30th anniversary

30 Years and Counting: Mercedes Celebrates With Special G-Class

Mercedes-Benz has a variety of sport-utilities and crossovers in its line-up today, but long before luxury sport-utility vehicles turned mainstream, the German automaker was building a truck called the Geländewagen. Known as the G-Wagen or G-Class for short, the truck started production in 1979 as a tender for the Shah of Iran, and has been in production ever since. This year Mercedes is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the G-Wagen with a pair of special editions.

The first, called the EDITION30.PUR, is a rugged off-roader to satisfy the serious trekkers that have embraced the G-Wagen for the past three decades. It's all bare bones, with a hose-down interior and diesel engine and a heavy-duty hood you can actually stand on. The EDITION30, however, is based on the luxurious, go-anywhere G500 and features unique Platinum Black paint and special leather and wood interior. Available now for order overseas, 60k Euros will get you the bare-bones EDITION30.PUR, while the luxuriously appointed EDITION30 edges closer to the 100k Euro mark.

Gallery: Mercedes-Benz G-Class EDITION30

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Piaget Polo Forty Five 30th Anniversary Watch Model

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

2009 marks 30 years of the Piaget Polo watch. Over that time the character of the watch has remained really consistent, though for 2009 the Polo watch gets very sporty looking. First announced was the new chronograph version of the Piaget Polo Forty Five, but this three hand model is attractive and unique in its own way. The silver or black toned faces give the Polo Forty Five a strong look akin to more mainstream luxury sport watches. There is also a serious diving watch style influence in the dial design in my opinion.

Nothing is mainstream about the powerful Piaget 880P in-house made automatic movement contained within the Polo Forty Five watch. Such a movement is at the heart of what makes up exclusive Swiss luxury timepieces. The sports theme of the watch continues to the high-quality rubber strap with butterfly locking signed clasp. I am unfortunately not a big fan of the extended date window. The case is in steel, with precious metal models to come eventually. I see the Polo model becoming sportier in the coming years.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: Piaget Polo Forty Five 30th Anniversary Watch