It looks like luxury retail is getting ready for a comeback. Shoppers in enviable tax brackets are doing a better job of prying their wallets open, at least if you can believe their stock prices. Tiffany, Saks and Nordstrom all showed signs of progress heading into Black Friday, meaning that investors were willing to bet on the wealthy.

Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak, explained to USA Today, "We're resting our (upbeat outlook) on the upper-income consumer, who seems to be holding up pretty well." This group, he continued, "is where the vast majority of spending in this country is done."

Research firm Penn Schoen Berland weighed in with agreement: "Well-to-do Americans are feeling much less of a crunch." Households with incomes of greater than $70,000 a year, the firm found, planned to amp up their holiday spending by 27 percent this year. Those with incomes below $40,000 are cutting their holiday joy by 14 percent.

While the bargain hunters turn to the discount retailers, which are expected to do well this year, look for the higher-income consumers to spend more at places like Williams-Sonoma and other mid-range to upscale retail establishments.

So, with deeper pockets starting to open this year, it looks like the wealthy will turn last year's holiday bust around. A good holiday season for Saks shows that those with the bucks are starting to open up, and recoveries start at the top.

Tiffany & Co. is a nominee for a Luxist Award in both the dishware and glassware categories.

Over the past two centuries, Tiffany & Co. has built an international reputation as a premier jeweler and is renowned for its fine china and crystal. Today, its signature blue gift box topped by the white silky bow is an icon for luxury.

Tiffany & Co. was founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young in the late 1830's. Starting out as a stationary and fancy goods store, the partners soon expanded to include silver hollowware and flatware, and later jewelry, luxury table, personal and household accessories. Tiffany first achieved international recognition at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867. The company was then awarded the grand prize for silver craftsmanship---the first time an American design house had been so honored by a foreign jury. By 1870, Tiffany & Co. was America's premier purveyor of jewels and timepieces, as well as luxury table, personal, and household accessories.

Throughout the jeweler's history, the most prominent members of American society were devoted Tiffany customers from Vanderbilts, Astors and Whitneys to J.P. Morgan, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Paul Mellon, all of whom commissioned Tiffany to produce their gold and silver services. Tiffany china has also set the stage for countless White House dinners.

The tradition continues into the 21st century. Today, Tiffany & Co. is one of America's best known institutions.

Tiffany & Company showed off their designs this week for their latest store in Las Vegas, a new approximately 10,000-square-foot store at the CityCenter development on the Las Vegas Strip. The two-level store will be located in Crystals, CityCenter's 500,000-square-foot retail and entertainment district which was designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind and Rockwell Group. The store is set to open in December and will have an 85-foot-high glass facade which is shaped like a diamond. The overall effect is luxe with a bit of Vegas flash, the entrance will be gleaming black granite around Art Deco-inspired stainless steel doors and inside etched mirror walls, iridescent fabrics and glittering chandeliers add sparkle. The second floor will be reached via a spiral steel-and-glass staircase that is lit from underneath. There is a separate engagement ring salon and a private sales salon with can be reached via a glass bridge. This will be the third Tiffany store in Las Vegas there are two other shops on the Strip, one at the Shops at Via Bellagio and one at The Forum Shops at Caesars but this is the largest one yet. JCK Online has more pictures of the interior renderings.

Sharing the Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles with a grocery store (Gelson's) doesn't seem to bother Tiffany & Co. but the jeweler draws the line at H&M getting too close. The LA Times reveals that Tiffany has sued its landlord at the Westfield Century City shopping center saying that a planned H&M would violate the terms of its contract. Tiffany's contract with Westfield forbids retailers that are not considered to be "luxury, upscale or better by conventional retail industry standards." to use or lease certain spaces within, fronting or adjacent to the Tiffany store. The lawsuit alleges that the location of the H&M store so close to Tiffany will cause "irreparable injury to Tiffany's business reputation as a luxury retailer."

The LA Times keenly points out that in Pasadena along Colorado Boulevard, the H&M store and Tiffany are very close to each other. Also, while H&M is a low-priced retailer, the store's focus on trendy style isn't offensively downmarket. Tiffany's lawsuit seems to imply that the H&M shopper and the Tiffany shopper are such separate people that they don't mingle or that somehow a person who buys a $19 sweater instantly becomes a Tiffany undesirable. It seems an odd distinction for a brand that had spent the last couple years reaching out to the aspirational consumer and bumping up its line of silver jewelry in order to attract new customers. Certainly there is a gap between a silver necklace and a $19 sweater but these days plenty of malls and shopping centers feature both expensive stores and lower market ones reflecting today's affluent shopper who often purchases at both ends of the spectrum.

Think Tiffany's & Co. and you probably think fine jewelry, diamonds, and little blue boxes. But they have other offerings as well, some of them not what you'd expect, like this 1837 Tennis Ball Can. Designed to hold 4 tennis balls and keep them at optimal playing temperature, the can couldn't be simpler in design. Made of sterling silver shined to perfection, one of the tennis ball can's few adornments is a Tiffany's logo stamped on the lid along with the numbers 925 and 1837. $1,500

Here is a limited edition (16 pieces only) watch from Tiffany & Co. that shows how well their partnership with the Swatch Group is working out (where they now get movements). The Mark Perpetual Calendar TriRetrograde Chronograph watch is an advancement on the previous Mark T-57 TriRetrograde Chronograph. This new model has a movement that not only maintains the retrograde chronograph complication, but also adds a perpetual calendar complete with a moon phase indicator in the mix. Despite the many pieces of information displayed on the dial, Tiffany & Co. designers keep the watch face looking attractive.

The Tiffany & Co. Mark line has always been about modern classics, and this new model is no different. While the Mark T-57 line has been all about sport, the main Mark line is a sober approach at handsome looks. The case is available in 18k yellow or rose gold, with well done squared pushers. The partially guilloche engraved dial helps to frame the Roman numerals around the face, while aperture window placement on the dial is laid out according to the movement specifications below. This design was never intended to be a symmetrical looking watch, and rather, it excels at appearing like a gentleman's tool valuing function and luxury above anything else. Hopefully Tiffany will eventually release more than 16 of these watches.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

If you've ever really listened to the lyrics to the holiday song, Santa Baby, it details quite a fabulous wish list. Looking around today trying to fulfill every item would make for a bounty of gifts, especially for just one person, but if we were to give it a shot, this is what might end up under the tree:

• 'Santa Baby, just slip a sable under the tree, for me...'
• '...Santa Baby, a '54 convertible too, light blue...'
  
• '...Santa Baby, I want a yacht and really that's not a lot...'
• '...Santa honey, one little thing I need, the deed, to the platinum mine...'
• '...Santa cutie, and fill my stocking with a duplex and cheques...'
• '...Come and trim my Christmas tree with some decorations bought at Tiffany's...'
  
• '...Santa Baby, forgot to mention one little thing, a ring...'

'Hurry down the chimney tonight...'

Patek Philippe, maker of the most coveted watches in the world, is staging an unprecedented exhibit of the most valuable timepieces from its collection here in the U.S. The exhibit, featuring hundreds of items including priceless pieces from the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, is on display at Tiffany & Co.'s Fifth Avenue flagship through Saturday evening; next month it travels to the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons in Los Angeles, running from May 16 - 18.

With Patek Philippes fetching record prices at auction, this is a rare opportunity to view timepieces that the likes of Christie's would kill to get their hands on. The exhibits culled from the company's 169-year history include rare pocket watches and the first Swiss wristwatch ever made.

[via Men's Vogue]