New $2,400 Smartwatch Makes Apple Look Like Amateurs: Louis Vuitton Raises the Bar — and Draws a Crowd

For the big reveal of Louis Vuitton’s Tambour Horizon smartwatch, the French luxury brand threw parties across North America Tuesday night including a posh happening at the Louis Vuitton boutique in The Houston Galleria. Think caviar and champagne. More than 100 influencers, bloggers and valued customers gathered for the first look.

And a looker it is. Perhaps the most stylish smartwatch on the market with three different faces to chose from and 30 different, easily-attached bands for men and 30 designs for women, the Tambour Horizon lives up to the luxury brand‘s image. Those familiar with the house’s more traditional Tambour watch will recognize the design but inside the casing, the hardware is Google’s Android Wear 2.0 platform.

Louis Vuitton is billing the new wristwatch as “an innovative timepiece for travelers in a connected world, which allows its wearer to explore anew the Maison’s pursuit of personalization, every day.” Bowing to the traveler, the software includes flight-tracking and Louis Vuitton city guide features. Your flight’s departure gate changes, you are notified. Need a nearby restaurant in a new city? The answer is on your watch.

As the maison notes explain, “This is a timepiece that was conceived in Paris, with a case made at Louis Vuitton’s manufacturer in Switzerland, which deploys technology developed in California’s Silicon Valley – and for the very first time can be used right across the globe, including China.”

The watches start at $2,450 including a wristband which is sold separately.

Who: Alexander and Juana Leon, Chiara Casiraghi-Brody, Brian Teichman and Andy Cordes, Lindsay Moss, Carol Moss, Meghan Bailey, ValChristopher Downing, Patrick Magee, Valerie Dittner, and Andy Fullen, Louis Vuitton director of client development.