So much art at auction, so few digital doppelgangers to bid on it for you. Artfact Live -- the live auction bidding site for works from houses like Christie's, Bonham's, and so many others -- may have a solution that doesn't involve cloning. Instead, it has created an app that keeps you in real-time auction action for more than 100,000 items of fine and decorative arts, collectibles, estates, and more.

If you're unsure of what to bid on or how much to bid, there's the Artfact database. Have your eye on that LeComte coming up for auction in Paris but need to know a bit more, the database will reveal its provenance, history, what it's worth and why. On the other hand, if you know the LeComte you're after but it hasn't come up for sale yet, you can enter it in the Auction Advisor and Artfact will alert you when that stingy collector decides to relinquish it.

Additionally, the widget lets you place anonymous absentee bids before the auction if you cannot participate, and if you'll be notified if you're outbid before the auction begins. You can also search auctions to see what a particular work or complementary works have gone for. It's not as cool as cloning, sure, but you can spare yourself the ethical considerations and you won't ever have to worry about your clone bidding on that purple glass rooster behind your back...

As New Yorkers pull out their sleeping bag jackets to weather the biting cold, and now the wave of winter rain, at least one friendly standby is here to mark the passage of the new season: the reopening of Park Avenue Winter. The decor of this New York institution, with crystal and glass chandeliers, white lacquered moldings, and lighting integrated with sparse birch branches, is one of the few things that can warm us up coming in from the cold. Add a fine vodka to your dinner, and you'll be set for the season.

Double Cross Vodka has teamed up with Park Avenue Winter to celebrate the restaurant's arrival. The gorgeous bottle reflects the restaurant's design: an icy white frost with silver snowflakes. But we really love what's inside: Double Cross is one of the purest spirits available on the market, expertly distilled seven times and filtered seven-times. This singular vodka is produced in the Slovak Republic, sourcing local winter wheat and mountain spring water, and distilled in a 13th century village in the foothills of the Tatra Mountains.

For the first time ever, Park Avenue Winter will offer a Tableside Ice Bar, featuring the exclusive winter bottle served with winter mixers: Citrus-Lemongrass, Bartlett Pear, and Lychee Elderflower. This exceptional bottle is the perfect complement to your wintertime meal, and the best way we know how to enjoy the chill.

Park Avenue Winter
100 East 63rd Street at Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021
212.644.1900 for reservations

Wearing winter white can be difficult to pull off, not to mention even harder to keep clean, but not if you are wearing this gorgeous leather hobo by Miu Miu. Beautifully stitched to create a matelasse effect, the stone leather hobo features two front snap pockets and an extra roomy interior with a zippered pocket. It's plaited handle is a complimentary detail along with gold tone accents throughout. The Coffer Matelasse Hobo is an ideal size to fit many items without becoming bulky while a detachable shoulder strap allows you to wear across your body as you maneuver through the city. Price: $1520.

This is the very first pocket watch from Swiss Angular Momentum, and continues along the trend I have been predicting that pocket watch releases are becoming popular among luxury Swiss watch makers. These releases aren't meant for large volume sales, but there seems to be an "image" rationale for releasing these more traditional style timepieces. As always, Angular Momentum chooses to do this in its own unique manner - so you have a very non traditional pocket watch here.

They call it the Freehand Pocket watch, from their Freehand watch collection. The term refers to the fact that the watch makers chooses how he wants the watch to look as it is being made, as opposed to having undergone lots of pre-design work. You get a really organic feel that appears to stem from the emotions of the designer themselves.

The pocket watch is an evolution on Angular Momentum's newer Tec/500 diver watch. Both share the same style dial and hands, and also have the same wonderful enamel based luminant in two colors that make up the dial. The 46mm wide case features a Staybrite steel case with an intentionally unpolished side. There are sapphire crystals on the front and fear of the watch with a uniquely designed view into the Swiss automatic movement. Also of interest is the fact that Angular Momentum decided to make the crown a separate structure than the ring of the pocket watch - as often times these elements are integrated. This is easily one of the most unique Swiss pocket watches of the year.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Spa Chakra, the luxury spa company that provides comprehensive health and wellness care in such posh locations as the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey and the Grand Hotel Park in Gstaad, Switzerland, has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. The company filed the voluntary petition for bankruptcy protection with the Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York on December 10. The downturn in the economy is credited with being a major factor to the company's difficulties.

Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc., a California-based Nasdaq-traded specialty finance company that provides venture debt and equity, plans to take over the company within the next two weeks. According to court documents, Spa Chakra has assets of a little more than $28 million and dept totaling $23 million.

"Spa Chakra and Hercules have had an incredibly effective working relationship since 2008 and both parties agree that this current transaction is a fantastic opportunity for the successful operations of the business," says Mike Canizales, founder and chief executive officer of Spa Chakra.

The mechanics of the transaction will have no impact on the day-to-day operations of Spa Chakra, according to Canizales. "With the immediate financial backing of Hercules, Spa Chakra will continue to provide the highest quality spa services for our clients at our prominent spa locations worldwide," adds Canizales.

Initially founded in 1998 in Australia by Canizales, a former executive with MicroSoft and Harris Mylonas, a veteran of five-star hospitality companies, the company operates spas under the brand names of Spa Chakra in addition to Guerlain Spa. The Spa Chakra at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago is an 8,000 square foot spa facility featuring 12 treatment rooms. The Spa Chakra at the Hilton in San Francisco offers 13,000 square feet of luxury space featuring 10 treatment rooms, and a state-of-the-art health club. The company also has a line of leading high-end luxury cosmetic brands.

This year Spa Chakra has received numerous awards from industry associations, including the 2009 Award for Best Spa Brand from SpaFinder as well as the award for Best Urban Spa.

"We are confident that the company will continue to execute its growth strategy and anticipate that Spa Chakra, shortly after emerging from its reorganization, will swiftly return to profitability," says Manuel A. Henriquez, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Hercules.

Last week, The Strand, a boutique hotel recently opened in Manhattan's Fashion District, threw a party to celebrate the opening of it's glass-domed rooftop lounge. Friends, family and press sipped Champagne and stood with jaws dropped, staring at the incredible reach-out-and-touch-it view of the Empire State building just three blocks away.

The glass-roof is retractable (shown here open) and is one of just two in the city. The other covers Plunge, the rooftop bar at The Gansevoort Hotel further downtown in the Meatpacking District). The Strand's lounge is more intimate and filled with comfortable Asian-inspired plantings and banquets, the perfect spot to enjoy a drink at night's end. The lounge is The Strand's sexiest asset, the rooms, while fairly large by New York standards, are simply furnished.

The hotel will likely be hopping twice a year during Fashion Week. As a tip of the hat to the fashion crowd, the owners sourced vintage fashion shots from Condé Nast's archives and framed them in rooms and public spaces. So even if guest aren't a part of the fashion crowd, they can feel like they are. And a new, soon-to-be-opened ground-floor restaurant features a cozy two-sided fireplace, another great gathering spot for this mid-town hotel.

The Arts and Crafts movement wasn't as much about arts and crafts as it was about fusing artistry with craftsmanship. Ruskin and his adherents found no reason why well-built objects of use couldn't also be objects of monumental beauty. You can't go sailing on the Kelmscott Chaucer, though, so for you seafaring lovers of beauty and dexterity there are Prema boats.

Each boat is fashioned from Western Red Cedar, book-matched ash, cypress, and sable by one man in one workshop in Florida. There are no visible fasteners, and the smallest Prema boat hides 2,500 of them. Hull integrity is sealed with a comprehensive layer of epoxy for air- and watertight seals, then boats are coated in ten layers of spar varnish for a sun-protected finish. The rub rails and keel are tipped in half-round bronze for impact resistance. The silicon bronze hardware above uses designs by 18th century America's-Cup-winning yacht designer Nathanael Herreshoff. The wood on the top side of the boat is book-matched, the same technique that Rolls-Royce and Bentley use for their dashboards.

The overwhelming craft and art, however, doesn't mean that sound principles behind crafting a boat have been ignored. The slender hollow in the bow helps the skiff part the water. But even at rest the boat is on plane, meaning you don't spend undue energy parting the waters ahead. The hull's generous flair helps keep water where it should be -- in the sea, not in your lap. Pair that with the full-keeled round bottom and low center of gravity, and you can lean the boat 60 degrees to either side without taking on water.

And for its last trick, Prema boats are convertibles: you can use the oarlocks, or attach a mast and sail amidships, or fit an outboard motor over the bronze wear plate in back. Prema boats come in three sizes: 12'1", 14'1", and 16'1", and the heaviest one only weighs 200 pounds, which makes them easy to pull ashore or haul aboard. They take a while to build -- quality always does -- but there's still time to pair it with next summer's lake house season and that Sycara IV you've had your eye on...

Today's estate was originally built for the Montreal's rising merchant class over one hundred years ago but now the home has been given a luxurious new renovation for modern tycoons. Thompson Manor, in Ville-Marie, Montreal was built in 1907 and has been updated into a luxury home with all the modern amenities. The fully equipped eat-in kitchen has granite countertops and the original hearth appears to have been turned into a low maintenance gas fireplace.

The mansion has over 10,000 square feet of space that includes an open-concept formal dining room and living room, home theatre, three family rooms, a gym area, four bedrooms and a mahogany wine cellar with room for 5,000 bottles, a wine tasting area and wet bar. This home boasts some very indulgent bathrooms including one with a solid rock soaking tub. The property also has a triple garage with a loft that can be used for additional living space or as an art studio or home office. It is listed at $7.875 million Canadian.

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About to be released from all American watch maker RGM (based in Pennsylvania) is this new Reference 400 watch. With a mixture of traditional watch styling and classic muscle car looks, this new chronograph model will also feature an array of dial options. While it is a bit hard to tell in this image, the 42.2mm wide steel case enjoys a combo of brushed and polished surfaces (the bezel is nicely brushed) and displays really classic sport watch lines (just check out those cool retro rectangular pushers!). Looking at the dial I ponder RGM's suggestion that design influences from America's most popular classic muscle cars went into the design. I begin to easily imagine how the dial designs (given all the possible colors options) would fit well into the look and feel that used to accompany the inside and instrument gauge readouts from the greats that owned the 1960s and 70s. There are also hints of classic diving watch in the design.

Lucky for us, RGM places inside of the Reference 400 watch the newer Swiss ETA Valgranges A07.211 automatic mechanical chronograph movements. The seconds dial has been removed for a more traditional bi-compax look on the dial. Color choices for the dials include black, gray, orange, blue, white, and some combos thereof. No word of pricing or specific availability yet, but the Reference 400 watch is coming.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

There are some opportunities that only come up once in a lifetime – if you're lucky. You may not know them before they present themselves, but you sure will when they have. Experiences like driving a Ferrari around Italy. Dining on the top floor of the World Trade Center. Shaking hands with the President. Or drinking a whisky that's old enough to have been your father.

The good folks at The Dalmore distillery in the Scottish Highlands were kind enough to oblige us on that last one a few weeks ago. And we've spent at least a few minutes every day since trying to figure out how we'd describe the experience to you, our loyal readers. Follow the jump to read how we found it.

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