New HP Smartwatch looks like Ingenieur ?

What do you guys think ?
Doesn't look too original design to me.

Engadget HP Smartwatch

I agree with you! Even down to the detail around the bezel. Guess they are trying to make it look less tetchy and more fashionable for the main stream.

To me this looks like an outright design rip-off by HP.

Thomas

brand fraud?

This is brutal... IWC should be all over this..

Yes I agree, it's definitely a rip off, should be a solid base for legal measures?

Michael, what's your professional view?

/Anders

Hi Anders,

I really don't have a professional view since it's a very different area of the law, and it also varies by country. I believe that the standard is not "similarity" but rather "likelihood of confusion".

I would guess that the Ingenieur design was not copyrighted, or if it was the copyright might have expired. That, plus the fact that the buyer of 300 USD or so Smartwatch would guess it wasn't by IWC due to price and the LCD display, presumably makes any such case an uphill battle. But as stated I'm not expert here and it's just an opinion.

I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Perhaps some HP Smartwatch buyers will then purchase a real watch by IWC!

If they purchase the 3792 perpetual calendar above, they would have 2 smart watches. ;-)

AP successfully won against SWI and others for infringing on the Royal Oaks design. My guess is that IWC has paid a fair sum to Gerald Genta to use this design.. I'm assuming HP hasn't paid anything except to a design agency that clearly just steals designs vs creating something new..

I sure hope someone @ HP realizes what has happened here..

People who know watches will know the difference and the origins of the design. But if this HP watch becomes a success, others seeing an Ingenieur for the first time could assume the design was copied from HP and not the other way around. And then you have a several tens of thousands euro watch being associated with an electronic device. IMO, IWC should at least have their legal people look into this.

Thomas

The worst part is that HP most likely paid arm and leg to this so called "designer" w/o having a clue that their watch is just imitation. Or is HP doing to IWC what Hublot did to AP ? :-)

It's a clear rip off but given its price point/what it actually is, I doubt IWC will give it a second thought. If it was a Swiss watch maker releasing a new mechanical wrist watch, that's a bit different. IMHO.

Cheers,

Jarrod

They could have stayed with their original 1977 design:

This one sold a few days ago for $14.500 on the bay. I'd still prefer a IWC for that amount of money....

Well, this seems to be a prototype of the final HP-01 ?!

My was a little bit cheaper :-)

But it has the usual watch design of this era.

And it was also similar to an IWC model :-)

So actually, history is repeating itself here :-)

[QUOTE="T_G"]If they purchase the 3792 perpetual calendar above, they would have 2 smart watches. ;-)[/QUOTE

touché

...I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Perhaps some HP Smartwatch buyers will then purchase a real watch by IWC![/QUOTE]

Michael,you hit the nail with this final statement, I couldn't agree more! But at same time I also think that IWC's legal departement should have a closer look at it.

Cheers Chris

That's pretty cool. Retro as.

this HP 1977 is actually really cool