more, a strategy Biver said allows the company to protect its traditions and cater to younger clientele who might be tempted by Apple.

Asked about potential sales of the new product, he said: "I only have the gut feeling that weʼre just at the beginning, and that the first (connected) watches are like the first phones we had 20 years ago."