Centennial

Girard-Perregaux Ermenegildo Zegna Centennial Watch

Filed under: Apparel, Timepieces / Watches

Another fashion designer chooses a real watch maker to produce a special timepiece for them. This is a better option than them branding something cheaper with their name on it. It is a win-win situation for both sides. This watch is meant to celebrate the 100th year of everyone's favorite "too many syllables" Italian designer. To me, Ermenegildo Zegna is a name that looks awesome written down, but the second you try to pronounce it, things go down hill. The Girard-Perregaux name isn't shared on the dial with Zegna, but the style of the watch should tip off most fans of the Swiss brand involved.

Placed in a 40mm wide 18k pink gold case the watch contains the in-house made Girard-Perregaux Caliber 3300-0042 automatic movement. It has an annual calendar and an eccentric display of dials on the watch face. A disc underneath a crescent shaped window reveals the month, while a dial is used for the date while another dial indicators the seconds for the time. In modern Girard-Perregaux fashion, each of the small indicators is in a soothing blue with a different shape hand to help them stand out. In fact I really like Girard-Perregaux's use of this blue mixed with gold. It is a very regal look in my opinion. Fans of the Zegna fashion brand will clearly enjoy this timepiece, but I think most Girard Perregaux fans will flock to other more complex timepieces in this watch collection range. When I look at the dial I am now seeing an odd side skewed smiley face with the month indicator as the mouth and the subdials as eyes. Does anyone else see that?

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

Tags: Centennial, Ermenegildo Zegna, ErmenegildoZegna, Girard Perregaux, GirardPerregaux, limited edition, LimitedEdition, watch

Bosendorfer Concert Grand Piano by Audi Design

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

Audi is well accustomed to making intricately-crafted, finely-honed, shapely instruments capable of producing exquisite sounds and performances to the highest degree. Just take a look at the R8 supercar and you should need no more evidence. But for the company's centenary celebrations, Audi's design team has taken on a unique challenge, and partnered with Viennese piano-maker Bosendorfer to bring it to life.

While Porsche Design's Bosendorfer featured some intriguing elements, Audi's take on the grand piano starts from scratch. The automotive design team had to learn what goes in to making a piano, and then turned everything on its head to produce the creation you see here. The Bosendorfer Audi Design Grand Piano will make its world debut at the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt, Germany, to mark the automaker's 100th anniversary on July 16, after which it will come to market for a rather suitable €100,000...one more thing it holds in common with Audi's finest automobiles.

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Bugatti's 100th Birthday Past & Present at Villa d'Este

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

With its million-euro Veyron, the grandest of grand touring cars, Bugatti may be a long way from racing these days. But back in the day its Type 35 Grand Prix car was the dominating racing machine of choice for gentleman racers and professional drivers alike. Over the course of a decade in the inter-way period, the proliferation of Bugatti Type 35s achieved an unfathomable 2000 race victories at the hands of such revered pre-WWII driving aces as Jean-Pierre Wimille, Achille Varzi, Malcolm Campbell and Prinz Hermann zu Leiningen. To commemorate those glory days and celebrate its milestone anniversary, each of those drivers gave his name and racing color to one of four special edition Veyrons which the marque rolled out on the shores of Lake Como along with their historic counterparts.

No word on whether these particular Veyrons, of which only one of each will be made, will be available for sale, but if they are expect a considerable premium. The special display, which we previewed last week, is just one of a variety of anniversary celebrations which Bugatti has got lined up this year, which started with the Bleu Centenaire edition debuted in Geneva, and will include special events at Pebble Beach in August and at the company's factory in Molsheim in mid September, so stay tuned. In the meantime, why not have a glance at the images in the gallery below for a closer look at the Bugatti specials past and present.

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Birth of an Icon: Mercedes-Benz Releases Special-Edition CL550

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

Some logos are a dime a dozen, but some stand the test of time. Mercedes-Benz' iconic three-pointed star definitely falls in the latter category, standing out as one of the most highly recognized emblems in the world, inside or outside the automotive industry. As well it should be: it's been around for a hundred years. Back in 1909, Daimler registered the patent on the logo, and a few weeks later in the same year, Benz did the same with theirs. A century later, Mercedes-Benz is celebrating the only way it knows how: with an even more exclusive edition of one of its most high-end luxury coupes.

The "100 Years of Mercedes-Benz Edition" is a special package that can be ordered, in limited quantities, on the V8-powered CL coupe. Sold overseas as the CL500, in North America it's labeled the CL550 and comes standard with the company's proprietary 4Matic all-wheel-drive system. Special touches for the special edition include a custom interior featuring tan leather with contrasting dark grey touches, from the top-stitching to the carpeting and headliner. The exterior is painted a special dark grey as well, and comes with unique five-spoke 20-inch wheels and a new ground-effects aerodynamics package. Pricing hasn't been announced for the United States, but in its home market, Mercedes is charging a substantial €17,850 ($23k) premium for the special edition, on top of the €132 base price.

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