death

Swatch Group Chairman Nicolas Hayek Passes Away At 82

One of the richest men in the world and often cited "savior of the Swiss watch industry" Nicolas Hayek has recently today. His history is closely linked with the Swiss watch industry that he helped pull out of doom by creating the Swatch Group. Forming the low-cost Swiss Swatch watch brand of quartz watches helped fund and keep alive the mechanical watch industry that Hayek adored and fought for since the 1980s. If you own a Swiss watch, chances are it was somehow influenced or made possible by Mr. Hayek. Read more about him here on Wikipedia.

Born in Lebanon in 1928, Hayek moved to Switzerland early in life. A series of clever business moves and initiatives brought him to a fateful time in the early 1980s when the quartz crisis (as the Swiss call it) was threatening the mechanical watch industry with much cheaper quartz movement based watches from places like Japan. It was a key time of "do or die" in Switzerland, and Hayek really did an incredible job of keeping Switzerland's most famous export alive, and even thriving.

His death was sudden and unexpected. He remained working until his final moment. As far as I know, his death was without much or any prior medical notice. Hayek prided himself on being the soul voice of the Swatch Group. Giving interviews and answering questions daily. I unfortunately had some interview questions with him pending at the time of his death, which I doubt will answered posthumously. While it is not clear who will take over for Mr. Hayek, it will likely be his son Nicolas Hayek Jr. Switzerland and the entire world of watch lovers mourn on this day for the late and great Nicolas Hayek.

See the official announcement here from the Swatch Group.

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

Tags: chairman, death, died, dies, hayek, nicolas hayek, swatch

Mark Memorial Day in a Different Way at the Rubin Art Museum

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art

Memorial Day is the only national US holiday that focuses squarely on death -- remembering fallen members of the armed forces, to be exact, and many people will visit cemeteries and memorials this weekend in their honor.

If that's not quite your brand of vodka, might I suggest that you mark the holiday by visiting the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City? The museum is running a provocative exhibit called Remember that You Will Die, which upon reflection seems just right for such a holiday.

The RMA focuses on Himalayan art, and it's one of the city's newer museums -- it opened its doors in Chelsea in 2004. Remember that You Will Die exhibits 84 works of art and artifacts on the theme of death and the afterlife, gathering works from the East (Tibet) and the West, medieval and early Renaissance Europe along with one contemporary work, a video by American artist Bill Viola. I visited yesterday found a Tibetan apron made of bone and an English physician's walking stick topped with a skull pommel from circa 18th century to be particularly compelling.

Tags: art, death, memorial day, museum, museums, RubinArtMuseum, tibet

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