Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the Apple Watch. [Photo/Agencies]

A salesman at the famed department store Printemps agreed, saying his store won't carry the watch, which will range in price from $350 to more than $10,000 for the high-end Apple Watch Edition in 18-karat gold.

"You have to understand. We are luxury brands, and [the Apple Watch is] more technology," said the salesman at Printemps, which carries such brands as Rolex, Montblanc and Longines.

Apple's new timepiece, which will go on sale in April, links to a wearer's iPhone, and can display messages, alerts and appointments, among other things. An array of apps can track fitness, arrange a car with Uber, and even open a garage door remotely. The rectangular watch face display can be changed by the user to feature a range of styles, from Mickey Mouse pointing his hands at the time to a simple digital clock.

French newspapers put coverage of Monday's Apple watch unveiling on their business pages, reserving their popular glossy fashion pages for the winter runway shows and ads for luxurious items such as watches by Bulgari and Boucheron.

Luxury consultant Robert Burke, who is based in New York but is currently in Paris for the shows, said the Apple watch simply "hasn't resonated strongly" in the fashion world.

"Apple has notably been targeting the fashion world leading up to its launch, but the watch still has an inherently tech focused sensibility," Burke said.

"The tech world and the watch world are very different," he added. "While there's certainly a novelty and attraction to the [Apple Watch], so far it has appealed more so to the early tech adopters."