This week legendary Italian eyewear brand Persol, a bastion of Dolce Vita style, is debuting its iconic INCOGNITO design exhibition in the U.S. at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. The invitation-only opening night celebration will feature a performance by Lou Reed.

Running from June 24 - 28, INCOGNITO by Persol is an interactive exhibition that was designed to "bring to life the emotions and richness" of a heritage born nearly 90 years ago in Turin, Italy and which today remains an icon of Italian design and craftsmanship.

Persol made its big screen debut in 1961 worn by Marcello Mastroianni in Divorce Italian Style, and its U.S. film debut in 1968 worn by Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair (right). Two of the most stylish stars in the history of cinema, they catapulted the brand onto the international scene.

Other stars who have worn Persols over the years include Jack Nicholson, Richard Gere, Paul Newman, Roberto Rossellini, Cindy Crawford, Nicolas Cage, Pierce Brosnan, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Christian Slater, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Heath Ledger, Al Pacino, George Clooney, Adrien Brody and Daniel Craig, who sported two different styles in Casino Royale.

The tradition, quality, style and design that drive Persol's brand philosophy are embodied in the INCOGNITO exhibition, which involves all the senses. Along a path of images, sounds, colors, and technology, visitors can experience the world of Persol: the quality of the workmanship and materials, the uniqueness of design in the products and collections, the technological evolution and Persol's exclusive patents, as well as the magic and allure of the silver screen idols who made them famous.

This is something you should certainly see if you are in, or going to be in Paris at the right time. Breguet watches will be having a special exhibition at the splendid Louvre museum in Paris, France from June 25 until September 7, 2009. The special exhibit is will be known as the "Apogee of Watch Making" a pretty lofty title, for what is essentially a history of Breguet, but what a history it is! Abraham-Louis Breguet is often known as the father of modern watch making. A lot of what he developed in his lifespan in the latter half of the 18th century (up to 1823) is still used in many of today's luxury wrist watches, even though he never made a wrist watch during his life (just clocks and pocket watches). The exhibit will showcase historical pocket watches and clocks, watch making tools, art, and historical documents and watch-related patents. Breguet watches were, and are today extremely inventive and also beautiful. They are probably the "favorite-child brand" of Nicolas Hayek, leader of the Swatch Group that has Breguet under its brand umbrella. The exhibit of course was helped by a generous contribution from Breguet to the Louvre.

The exhibit will require a separate entrance fee and will be open regular hours, and until 10pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. For more information please visit www.louvre.fr or call 01 40 20 53 17 (France number).

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

It wouldn't seem to be the best time to open an art gallery in New York City but that's not stopping European art dealership Hauser & Wirth. The company, which has galleries in Zurich and London will open in New York in September. As ArtInfo reports the building at 32 East 69th Street, currently home to Zwirner & Wirth (and Hauser & Wirth's private American office) will hold a four-story gallery and event space.

President and owner Iwan Wirth told ArtInfo that he's not too worried about the current economic climate saying that "we have almost always opened our galleries in difficult economic moments" and pointing out that he opened the London gallery in 2002–03, after the 9/11 tragedy and resulting economic decline.

The opening exhibition will be Yard, which looks at an environment piece first made in 1961 by Allan Kaprow, the American painter and pioneer of performance art known as the inventor of 'Happenings.' More than forty years ago, he filled the backyard of a Manhattan townhouse with rubber auto tires heaped randomly for viewers to climb in and around. That work was Yard and the townhouse,which was then home to the Martha Jackson Gallery and is the new site of Hauser & Wirth New York.

'YARD' at Hauser & Wirth New York will be curated by Helen Molesworth, head of the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art and the James R. and Maisie K. Houghton Curator of Contemporary Art at the Harvard Art Museums, working with the Estate of Allan Kaprow. It will include documentation and "archival elements" (does this mean tires?), and will be accompanied by a program of activities at Hauser & Wirth New York and other locations to be announced. After Yard, Hauser & Wirth New York will present exhibitions featuring Paul McCarthy, Ida Applebroog and Eva Hesse.