Louis Vuitton goes upmarket in smartwatch fight with Apple

LVMH wants to sell smartwatches to well-off fashionistas by introducing a techy timepiece under its Louis Vuitton suitcase brand that opens a higher end front in the luxury conglomerate’s fightback against Apple.

Louis Vuitton’s Tambour Horizon starts at US$2,450 ($3,370), about eight times the price of an entry-level Apple Watch and significantly more than many other connected devices from European watch and fashion brands, as well as more pedestrian gadgets from Samsung Electronics Co.

“We’ll see more luxury brands break up the smartwatch duopoly between Apple and Samsung,” says John Guy, an analyst at MainFirst Bank AG. “It not only provides consumers with a luxury option, where the aesthetic is more in harmony with technology, but it also provides a springboard for younger consumers to move into traditional Swiss watches at a later stage.”

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