With the hysteria over the threat posed by smart watches – the Apple Watch in particular – dying down, new models from TAG Heuer, Montblanc and Samsung show how the two worlds can happily live together
By James Gurney

Given the vapours that the industry was having about the approach of smart watches over the last few years, this year?s Baselworld was remarkable for the way that these watches have become accepted as just another category, which, in turn, is developing its own niches. More surprisingly, it?s a category that?s proving to be quite interesting to follow, there being all sorts of new questions posed by the demands of the technology, the brands and the buying public.
The noise started the week ahead of Baselworld with TAG Heuer and Montblanc staging global launches for new watches in the category and Samsung announcing it was taking a stand in centre of Basel?s main hall.
TAG Heuer was the first of the established watch brands to dive in the deep end and offer a full-fat smart watch, the Carrera Connected. By all accounts, it?s been wildly successful (though its 60,000-odd sales are barely significant compared to the numbers Apple, Samsung and LG have shifted) as the market liked the Swiss heritage gloss that TAG was able to give the package. That Swissness was made the central theme of TAG Heuer?s launch of the Modular 45 Connected in mid March, as the event was held at the Rütli Meadow, the birthplace of the Swiss Confederation (think Magna C...