Chanel designer, Karl Lagerfield, and his view on luxury in tough times.

Watch manufacturers keep unveiling divinely luxurious luxury watch, some dripping in diamonds, others made from cutting-edge materials and still others displaying complications that require years of intense craftsmanship. So what of the recession? It is true we are in the grips of a recession it was confirmed just the other day. Companies are handing out the pink slip, closing new endeavors and generally cutting back, but it was Karl Lagerfield, Chanel creative director that summed the recession and luxury items quite well.

In an interview with the BBC ,in regard to selling his $2000 handbags in an economic downturn, Karl Lagerfield sounded quite cheery,

The economic downturn was needed, he says, it had gone too far. "I see it like a cleaning up - it was too rotten anyway - so it had to be cleaned up...I see it like a healthy thing - horrible but healthy, like some miracle treatment of the world."

On responding to the BBC reporter who claimed that "luxury was not the real world and what was being sold were dreams".

"What is the real world?" he asks. "If you have no dreams, or if you don't try to improve real life of everybody, people would ask why they get up in the morning.

"You have to have a drive. My drive is the work I do.

"People have different kinds of dreams. After all, people need a handbag, there are cheaper handbags. But if you can buy a beautiful one and if that's your dream to buy, why not?"

Why are people who could never afford a handbag are so interested in your handbag?

"I can be interested in a $20m diamond I will never buy, without desiring the diamond. If you want only things you can afford, it's boring too."

Karl continued his 19 rings clinking as he spoke.

"It's great to see things you may not buy - because you don't have the money - but it is very ugly to think they shouldn't exist because you can not buy them."

"People want to see something they may not be, but they should or could become," he says. The same as those handbags that cost thousands of dollars, then: dreams. "

* * *

I will conclude with some watches that dreams are made of, and maybe one day this watch will become your reality.


Girard-Perregaux Opera One Three Bridges Westminster Minute Repeater Tourbillon Men's Watch 18K Rose Gold Manual Wind on Black Strap 99750-0-52-000

Chopard's Ladies Diamond Quattro Tourbillon Watch - A Tourbillon rotating beneath rows and rows of diamonds, this watch seems to be a dream within a dream. At 500,000 Dollars it carries quite a price tag, but although we may not be able to buy it, we still can feast our eyes on its glittering splendor. 450 diamonds, baguette and pave cuts. Within the 42mm wide 18k white or rose gold case is the L.U.C. 4T manufacture made tourbillon movement. The movement is manually wound. The "Quatro" refers to four barrels within the movement with a total power reserve of 216 hours. Furthermore the Chopard L.U.C 4T is one of the only chronometer COSC certified tourbillon movement available.
Chopard utilizes the classic Happy Diamond Sport Watch case design. The gold Chopard cursive "C" signature creates the tourbillon bridge and within its gracful curves are the blued hands of the hours and minutes. The seconds are displayed by way of the tourbillon cage. The power reserve is elegantly discrete at the 12 'o' clock position of the dial with a solitude ruby placed at the empty position. The Chopard Ladies Diamond Tourbillon is a limited edition of just 50 pieces: 25 white gold and 25 rose gold.

What luxury watch is he wearing?

I have been writing this blog for quite some time now and I cannot control my urge to look at ones wrist watch. Now if the wrist watch belongs to a friend or a business acquaintance, I may ask, providing the circumstance is just right, "Could that be an Ebel Beluga?" As a result of my genuine admiration resonating in my voice, the friend will undoubtedly remove the fine masterpiece from her hand and give it to me for further inspection.
This very scene I just described happened two nights ago. I was seated at a wonderful dinner table and I was savoring tender moist grilled salmon. A stiff uncomfortable gentlemen was seated across from me and I noticed his watch, I squinted (my eyes are not what they used to be),
"Is that an Omega Seamaster?", I said, absolutely unable to contain my excitement. He looked at me with surprise, his gaze immediately softening.
"Yes it is! How do you know?" So then I explained that I blogged and then I explained how I blogged and finally I explained what a "blog" actually was.
"I dive!, " he said.
"You know the Omega Seamaster is a diver's watch. Water resistant to 300 meters, " he said.

He handed me the watch and as I inspected the screw in case back and crown as well as the luminous hand and dial markers, he related to me his numerous diving adventures.

If the watch belongs to a stranger in front of me at a check out line at my local supermarket, extended squinting and sidelong glances may cause the stranger to become quite suspicious of my intentions, resulting in an inevitable confrontation with the store security personnel. So I am forced to control my curiosity and increase my already vast knowledge of luxury watches so that a cursory glance would be sufficient.

The easiest watch collection to recognize from across a room or in an endless "10 items or less" line is the Movado Museum Watches. The dot at the 12 'o'clock is as conspicuous as a full moon above the Sahara Desert.
The Corum bubble watch collections are also highly recognizable with the thick domed sapphire crystals. Chopard's Happy Collections are a treat to spot with gems that glide across the watch face between two layers of sapphire crystal.
Of course the more pricey unique watches are not hard to miss as they shout "Look at me!" Take for example Girard Perregaux's Opera One Minute Repeater Tourbillon with three gold bridges, you may not recognize the type of watch ,being that it is so unique;however, you will recognize this watch as something special, worthy of a complete and utter fixation.

In case you would like to be the subject of admiring sidelong glances directed at your wrist, the watchery.com has your luxury watches for extremely discounted prices. Check out the website. The prices are really low.

Van Halem