When I first opened the Zai web site I was greeted by a poem written by Leo Tour "In the beginning was the mountain". I was sure that I was going to learn about a new bottled water from the purist of mountain springs or possibly even a zen retreat. I was in fact entering a kind of temple, a secular one, where the worshipers follow not a god, but snow and a the sport of skiing.

The word Zai means "tough" in the little know dialect of Sursilvan which is spoken in the mountains of Switzerland and specifically in the town of Disentis where the Zai skis are crafted. As seems fitting, the town lies below an ancient Benedictine monastery. The personal dream of Simon Jacomet, who insists that his skis be made by people who have skiing and the mountains in their heart and soul, the company produces some of the finest and most technologically innovative ski equipment on the slopes. The skis are produced in a small and tightly controlled production plant using state of the art machinery and assembled by hand.

All of the Spada skis are limited editions, only 111 pairs of each model are made. The newest innovation just out for this winter season is a special ski that uses a carbon-stone-technology with a rubber exterior. Zai was the first manufacturer in the world to use a stone core in their skis and is still trendsetting in their product development being the first to use a natural rubber surfacing. It is not just rhetoric that the skis are "of the mountain" as each pair has Grisons granite in the core of the ski. As with all carefully thought out designs the skis themselves are beautiful too, they will definitely not get lost in the pile on the ski racks outside the lodge at lunch.

Available in the United States exclusively at the high end winter sports retailer Gorsuch whose stores in all the nicest ski areas of Colorado, such as Beaver Creek, Vail and Aspen, sell the Zai Spada skis for $5,900.00 a pair.

Britain's Prince Andrew may be out a big vacation deposit. The London Times reports that ski chalet rental company Descent International has gone into liquidation meaning that guests may lose their deposits for winter vacations. A total of nearly £500,000 including a deposit made by the Duke of York might not be returned. The chalet company offered the most exclusive winter chalets in the Alps at resorts like Courchevel, Verbier, Zermatt and St Moritz.

Earlier this year, Prince William and some friends rented luxurious villas at Klosters from Descent. Prince Andrew also stayed at Descent's Chalet Eugenia in Klosters last January during the time of the World Economic Forum in Davos and hosted a small party. He had booked the same villa for next year to coincide with the Davos conference. A total of 42 groups have already paid deposits for an amount of around £450,000. Looks like we can blame the recession for this one too, the reduction in luxury travel is being cited as a reason for the company's failure.

For about $18,000 per day you can now take the tour of your life at the wheel of a Bugatti Veyron on an incredible drive from the Swiss Alps to the Côte d'Azur. Loeven SportwagenTouren, Europe's premier supercar touring company, is now offering the Veyron as an option on its mind-blowing Tour des Niveaux. The 7-day journey begins in Zurich and traverses breathtaking alpine roads including the famed Col dʻIseran, the world's highest Alpine mountain pass at over 9,000 ft. above sea level. Hairpin turns and eye-popping scenery are to be found from Mont Blanc to the famous seaside Grande Corniche between Nice and Menton. The tour also includes stopovers at boutique luxury hotels, many of them historically significant, as well as incredible cuisine at Michelin-starred eateries en route. In addition to the Bugatti, a Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati is also available on a sliding scale, with a Rolls-Royce, Konigsegg or even a Pagani possible by special request.

[via JustLuxe]

Watch making behemoth Rolex is like the Google of the watch world. Why? Because they are powerful and ubiquitous with an industry watching them that both love and hate them. Love them for their timeless designs and high level of quality, and hate them for often epitomizing watch snobbery and sequestering themselves from the rest of the watch industry. Rolex's ongoing theme is to be totally vertically integrated - meaning they will (or already do) make each component of their watches themselves.

A few weeks from now will see the beginning of a massive new construction project whereby Rolex is adding a huge new complex to the manufacture site in Bienne, Switzerland. The goal of the project is to contain the entire watch movement making process to one building. Most of the parts distribution and much of the manufacturing process is totally automated by robotics. Other than just focusing on trivial matters like making watches, the new structure will include features for people too. There will be a waste water treatment plant, underground parking, a restaurant, and cafeterias. The new physical arm of Montres Rolex is scheduled to be completed in 2012. The meaning of all this is that Rolex is totally un-alarmed by the "crisis" that is effecting watch sales, and is using what is likely times of cheaper construction and labor to focus on the brand's future when they will be one step closer to further domination of the mainstream luxury watch world.

Via Europa Star.

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

Rapper, producer, designer, and tastemaker Kanye West could obviously have any watch in the world. The one he chose is a customized all-black Rolex Submariner by Swiss firm Black-Out Concept (above), on a black nylon NATO spec strap. Kanye made a decision a while back that Rolex would be his signature watch brand, but he wanted to add his own twist; Black-Out's version was perfect. "It looks hard, it looks really cool," he explained in naming the watch one of his 10 style essentials. "It's a new take on a classic watch." He also likes the fact that they take a Rolex and literally "paint it black" (coat it, actually).

Black-Out Concept was founded in 2007 by Fabrice Letellier in Geneva. An avid watch collector, racecar driver and all-round exotic car enthusiast with the means to indulge his passions, the idea was born when Letellier had some of his supercar collection given a matte black treatment, i.e. blacked-out. Next he decided to do the same with his Rolex, and soon some of his fellow car and watch aficionados followed suit. Obviously there was a market for it. Letellier contracted with one of Geneva's best watchmakers to perfect the black out process for timepieces, which is done using two low-friction, scratch-proof finishes used by the military, PVD and DLC (diamond-like carbon).

Black-Out also creates customized blacked-out cars, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley and Aston Martin; the Black-Out package on the latter (see the gallery) costs about $40,000. They do customized matte black motorcycles as well built on a Harley-Davidson base, blacked-out Vertu Ascent cell phones - basically anything you can think of that would look better in all black. In addition to the Submariner they also black out several other Rolex models, including the GMT II, Daytona, Milgaus, and Deepsea, as well as other brands like Panerai, Bell & Ross and Audemars Piguet. Letellier has his own high-end watch brand in the works as well.



Of course, Black-Out aren't the only ones to offer blacked-out Rolexes; we've written before about Bamford & Sons' $30,000 PVD Daytona and other models, as well as Jacques Picard's $18,000 DLC Deepsea. (No, we don't know who thought of it first.) Black-Out doesn't actually sell watches, however, they customize yours at a cost of €5,000, or about $7,000, which includes Fed-Ex'ing to and from Geneva, and a set of three different straps including the NATO. So you can in fact get the look of the far more expensive models for much less - if you pick up a used Submariner in the $5,000 range - yet still have a watch that's every bit as exclusive, not to mention Kanye-approved. You can contact Black-Out's U.S. representative Christian Ginet at blackoutconcept@mac.com for more info.

The major pieces that typically define Art Basel, the world's largest art fair, are being eschewed last year in response to the largest art market plunge in nearly 20 years. If you're hoping to see the likes of Andy Warhol's work at the show in Switzerland this year, you'll have to hunt. The show opens to VIP visitors today, but you won't see much up-market art in attendance among the 300 galleries and 2,500 artists represented.

Galleries and dealers are being realistic. Average auction prices fell 76.2 percent from May 2008 to the present, according to ArtTactic, a London-based company that analyzes the market. The unexpected $93.7 million result at the Christie's contemporary art auction in May was based on lowered expectations, tainting the success. Consequently, the art on display is generally "priced to sell." A small 1964 Warhol silkscreen self-portrait is being offered for $675,000, though it would have been put up for a $1 million last year. Effectively, prices have returned to 2005 levels.

Of course, a lucky few will be able to take care of the "shadow fair" that's likely to emerge at Art Basel this year. While some will be stuck working the booths, others will strike private deals, usually involving pieces offered on consignment from collectors.

When it comes to the wealthy, no one wants to pay higher taxes if they can avoid it. This reason alone encourages many of the world's rich to take up residence in Switzerland over England or the U.S. A recent poll by the Mobile Wealthy Residency Index ranked Switzerland number one among preferred locations to call home followed by London and Singapore. Other important considerations on the survey included education for children, economic and legal stability, culture/infrastructure, and employment and business opportunities. I imagine the appeal of Switzerland also extends to the welcoming atmosphere, multiple languages spoken, and of course the chocolate! Don't wealthy people like sweets?

A new supercar tour of Switzerland and Austria has just launched called First Class on the Road. On the two-day journey you can switch between a Lamborghini Gallardo, Aston Martin DB9, BMW M6 and a Weismann MF3, with stops at top luxury hotels, restaurants and spas along the way. The Swiss tour begins at the historic Palace Luzern on the lake in Lucerne, while the Austrian jaunt starts at Schloss Fuschl on Fuschlsee Lake, a stone castle built in 1450. Local guides lead you on six-hour drives through the "sweetest hairpin turns, the sharpest inclines and the most breathtaking picnic spots."

[via UrbanDaddy]

Europe – the same corner of Europe, actually – claims the first three spots in Mercer Consulting's annual Quality of Living Survey. Vienna, Austria and Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland lead the list, followed by Vancouver, Canada and Auckland, New Zealand in a tie for fourth.

Little has changed for the top half of the top 10. Last year, Zurich nabbed the top spot, and Vienna and Geneva shared the #2 spot. Vancouver is unchanged year-over-year, and Auckland's #5 finish last year is roughly the same as its tie for fourth in 2009.

Not only are the top places to live ostensibly enjoyable, you're more likely to be there for a while. Life expectancies in these cities start at 79 years. It's better than living a nice long life in a dump, I guess.

The United States doesn't appear until the bottom of the top 30, with Honolulu and San Francisco. From Asia, only Singapore picks up a spot in the world's 30 best places to live. South America and Africa are not represented at all. It's strange, I half-expected to see Mogadishu on this list.

Of the 215 places listed, Baghdad has the distinction of finishing last. Sometimes, common sense prevails.

Switzerland's legendary Fairmont Le Montreux Palace (above), originally built in 1906, will unveil a multimillion-dollar renovation by noted interior designer Fiona Thompson next month, including a new suite fashioned in honor of flamboyant Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. The luxurious Beaux-Arts hotel, which overlooks the French Alps and is located on the shores of Lake Geneva, is introducing a contemporary new redesign of its guest rooms, Brasserie and public spaces, including the Freddie Mercury Suite. Mercury was a Montreux resident and frequent guest of the hotel, as were such luminaries as Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Lord Byron, Leo Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Vladimir Nabokov.

The 235-room luxury resort offers 190 elegantly-appointed rooms and 45 suites and junior suites, 12 conference and meeting rooms, and the 21,000 square foot Willow Stream Spa in addition to the resort's renovated Brasserie, a new lobby lounge and bar, and the famous Harry's New York bar. Elegant and timeless, the guest rooms at Fairmont Le Montreux Palace contrast traditional and contemporary new design elements with breathtaking views of Lake Geneva. Color palettes are light and airy set against a series of colorful photographic prints throughout the rooms, representing the reflective qualities of water.

Famed Swiss watchmaker Ulysse Nardin has partnered with European firm SCI Innovations to create what's being billed as the world's first hybrid smartphone, blending a high-tech communications tool with a classic and elegant timepiece. Dubbed the Chairman, the luxurious limited edition phone pairs cutting-edge kinetic technology with the pedigree of Ulysse Nardin, founded in 1846. The Chairman will be launched at the Ulysse Nardin booth at BaselWorld in Switzerland at the end of the month, and will go on sale later this year.

While details are limited, we can tell you that the phone will be able to use any mobile phone service provider in the world and includes several components never seen before in a smartphone. A Ulysse Nardin kinetic rotor system has been incorporated into the Chairman's mechanical and aesthetic design. The blue and rose gold phone is hand-assembled under the watchmaker's strictest guidelines, and each bears a numbered plaque.

Swiss watchmaker Girard-Perregaux has been making fine timepieces for well over 200 years, but 2009 marks the first time they've manufactured a writing instrument. The firm, founded in 1791, is debuting a luxurious new line of pens based on their famed Three Bridges gold tourbillon watch. There are three models of writing instrument, adorned with precious metal engraved with delicate guilloche work, based on a vintage 1945 Three Bridges Tourbillon, a famed Girard-Perregaux model. The clip on the caps is double-arrow shaped, like the bridge on the watch.

Three openings on the pen body showing the ink level refer to the timepiece's power reserve indicators. Fountain pens come equipped with an exclusive high-capacity double reservoir system preventing leakage. There are three models available: a piston fountain pen in guilloche silver and resin (above), limited to 999-pieces; a piston fountain pen in guilloche pink gold and resin, limited to 99 pieces; and a rollerball in guilloche silver and resin, limited to 999 pieces. A matching set comprising the silver fountain pen and rollerball is also available in an edition of 199 pieces.

The world's only full carbon Ducati 999S is being offered for sale in Switzerland via global luxury marketplace JamesList for €120,000, or about $160,000. The custom-made Ducati has had its engine tuned up to 1037 ccm by one of the most famous specialists in Germany, resulting in an engine output of 170 hp. The extraordinary low weight of just 143 kg achieved with a maximum use of carbon fiber and titanium means the one-off motorcycle can do 0-60 mph in less than 3 seconds. The bike was handbuilt upon a full carbon frame from Carbotech along with other special carbon and titanium parts. The carbon was honed and polished part by part and then buffed to a high gloss with multiple lacquering. The price makes it one of the world's most expensive motorbikes as well.

Earlier this month The Classicist wrote about the wild world of snow polo; this weekend the 25^th annual Cartier Polo World Cup On Snow is taking place in St. Moritz, proving that the rich have not entirely given up their expensive pastimes. Snow polo was invented on the posh resort's frozen lake back in 1985. Four teams will be competing, fielded by Cartier, Maybach, Swiss private bank Julius Baer, and last year's winner, Brioni, all featuring world-class players. Nine years ago snow polo arrived in the US and a championship is now played annually in Aspen, our very own St. Moritz. For snow polo, the ponies are shod with special cleated shoes to provide better traction, and the ball is larger, lighter, and painted bright orange to accommodate winter conditions.

While many luxury labels are in the dumps these days, luxe French sport line Moncler is bucking the trend and opening new stores instead of shutting them. They recently opened their first freestanding US boutique in Aspen, and also just opened an impressive new shop in another ritzy ski resort, Gstaad. The Gstaad boutique features a luxurious alpine chalet theme with bluestone floors, pinewood ceilings and walls designed to evoke downhill skiiers in motion. Moncler, founded in France in 1952 and now based in Milan, has collaborated with the likes of Balenciaga, Yohji Yamamoto and Fendi, and is a favorite with stars such as Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Victoria Beckham and Kanye West. It's high-end Gamme Rouge line (above) is designed by Italian fashionista Giambattista Valli. Last summer we reported that private equity firm The Carlyle Group acquired a 48% stake in the company.