Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer has lost one of its top executives to Apple, Digital Spy said.

The boss of TAG Heuer's parent company LVMH, Jean-Claude Biver, told CNBC that its sales director left to join the Cupertino-based iPhone maker.

Biver said the sales director left as recently as last week "to take a contract with Apple", in the build-up to an iWatch launch.

The move suggests that Apple hopes to stand out in the iWatch market with a 'Swiss made' label and is rumoured to have approached several executives from Swiss watchmaker companies.

Apple has been speculated to launch an iWatch for some time and is tipped to finally reveal the device in October.