TAG Heuer prepping luxury cellphones

Watchmaker TAG Heuer today said it would team up with French design house Modelabs to produce its own series of cellphones, marking its entrance into the same field of fashion manufacturers turned phone designers as Armani and Prada. TAG Heuer does not provide full details but expects its handsets to be as "contemporary" and "technological" as its watches while also being "timeless," according to company chief Christophe Babin.

Both companies expect the first phone resulting from their teamwork to ship sometime in the first half of 2008. TAG Heuer is best known for its sports timing and is likely to tie the phone into its more recent watch designs, which emphasize the company's Formula 1 racing connection as well as an upscale focus on precision. It remains unclear as to whether the company will follow in the footsteps of the LG Prada or Samsung P520 and adopt a full touchscreen phone design.

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