Diehard enthusiasts and collectors of famed Italian watch brand Panerai, known as the Paneristi, came together recently to raise money for those less fortunate. The global members of enthusiast site Paneristi.com celebrated the online forum's 10th anniversary with an event at artist and Panerai collector Eng Tay's Tribeca studio. Tay (above) created a special series of images showing an outstanding collection of vintage and classic Panerai timepieces along with his artwork for a calendar celebrating Paneristi.com's 10th anniversary. All profits from the limited edition $300 calendar are being donated to The Mulliganeers, a children's charity created by Paneristi.com moderator and founder Paddy Conway. Most copies of the collector's item sold out within two weeks but there a few left; you can contact Paddy@CotswoldGardens.com for info. on ordering.

Ukranian model / actress Olga Kurylenko, who played a Bond Girl opposite Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace, has just been unveiled as the star of the 2010 Campari Calendar. Following in the footsteps of former calendar stars Salma Hayek, Eva Mendes and Jessica Alba, Kurylenko appears in a series of vignettes in different locations around Milan indulging in the classic Italian aperitif. Italian photographer Simone Nervi shot the photos, including the image above for December of a Gucci-clad Kurylenko surrounded by Ducati Monster-riding admirers at Milan's Piazza Duca D'Aosta. The twelve images will be featured in the limited edition calendar, with only 9,999 copies being printed to be distributed worldwide.

Finally a straight-forward perpetual calendar watch, once again. Many companies attempt to breathe a breath of fresh air into the common set of complications, but sometimes it is just nice to see a simple classic. Not only is the look of this Chronoswiss watch basic, but so is the name being just the "Chronoswiss Perpetual Calendar" watch. The 40mm watch sits on the stealth wealth side of the fence being in white gold, that a few feet away is almost indistinguishable from steel. Love those classic long, thin lugs.

I believe the dial comes in silver or black (blued steel hands on the silver dial). Inside the watch is the Chronoswiss manufacture made C. 127 caliber movement. Wound via the large crown, and providing the time, perpetual calendar functions, and moonphase indicators. At $34,600 it is a classic looking and high value watch compared to prices from Swiss brand. Ironically ChronoSWISS is a German brand.

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

Independent watch maker Peter Speake-Marin releases his newest highly limited timepiece - the 1in20 QP. A limited edition of literally just a few pieces - several of which are 'piece uniques.' The watch houses his manufacture made calendar movement with the time, month, day, date, and moon phase. I do not believe the watch is a perpetual calendar. The "1in20" name refers to the fact that the watches will be the first 20 to house Speake-Marin's new SM2 Caliber automatic movement. I am glad that it is not manually wound, given these types of complications. Using the now well regarded Peter Speak-Marin watch case, size is at about 40mm wide and in either 18k white or rose gold.

While the case is impressive and has a nice sapphire crystal caseback, the dial of the watch is classic looking and beautiful. The dial is made from German silver (not actually silver but a type of nickle alloy) and enjoys a thoughtfully laid out dial and guilloche machine engraving decoration. Blue SuperLumiNova sits on the hands and hour marker points for darkness glowing. A supremely classy watch with an in-house movement and hand made quality. Prices...will be up there.

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

For the past 40 years, Italian tire company Pirelli has issued a limited-edition calendar to a select list of VIPs - the kind who have fleets of Pirelli-shod Ferraris - featuring scores of nude supermodels. As we reported back in December, the 2009 Pirelli Calendar features an African theme and was shot in Botswana by famed photographer Peter Beard with models including the stunning Isabeli Fontana, Malgosia Bela, Daria Werbowy and Raquel Zimmermann (along with a fleet of agreeable elephants and not a lot of clothes).

The 2010 calendar was just shot by fashionably perverted lensman Terry Richardson in Brazil with a whole new crop of beauties, including stunning upper class British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (above), who's said to be related to the Queen of England. Huntington-Whitely has sizzled before in campaigns for the likes of Agent Provocateur and Burberry. You can check out some video footage after the jump, but be forewarned - it's possibly NSFW and the running commentary is in Italian.

Patek Philippe collectors will want to pay attention to this unique watch that has been produced specially for the Only Watch 2009 charity watch auction taking place in Monaco in September. The watch furthers the growing line of celestial themed watches that Patek Philippe is known for. This watch has a few unique touches that you'll want to know about. The about 44mm wide case is done in 18k rose gold while the bezel is done in 22k rose gold which is not standard for watches that often use 18k rose gold for the whole case. 22k rose gold is often regarded as being too soft for a watch exterior, but Patek Philippe knowing the likely life of this watch (in a case) opted for the more pure gold in order to enhance the look of the guilloche engraving on the bezel. The mini rotor in the automatic 240 LU CL C movement is also in 22k rose gold. For all its complications the movement is thin at about 6.4mm thick - making for an overall thin watch. The strap is dark blue alligator.

So what does the watch do? It is funny as the watch is very Geneva-centric - in that the frame of reference for looking at the sky is how the sky appears while in Geneva. Basically the watch tells you what the night sky looks like from Geneva - as opposed to other positions on Earth. It has a lot of information about the sky, as well as the time and date. Looking at the dial you can tell what the sky (position) of the stars looks like as well as the phase of the moon and the position of the moon in the night sky. This tells you the solar time, the passage of Sirius, what is going on with the moon, and shows you a nice sky chart. Most of this information will just look pretty because you can go online to figure out all this information in a more readable manner. This is lovely novelty for novelty's sake, and is just what collectors like - you don't get to look at a delicate golden rendition of the Milky Way online the way you do while gazing at this beauty.

With the fine decoration, complex automatic movement, and unique nature of a one-off Patek Philippe model, I have a feeling that this Ref. 5106 watch from Patek Philippe will go for a hefty price at auction in September, and will likely increase in value a few years from now if recent Patek Philippe watch auction results are any indication.

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

This year has seen Jaquet Droz slowly supplementing their standard Grande Seconds figure 8 watch design style with more traditional watch layout designs. It almost feels odd seeing a Jaquet Droz watch with standard hands. While this Jaquet Droz Quantième Perpétuel Céramique watch does have a standard hour and minute hands layout, the rest of the watch is rather unique. No doubt with assistance from their corporate parent the Swatch Group, they developed this well conceived perpetual calendar watch. The case is ceramic, which is ideal as the curves are gentle and allow for a very good use of the material. Some surfaces appear to be in a matte finish while others are polished.

Two retrograde hands flank the middle of the watch with day of the week and date indicators. The upper subsidiary dial indicates the month, while a small window inside indicates the leap year cycle. In the lower middle of the dial is a subsidiary seconds dial using Jaquet Droz's typically shaped seconds hand with ringed counter-weight. The design overall is very satisfying to the eye. Small elements prevent it from being as legible as it could be. I would have liked the hour and minute hand to be in a different color than the other hands as to make them stand out and be more legible. Also, the layout on the retrograde date indicator will require some mental calculation to determine the date as you'll need to stare at it a bit longer than you'd like to determine the information. Regardless, these are minor points as buyers of watches such as this aren't usually too concerned with factors such as precise legibility. The watch looks very nice, and that is what is important to the target market.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Every year since 1985, German lensman Günther Raupp has photographed the world's most beautiful Ferraris for the exclusive, limited edition official Ferrari Calendar, of which only a few thousand copies are printed every year. He has now selected the best of the best for an incredible book marking the 25th anniversary: Ferarri: 25 Years of Calendar Images from teNeues. The cars in the book span the entire history of the world-famous Italian marque, from the 1950 166 MM Barchetta Touring victorious in the Mille Miglia, to the high-tech supercars of today, including the amazing 275 GTB Competizione (above), which came in 3rd at Le Mans in 1965 and is worth millions.

In his preface to the book, which he considers a sort of "family album," founder Enzo Ferrari's only living son Piero Ferrari writes that Raupp "seizes the spirit rather than simply the form of our vehicles." Enzo himself, to whom the book is dedicated, obviously agreed; the title page is a facsimile of a personal note of thanks he sent to Raupp when the first calendar was published. Raupp himself is an avid Ferrari collector; his favorite is a 1972 Dino 246 GTS, which he has owned for 28 years. He "lovingly handpicked" his greatest work over the decades for this volume showcasing scores of legendary vehicles.

I've long been a fan of the selections from Charles and Marie, the popular website specializes in quirky and cutting-edge design from around the globe. For true design junkies they have a holiday treat, an advent calendar (well, more of a box of presents really) to help you count down to Christmas. The 24 gifts are curated by designers Alissia Melka-Teichroew and Jan Habraken. There are two versions, the Luxe Edition ,which includes design objects with a European sensibility, containing several limited edition pieces. and the more inexpensive Cosmopolitan edition. They can be ordered now and the package arrives on December 1. The Luxe version goes for $1800.

Last year I picked up one of Starbuck's truffle-filled advent calendars, but I usually get my daily holiday chocolate fix from one of the inexpensive advents sold at Trader Joe's. Each day, you open up a little door on the calendar to reveal a chocolate treat and count down the days until Christmas. It's definitely not a luxury item, but the little Swiss milk chocolates are satisfying all the same. More traditional advents don't necessarily have chocolates, but little figurines or toys instead, like this Handmade Wooden Advent Calendar from FAO Schwartz. Crafted in Germany, the calendar is solid wood and is of heirloom quality. Each numbered window reveals little figurines inside the hand-painted house. Granted - it's not chocolate, but it certainly is far more decorative and even at $1,125, it won't prevent you from spending $2 on one of the chocolate ones at TJ's.

The holiday season is about giving, but that doesn't mean that you can't give yourself something in addition to all the gifts you might be buying for others and Charles & Marie's Holiday Calendar is like getting your very own secret Santa.

The calendar is a gift-a-day program, where a beautifully wrapped package is delivered to you by courier each day from December 1-24. The program was curated by Wallpaper Magazine's Young Designer of the year 2004, Tobias Wong, and includes a mystery selection of luxury goods - because a secret Santa gift wouldn't be too exciting if you knew what you were going to get ahead of time. The gifts will be from designers all over the world and most will not be available from any other retailers.

Of course, if you're feeling generous, you can also send a calendar to someone else as a gift. It would certainly make the holiday season fun. Price: $1,450 and ordering closes on November 15th.