White diamond sells for $16.2 million
November 14, 2007
White diamond sells for $16.2 million
An 84.37-carat white diamond touted by Sotheby’s for its size and beauty sold at auction Wednesday to Guess clothing company founder Georges Marciano for just under $16.2 million.
The jewel â the largest top-quality, brilliant-cut white diamond ever to appear at auction â had been valued by Sotheby’s at between $13.3 million and $17.8 million.
Marciano’s winning bid, made by telephone, came to $16,189,769 including the buyer’s premium. It was just short of the all-time auction record for a stone or piece of jewelry, a record held by the same Sotheby’s branch in Geneva for a 100.1-carat diamond that fetched $16.5 million in 1995.
“In my 32-year career, this stone ranks among the most beautiful diamonds I have ever seen,” said David Bennett, the auction house’s chairman of jewelry for Europe and the Middle East. He called it a “magnificent and unique stone.”
The diamond has received the highest possible grading, Sotheby’s said. It is D-color, or finest white, has flawless clarity, and its cut, polish and symmetry have all been graded excellent, it said.
The New York-based company is hoping the “Magnificent Jewels” sale at Geneva’s historic Beau Rivage hotel will help it bounce back from the disheartening results of its Impressionist and Modern Art auction, which sent its stock tumbling.
The sale last week fetched $269.7 million, well short of estimates, and led some analysts to speculate whether the flight from risk currently gripping financial markets may be spilling over into the art world.
The company announced that it lost $14.6 million by purchasing paintings that failed to sell.
The white diamond already has been showcased in Hong Kong, Paris, New York, Rome, Los Angeles, London, Dubai and Bahrain. The auction Wednesday also featured other diamonds, colored stones and gems from the world’s leading jewelers.
Diamond-covered Christmas tree on sale in Japan
November 13, 2007
Diamond-covered Christmas tree on sale in Japan
For those who don’t mind splurging a bit this holiday season, a Japanese department store is offering a Christmas tree with 400 diamonds for a cool 1.8 million dollars.
Takashimaya department store chain is selling the tree — actually a small tower of preserved roses with a teddy bear — for a symbolic 200.7 million yen from Wednesday to kick off its year-end sales campaign.
The tree, which stands 40 centimeters (16 inches) high, features about 100 carats of diamonds from southern Africa and Australia, the department store said.
The smaller diamond pieces “sparkle charmingly like morning dew on petals, while two-carat and three-carat pieces mesmerise admirers with their noble glow,” the store said in a statement.
The tree is based on a design by Parisian flower boutique Claude Quinquaud.
Luxury watches, luxury jewelry: Piaget “Magic Hour”
November 5, 2007
This very neat Luxusschätzlein develops into a true chameleon on the wrist of the wearer.
The ability of the conversion, it has luxury Damenarmbanduhr thanks to a hidden mechanism in the PIAGET-Ateliers in secret and it was developed as the first creation of the world watches allowed, in three different clocks to transform. Read more
The Evian 2008 Christian Lacroix bottles
October 25, 2007
Every year French water company Evian launches special edition bottles, and this year, they have come up with two limited edition bottles designed by famed fashion design house, Christian Lacroix. The Evianâs 2008 Holiday bottle comes in two versions, the pret-a-porter and haute couture.
The prêt-a-porter version will tentatively be sold at Pusateriâs, Wholefoods, Sommerhill market, and 5 Saisons. The 750 ml glass bottle will retail for approximately $9.99 in restaurants in high end grocery stores. On the other hand, there are just 99 bottles of haute couture, which will be distributed worldwide and auctioned off for charity. The starting bid for the limited edition haute couture bottle is US $1,000.
Luxury accessories: Cartier handbag “Marcello” -IT-Bag
October 25, 2007
Luxury accessories: Cartier handbag “Marcello” -IT-Bag
How exceeds a classic, timeless wonderful handbag? Not easy, but not impossible. And not at all in-house Cartier. There are “Limited Editions” everywhere, in cars, jewelry, furniture, then why not also for luxury accessories such as bags noble? !
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Quartier 206, in Berlin, is the first time the “Marcello” -Bag by Cartier in the Department’s goals to buy.
The luxury department store presented on the weekend of the new Anniversery-Edition It-Bag of Cartier.
The special feature of this “Marcello” is that it is a jubilee - Charm at Henkel bears, exclusively for next quarter.
Luxury Watches: Bell & Ross BR 2002 INSTRUMENT
October 25, 2007
New professional -Taucheruhr Bell & Ross specifically for professional -Taucher developed, based on its instruments can leave at any time, met the collection BR02 INSTRUMENT according to two main criteria is: readability and water tightness.
Legibility: to the extreme conditions in sport diving meet, the clock was BR02 with large hands and Leuchtindexen equipped with a reading light in the dark of time in great depth intercourse.
The one-sided rotating inner bezel with a luminescent index marked 60 minutes graduation, also allows an optimal reading of the diving time …
Water-resistant: With up to 1,000 meters guaranteed water tightness BR02 INSTRUMENT withstand the very high pressures, even by the Swiss watch industry exceeds preset defaults, according to the manufacturer.
When diving in great depth like the decompression valve in the pressure inside the outer casing pressures.
According to Bell & Ross is ideal for this watch people who are strong pressures as extreme temperatures, rapid acceleration or dangerous pressure.
So the clock for par Luxistenredakteure! !
Technical data (pm at the picture above):
Movement: Automatic.
Features: hours, minutes, seconds, date.
Housing: diameter 44 mm. Stainless steel 316L, satin polished. Vereschraubte crowns. Drain valve for deep-sea diving.
Dial: black. Figures, index and hands with fluorescent coating for improved night vision.
Pro dial: Black dial with large, fluorescent index.
Bezel: Gezahnte, unterglas-Ziffernring with 60er-Teilung crown by adjustable. Fluoreszierender marker.
Glass: Sapphire reflective glass.
Waterproof: 1000 meters.
Bracelet: rubber or extremely durable
Synthetikband.
Price: 3000 â¬
Microsoft releases limited edition Zune
October 24, 2007
 If you’re a sucker for all things limited edition, then this Zune from Microsoft ought to capture your attention. Dedicated to the Latin artists Wisin y Yandel, this limited edition Zune will be on sale from 29 October onwards at Wal-Mart stores with a price of $200. Each purchase will come with a pre-loaded album of Wisin y Yandel, music video clips and concert footage, making the couple of Benjamins you drop on this Zune well worth it. I for one, will be first in line for a limited edition Smashing Pumpkins Zune.
Ready-to-Use Folding Personal Sauna
October 24, 2007
If you swear by sauna bath for your fitness regime and are planning to get a personal sauna unit for your home then this folding sauna has an edge over the few others, we have told you about in the past. The IronMan Elite Folding Carbon Pro Sauna features a unique space-saving feature that folds to 1/4 of the set-up size for compact storage. It also includes a stereo CD/radio sound system, easy to reach digital control panel, and tempered and tinted glass door and windows. Besides itâs folding design the CarbonPro sauna is more advantageous then a ceramic heater sauna visâ¦its more skin friendly, enables deeper tissue penetration et al. So, users can stay in longer than traditional ceramic heated saunas because of the unique heat distribution. The interior and exterior are constructed of Canadian red cedar wood with natural soothing aroma and it can accommodate up to 2 persons. Last but not the least, Ironman sauna requires no assembly and is ready to use out of the box in just 5 minutes. As for the price tag, itâs easily affordable for $2,900.
Bottled Up: Luxury bottled Water
October 23, 2007
Hip-hop giveth and hip-hop taketh away. Earlier this year, Frédéric Rouzaud, managing director of Louis Roederer Champagne, was asked by The Economist whether the hip-hop world’s love of its flagship, Cristal, “could hurt the brand.” “What can we do?” Rouzaud responded. “We can’t forbid people from buying it. I’m sure Dom Pérignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business.”
Chalk up another one for French diplomacy. An indignant Jay-Z, the multiplatinum rapper and Def Jam Records president and CEO, promptly slammed the statement as racist and called for a boycott, triggering a rush of nasty PR for the gold-tone bottle he helped put on the map. No more endorsements in hit songs, no more gauzy close-ups in videos or on red carpets. The embrace that made Cristal the eighth most-mentioned brand in Billboard’s Top 20 chart in 2005, according to American Brandstand, was summarily withdrawn.
Cristal will survive, of course. Demand still runs high, even if some of the slack has to be picked up in the less-than-glamorous Chinese and Russian markets. But within hip-hop–and the coveted young demo that follows its cues–what will take its place?
This is the question for Branson B., a Harlem talent manager and entrepreneur with local roots that run about as deep as they get. Branson doesn’t rap, but he was once described as “hip-hop’s version of the Dalai Lama.” Now, with Cristal’s implosion, he’s looking to become hip-hop’s version of Frédéric Rouzaud: A self-taught oenophile, Branson has spent years developing his own high-quality champagne and has just begun rolling it out in select venues nationwide.
Branson’s venture has all the makings of the perfect entrepreneurial storm. He has name recognition in a champagne-fueled subculture and a new bubbly to bring to market at precisely the moment when the dominant bottle has gone flat. But his story is an object lesson in how hard it can be to build a brand even when you seem to be the right guy, in the right place, at the right time. By his own calculations, Branson has been paid tribute in more than 50 songs over the years. Now he’s hoping some of those old friends in the hip-hop community will show up to back one of their own. Hoping ⦠and still waiting.
Almost Famous
Long, neat dreadlocks fall across Branson’s broad shoulders as he sits beside a line of empty champagne bottles in his Harlem wine bar, which is still under construction. Scattered among the empties are various promotional materials for rap artists and events. One glossy card plugs a DVD documentary on the notorious street thug 50 Cent, whose violent exploits inspired the chart-topping rapper who took his name. Branson narrates the project.
Branson’s name, like Cristal’s, is a hip-hop staple: It has popped up in hit lyrics from stars such as the Notorious B.I.G., Sean “Puffy/Puff Daddy/P. Diddy/Diddy” Combs, Mase, Redman, and LL Cool J. It’s “like he’s a celebrity,” says Jimmy Rosemond, CEO of Czar Entertainment and manager of rapper the Game, adding that for out-of-town artists, an audience with Branson is a “status symbol.” Fab 5 Freddy, coexecutive producer of VH1’s Hip Hop Honors, agrees: “When you go to the top of the food chain, he’s a well-known guy.”
In fact, Fab 5 Freddy and other industry insiders credit Branson with having triggered rap’s champagne craze in the first place in the early to mid-nineties, when he’d show up at recording sessions or other events with a few bottles of his latest favorite. But Branson is not your typical upturned-pinkie connoisseur. The lyrics about him tend to be of the “smoke a little Branson inside the mansion” variety (he’s quick to point out that “I don’t control the lyrical content, I don’t control the artist”). And his reputation in the neighborhood goes back decades, to its most storied hip-hop incubator, the Rooftop Roller Rink. He has since managed artists including major R&B star Christopher Williams and the influential producer and Jodeci member DeVante Swing. He had his own record label for a while and later worked on another with Andy Hilfiger (brother of Tommy). For more than 20 years, his candy store, the Sugar Bowl, was an uptown landmark.
Branson’s love of champagne led him downtown, however, to Manhattan’s finer wine shops; with their guidance, his fascination evolved into an obsession. “He was always exploring different champagnes,” says J.R. Battipaglia, manager of Garnet Wines & Liquors in Manhattan, who has known Branson as a customer for more than 15 years. “He wasn’t a label buyer.”
Branson says it took a good decade before it occurred to him to go into the business. He gravitated toward the rare but unsung “grower-producer” champagnes–those grown and bottled on one estate–and when he first expressed interest in importing some by the acclaimed Guy Charlemagne, Battipaglia was surprised but jumped to help. He put Branson in touch with Jeanne-Marie de Champs, who represents some of the top estates in Burgundy, as well as Guy Charlemagne. “He has a personality that we are maybe not used to in France,” de Champs chuckles, “but it’s great.” She agreed to broker an introduction overseas.
So, more than two years before the Cristal controversy even broke, Branson journeyed to the village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, in the Champagne region, for the nearly three-month-long process of selecting grapes for three cuvées. He sweated through the rules and regulations imposed on new businesses by the French government and the region’s hyperzealous governing body. (The laws, de Champs notes, “are very strict. You cannot do what you want, how you want, or what kind of label you want.”) He fought off a challenge to his trademark from another company that claimed Branson’s name was too similar. He created his own sleek, understated logo for the label and secured a New York State broker’s license to buy and sell alcohol.
After three and a half years and an investment he puts in the mid six figures, Branson had three bottles of his own: a blanc de blanc/brut réserve, a brut rosé, and a special 2000 vintage, now available as “Guy Charlemagne selected by Branson B.” Retail cost: $40, $43, and $65, respectively, or roughly a quarter the retail cost of a bottle of Cristal, which can run $800 or far more in some nightclubs.
Brand Flash
“There are two realities in champagne,” explains Roberto Rogness, general manager of Santa Monica’s Wine Expo and a commentator on the industry for NPR and MSNBC. “It’s almost exactly like the music industry. Over here is pop music and over there is the music you want to listen to.” Powerhouses like LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton), the world’s largest producer of luxury goods, dominate the game with millions in marketing muscle, while the best small vineyards in Champagne remain all but invisible despite arguably superior–and definitely cheaper–products. “You have always been able to buy our bottles of better champagne than Cristal for the same money,” Rogness says flatly.
“I’m not going to lie. I’d love nothing more than for Jay-Z to stand up and say, ‘Hey, I’m drinking Branson B. now.’ That would be wonderful, and help sell the product.”
In other words, the champagne hierarchy is no meritocracy, and the rest of the $23 billion U.S. wine market is no different. Fab 5 Freddy and others point out that rappers are expanding into wine and liquor just as they moved into apparel following Russell Simmons’s striking success with Phat Farm. Meanwhile, the rise of bottle service in large clubs has made them far more influential as distribution and promotion channels–making brand flash a critical component of sales.
Both trends–rappers’ entry into the wine-and-spirits business and the use of clubs to promote brands–are being built into the entire product-development strategy. For example, David McCallen, CEO of Straight Up Brands Inc., a publicly traded company, is launching a sparkling wine called Wave with rapper Foxy Brown, as well as other beverages with Ja Rule and DJ Clue. According to McCallen, because Foxy is signed to Def Jam, Jay-Z has agreed to host Wave’s launch this winter, “appear around the product with her,” carry it in his 40/40 Clubs, and include a promotional insert in her new CD.
The quality of the wine isn’t the main point–it’s all about placement and cross-promotion. McCallen stresses that deals like Foxy’s aren’t endorsement deals. The artist “owns a piece of the brand” and shares in revenue as a creative partner (he puts the profits on wine products at around 35% to 40%, and up to 100% on spirits). “We give them signing bonuses, just like a record deal,” he explains. “I want the artist to literally work [the name] into their songs, rap about it, have it in their videos. It’s all product placement.” After Busta Rhymes released his hit “Pass the Courvoisier” in 2001, that tipple saw a 30% sales increase.
“This is a fit for [rap artists] from a product point of view,” McCallen adds. “I mean, they’re shameless promoters⦠. So it’s not a disconnect for them to rap about a liquor deal, a liquor product that they own. It’s spot on.”
The Shepherd
And then there’s Branson, with his studiously chosen grapes, his understated bottle, his legit French label and trademark. For Branson, the quality of the wine is the point. But as wine merchant Battipaglia knows all too well from the retail side, grower-producer champagnes like Branson’s, outstanding as they may be, have struggled here. “Americans, I would say, are very label conscious,” he says, adding that Branson is “really working hard to get exposure. I think he initially thought it would have been a little easier.”
Up at his as-yet-nameless bar in Harlem, Branson gives voice to a classic business quandary: “I don’t want to pigeonhole myself to the rap community and be like, ‘Hey, this is a rap champagne,’” he says. “I’d like the support of the hip-hop audience, but I’d like the hip-hop audience to be educated and aware and conscious of what they’re drinking.” In other words, he’s serious about this stuff. And that has always been his way. “When Puff and other people in hip-hop were young and just about to do it, they were very inspired by Branson and his tastes,” says Fab 5 Freddy. “Branson is a very intelligent, very aware tastemaker. He’s one of those shepherds.”
Wouldn’t you think, then, that a guy with so much legend behind him would have the hip-hop community rallying, eager to put forward one of its own?
Branson mentions having sent some samples with a personal note in early 2006 to Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in Manhattan. He and Jay-Z aren’t close, but they know each other socially through a mutual friendship with the late Christopher Wallace, aka the Notorious B.I.G. Branson worked for Biggie as a consultant during portions of his multiplatinum career, which was cut short in 1997 in a still-unsolved homicide.
Though he’s built like a linebacker, Branson comes across tonight like a self-possessed yet world-weary professor. “I mean, I’m not going to lie. I’d love nothing more than for Jay-Z to stand up and take a position and say, ‘Hey, I’m drinking Branson B. now.’ That would be wonderful, and that would help sell the product.” After Jay-Z cited Krug–hardly a brand known for its uptown cred–as an alternative to Cristal, it saw “a nice sales increase,” acknowledges Emily Cohen, Krug’s New York–based senior brand manager (she says she can’t link the two events, but Wine Expo’s Rogness says he also noticed a spike–and does attribute it to Jay-Z’s plug). Jay-Z didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment about whether he would support Branson’s new venture.
Combs, too, is nowhere in sight. Czar Entertainment’s Rosemond says Branson’s role in advising and building up Biggie was “definitely one of the components” of Combs’s own ascent. (”So Branson, pass me a jar cuz these cats done went too far,” he raps on one track.) For months, however, Branson has been hearing that Combs was considering launching his own champagne. “You know, it’s funny,” Branson says, without laughing or smiling, “here I am trying to do something, and now he’s trying to do it.” He adds, “Puffy and I had a good relationship for a lot of years, and I used to share champagne with him, but I wouldn’t⦠.” His voice trails off. “I know that I had some kind of impact in his life, but I don’t know if he would admit it.
“You know what I’ve learned?” he adds. “Everybody remembers different things.”
Combs also refused to say whether he intended to support Branson’s champagne–or compete with it. Fab 5 Freddy is sure he and Jay-Z will do their part (Combs owns a number of popular restaurants as well). “Oh, absolutely. It’s just a matter of time, if it hasn’t happened already.” He relays that Combs tried some of Branson’s label earlier this year and enjoyed it.
Then, in October, the rapper Nas was quoted talking about the possibility of “Diddy/Nas champagne.” A week or so later, a Jay-Z video appeared shilling for Armand de Brignac, a champagne with a gold-plated bottle and an ace-of-spades-shaped label. The company’s CEO insisted there was no financial arrangement with Jay-Z but complimented him on having “the highest standards and finest taste.”
Maybe it’s not about community, after all.
Bubble Up
Dining in a slick Murray Hill lounge one mild fall evening, Branson seems more upbeat than he did at his wine-bar-in-progress. Honey lounge in New York has signed on to carry Branson B., and the exclusive Cain clubs are thinking about it. Megu has added it to the wine lists at its tony Japanese restaurants in Trump Towers and Tribeca (Tribeca’s list is a Wine Spectator award winner). Platinum-selling rapper the Game recently wrote Branson B. Champagne into the performance rider for his upcoming world tour. Momentum is coming Branson’s way.
“I’m happy being creative,” Branson remarks. “I’m happy doing things, making things happen, having ideas, and seeing them manifest.” Asked about the days of dropping by while Biggie was in the studio, he recalls being present the night “Rap Phenomenon” was put down on wax. “We’re sitting in there, we’re listening to the track, and then he just spits my name as part of the lyrical flow. You know, everybody turns and looks at you, but at the same time, it’s not about you. It’s about how it fits, it works, and it all feels good.
“I didn’t know he was going to do that,” Branson adds, sounding humbled.
Only recently did Branson decide to track down all the songs that have included his name and document them. The sheer volume took him by surprise. “I don’t think there’s another person who isn’t an entertainer or star who has been mentioned more than myself in the lyrical content of this music,” he muses.
“That, I guess, is building a brand.”
Investing In A Big Screen TV
October 22, 2007
A decade ago buying a 29″ TV was a big deal and we were very excited when we got ours. My husband and I had just gotten married and we wanted to buy one for our first apartment. We were thrilled with our home entertainment center and all if offered with various accessories. We have that same TV today but when you compare it to the size of the new TV’s on the market, it is very small. It also doesn’t offer much in the way of features.
My sister bought a 42″ plasma screen a while back, and I can
really tell a difference in our TV after I have been watching
hers for a while. Yet my sister wasn’t very impressed with the
big screen TV. She was disappointed that she had spent so much
money on it. She really didn’t feel that the size of the picture
or the quality of it was really worth it. She decided to take it
back to the store for a refund and she was happy to buy a
smaller TV that featured surround sound.
It wasn’t long after that when my parents took the same leap
with their TV choice. They invested in the 42″ Sony plasma
model. My mother has always had the belief that a TV should be
hidden when it isn’t in use. She didn’t like the fact that they
had a 32″ monitor that sat in plain site. She agreed to buy the
larger TV only if my dad would agree to buy a cabinet with doors
to close when the TV wasn’t being watched.
My father was accepting of this deal, and headed right out to
buy the 42″ plasma before my mother changed her mind or added
more negotiations to the deal. Yet my dad didn’t invest in the
cabinet and opted for a bamboo blind to cover it when it wasn’t
being watched. People who visit my parents always ask about this
odd feature in their living room.
I do want to buy a larger screen TV for our own home but I am
waiting for the prices to come down. There are also some bugs
with various plasma TV’s so I want to wait for them to be worked
out as well. I have found in the past that is better to sit back
and watch for a while than to jump on board when the latest item
hits the market. It gives you the chance to find out what works
well and what doesn’t. In the mean time we can go lift up the
bamboo blind and watch the big plasma TV at my parent’s house.
