Apple today officially announced April 10 grand openings for its three dedicated Apple Watch shops located in high-end department stores in London, Paris, and Tokyo. As previously outlined, the store-within-a-store locations are at Selfridges in London, Galeries Lafayette in Paris, and Isetan in Tokyo.
The new locations appear set to handle only Apple Watch viewing and sales, with customers being directed to other Apple retail stores for their support needs.
The Selfridges Apple Watch shop will be located near the entrance to the iconic Wonder Room, a massive shopping hall that houses a wide selection of luxury jewelry and watch brands alongside a concept store and mezzanine wine bar. Apple has reportedly been drawing employees from other retail stores in London to staff the new shop. The Galeries Lafayette shop will take over four balcony sections overlooking the main rotunda of the department store.
Apple Watch shop at Galeries Lafayette in Paris (Source: Getty Images via iGen.fr)
Apple will begin in-store previews and pre-orders for the Apple Watch on April 10, with launches in the first wave of countries coming two weeks later. The high-end gold Apple Watch Edition models will only be available at select Apple retail stores, and the dedicated Apple Watch shops at these luxury department stores will almost certainly also be featuring the gold watches, which are priced from $10,000 to $17,000.
Wednesday October 7, 2026 12:02 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Some Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 owners have experienced unexpected skin irritation with the new models, according to reports on the MacRumors forums and Reddit.
Affected users complain of a burning sensation and redness under the sensor area. The Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 measure heart rate every five seconds, and some people have wondered if that's the cause of the skin...
Friday October 9, 2026 10:20 am PDT by Juli Clover
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Southern Straps to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win an Apple Watch Series 12 and a nylon band from Southern Straps to go along with it.
Southern Straps is a California-based company that has been making high-quality bands for the Apple Watch since the device first launched in 2015, and the company's selection of bands offer a an...
Tuesday October 6, 2026 6:09 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's $634 million patent loss to medical technology company Masimo has just gotten even bigger, after a federal judge ordered Apple to pay an additional $184 million in interest on what it owes (via Bloomberg Law).
The ruling takes Apple's bill to around $818 million, but that doesn't include any post-judgment interest continuing to accrue until the judgment is paid.
Judge James Selna ...
Complicated interface, no real reason to exist besides just to be there
A very anti Steve jobs product
iPod had no reason to exist - There were Walkmans and CD players.
iTunes had no read to exist - there was the radio and heck, even Napster.
The iPhone had no reason to exist - cell phones and even "smart" phoned aready existed.
The iPad had no reason to exist - laptops were already huge and other tablets had already failed.
Notice a trend here...? None of these products had a "reason" to exist other than convenience and assurance of a quality product. Besides, if I had to guess, Apple has bigger plans for the Apple Watch than just a side kick for the iPhone. My thought is that they can/will eventually sell it as its own standalone product that doesn't need an iPhone wirelessly attached and can event text, call, etc. all on its own.
Well I guess that answers the question of "How are they going to store/sell these in existing Apple Stores?" They aren't. I assume eventually at least some of the larger Apple Stores will, but probably need a lot of modification first.
All Apple stores are getting the watch. According to 9to5Mac the night of 8th and/or 9th will be used to get stores ready. These are just dedicated Watch store-within-a-store.
