Tag Heuer has already shown that it’s possible to make a luxury smartwatch that people will want to wear (including us). The Swiss watchmaker proved that it pays to put real thought into what people expect from a Tag watch as well as a smartwatch to make it feel more than just an attractive shell for an operating system. Montblanc, take note.
Louis Vuitton doesn’t have the same watchmaking heritage as Tag; it’s only been making timepieces since 2002. But it does know a thing or two about luxury. So it’s taking everything it knows about what LV lovers have come to expect from the brand and channelled it into its Tambour Horizon smartwatch collection.
Read this: The best smartwatches for women
The trio of 42mm watches, which all run Android Wear 2.0, feature designs closely inspired by its Tambour Moon watch range, and that’s the first thing Louis Vuitton really gets right here. Ignoring the touchscreen, this smartwatch looks identical to the watches it’s based on. From the brushed stainless steel case – or the polished case on the Black model – to the selection of interchangeable straps and bold, concave bezel, it’s a gorgeous-looking watch.
It’s thick (12.5mm to be precise), but unlike a lot of bulky smartwatches the size is well masked by the attractive design, and it feels more statement big than something that’s too chunky. Instantly, it feels like a watch designed for women, but the Louis Vuitton spokesperson assures us that with the selection of unisex bands available (30 for men, 30 for women), it hopes this will be smartwatch that men will want to wear as well.
Speaking of straps, we wouldn’t expect anything but quality from Louis Vuitton on this front and that’s exactly what you get. Whether you want something that screams LV, like the white band with those famous initials emblazoned across it, or something made from that iconic monogram finish, you’re well catered for here. For additional bands you can expect to pay $235.
Coming from the same smartwatch stable as Tag’s Modular Connected 45, I fully expected to see some similarities on the hardware front, particularly in the screen department. But the Tambour Horizon offers a large 1.2-inch, 390 x 390 resolution AMOLED touchscreen display that is fully circular. There are no flat tyres here. You get those deep blacks and popping colours that we’d associate with Samsung’s smartwatches. It’s not best in class, but it’s a lovely display. You won’t find GPS, heart rate sensors or anything fitness based here, but there’s a very good reason for that. Louis Vuitton is pitching this as a smartwatch for travellers you can match up with your bags and other LV accessories.
Another nice touch is the charging setup. It’s a small disc shaped cradle that magnetically clips onto the back of the watch. There are no magnetic pins to line up, just make sure the crown is pointing away from the charger to power up. It even comes with its own monogram-style case and we were told that if you’re travelling and need a different plug, you can simply walk into a Louis Vuitton store and they will give you the right one free of charge.
But enough gushing about the design. Here’s what it offers on the smartwatch front. As we’ve already said, the Tambour Horizon runs on Android Wear 2.0, so it’ll work with Android phones and iPhones and you can expect all the usual features. You’ll also have to download a secondary LV Link to get the watch up and running properly. The brand has worked closely with Google and Qualcomm so that the watch will work seamlessly in other countries, including China. So a simple restart will flip apps like Google Fit into their Chinese equivalents. This was seen as an important feature to include, with LV’s strong customer base in the Far East.
Clearly a lot of time has gone into building the watch faces for the Tambour Horizon, to provide something that’s not only familiar but also easy to customise. So you’ll be able to add Android Wear complications like step counts or timezones, but you can also style them up with familiar LV designs. There are also watch faces brought over from some of the brand’s most popular watches, such as the one inspired by its colourful Escale watch range with its 24 time zones. There’s a lot to like here.
For apps, a push on the crown (that doesn’t twist) will bring you up the usual app suspects, including Google Play Store access, Google Fit and Fit Workout. Louis Vuitton has also designed two of its own apps which channel that smartwatch for travellers theme. The first is LV Guide, which aims to point you in the right direction for places of interest you should visit in cities across the world. There will be seven cities supported at launch, including London, New York and Beijing. This app will for example pull up restaurants nearby and give you the option to make a reservation, or even give you directions, provided you have Google Maps installed.
The other addition is My Flight. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see it in action, but this will collate your flight times, gates and terminals, counting down when you need to get out of duty free and get a move on. It’s a nice idea and as way of continuing that travellers theme, could prove useful as opposed to gimmicky.
I walked into the Louis Vuitton boutique expecting the garish worst, but instead what I found was a smartwatch collection that really impresses. It definitely looks the part and the software tweaks, whether it’s the watch faces or the app additions, will certainly help make the Tambour Horizon feel a unique prospect in comparison to other Android Wear smartwatches. Yes, you are going to have to pay anywhere from $2,400 to $2,600 to own one, but for someone that wants a smartwatch to match their luxury gear, this is definitely going to appeal.
SOURCE:https://www.wareable.com/android-wear/louis-vuitton-tambour-horizon-review
