Bamford & Sons is most known in the watch world as an aftermarket modifier of Rolex watches. This process usually involves the application of black PVD as well as color enhancements. Their most popular modded watch? The Rolex Submariner of course.This time around they have made a special edition modded Rolex to be sold at the Colette store in Paris. I can't explain why Bamford would sell a watch at what is essentially a competitor, but I will just take that part for granted.

Bamford applied their skills to change the looks of the Rolex Milgauss, a nifty, but less well-known Rolex watch based on a classic line of scientist friendly watches from over half a century ago. The watch's major claim to fame was its high resistance to magnetic fields, not to mention the lightning bolt style sweeping seconds hands.
Bamford gives the Milgauss a look Rolex never would. Black PVD over the steel case, rich blue dial, black seconds hand, and all white text on the case. Price will likely be a few thousand dollars (ahem... I mean euros) above your standard new Rolex Milgauss watch. Should be available this month from Colette.

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

This fantastic new French watch from Alain Silberstein has been made to be exclusively sold at the Parisian boutique store Colette located on the famous Rue St. Honoré. Alain Silberstein, a designer who makes quintessentially French watches has developed the iKrono Blue Ring watch for the "concept design" store. Little information is known about the new watch, and it won't be available until the fall. I am quite thrilled however with design. Alain Silberstein watches almost always feature the iconic blue, red, and yellow color scheme with corresponding square, triangle, and circle shapes. You can tell how fluidly that has been incorporated here. The watch case is unique for featuring a square base with a round case and "lefty" oriented pushers and crown.

The namesake of the watch, "Blue Ring" comes from quite simply that - the lovely toned blue ring with the tachymetric scale around the dial of the watch. The movement appears to be an ETA Valjoux 7750 automatic chronograph with a curious substitution for the day of the week indicator. Next to the date you'll see a little window with a smiling face. Either each day of the week will have it's own face, or more appropriately, the weekends will have a smiling face, while the week days will have some manner of serious face.

While Alain Silberstein watches almost epitomize French avant garde, his timepieces are always quite legible, and of a solid high quality. Here the soft edged case has a simple rubber strap attachment. A nice watch that I hope will enjoy good production numbers and perhaps make it here to the United States. The watch will available at Colette in Paris starting in September 2009.

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

Impish cutting edge men's designer Thom Browne has collaborated with classic sports shoe brand Converse on a limited edition pair of patchwork grosgrain ribbon sneakers. The quirky take on Converse's iconic canvas Jack Purcell model sells for $1,800 at so-hip-it-hurts Parisian boutique Colette. A pair of original canvas Jack Purcells, designed in 1935 by the badminton champ of the same name, runs about $40. The red, white and blue patchwork ribbon motif was used by Browne for one of his characteristically loopy men's suits in his spring fashion show. Men's style expert Alan Flusser, who called out President Obama's dodgy inauguration ball tuxedo, has dubbed Browne's out-there designs "irresponsible."

[via Valet]

France's first lady, Carla Bruni is a former model and fashion icon and now she has her own bag. The Carla bag, being sold at France's Colette, is a colorful yellow, red, blue, green and white bag made of hessian and cotton. The original Township bag was presented to Bruni by a women's sewing cooperative in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Proceeds from the sale of Carla bags will go towards establishing a new cooperative in Khayelitsha.The bag is a limited edition numbered from 2 to 421 and sells for €100.

[via Black Book]

For the first time since its launch, Ralph Lauren is presenting the Rugby brand outside of their U.S retail stores. Selections from the Rugby Fall 07 collection will be showcased at Colette in Paris starting today until September 15th 2007. The Rugby line was first debuted in 2004 in Boston and was created for the next generation of Polo customers. The sensibility is pure preppy with modern details. For the partnership between Ralph Lauren and Colette, four limited edition rugby shirts have also been designed. Only 50 of these exclusive rugby shirts (two styles for men and two styles for women) will be offered simultaneously at Colette and the Rugby store in NYC during the two weeks of the partnership.

The funky French boutique Colette, a bastion of style and, usually, limited edition items from top-notch designers, is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year and has called on some of those partners to produce a number of very exclusive items just for them. One of these is called "10 Magazines by Colette." The set includes 10 pages and the cover of each of the following magazines, each of which has played a part in Colette history: Big, Dazed & Confused, Fantastic Man, Huge, i-D, Paradis, Permanent Food, Purple Fashion, Self Service, and V. The pages will be chosen by the editors of each publication and bound together. There is no price yet, but 10 Magazines will be coming to Colette in March.

Colette has a special edition version of the BoBo charm from Qeelin. "Bo Bo" - which means "precious" in Chinese - is a small panda that represents peace and the "perfect harmony of Yin and Yang" in the contrast between black and white. While, Qeelin makes several different versions of the bear, the Colette charm is made of 18K grey gold with .95 cts of white diamonds and 1.8 cts of black diamonds making up the bear's fur and three rubies (.02 cts) making up its heart. The limited edition bear is 5980 Euros ($7,850).