titanic

One of the more "interesting" options when it comes to acquring a high-end timepiece is to get something from Romain Jerome. The collection that put them on the map was the Titanic DNA range of watches -and this Steampunk Tourbillon is the newest flagship for that collection. Available in gold (as seen above), the watch is mixed with oxidized steel that is meant to look like metal harvested from the actual Titanic. According to Romain Jerome, a small percentage of the metal is actually from the sunken Titanic ship. This is why they use the "Titanic DNA" term.

The Steampunk collection takes the concept further to make the dial look inspired by the ship's engine room. There are piston-like elements on the highly detailed dial that look like a diorama. It is quite fun to inspect all the little details. The hands of the watch are meant to look like anchors. At 46mm wide, the case is still quite comfy although it is large. The polished 18k rose gold mixed with the oxidized steel makes for a very interesting look. Inside the watch is a Swiss Concepto made automatic tourbillon movement. Look to the back of the watch for another anchor - here done in gold as the rotor of the movement. Really an amazing talking piece and cool addition to a high-end collection. Price for this model is 169,000 Swiss Francs.

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

Titanic memorabilia went up for auction recently and had big results, with one piece in particular -- a letter from a first class passenger -- selling for a record high price. The letter was written by Adolphe Saafeld to his 'wifey' and is exceptional for its length and detailed account of what traveling aboard the Titanic was really like, from what he ate for lunch to a near collision with a ship called New York. It was written 5 days before the ship sank on April 15th, 1912 and was sold this past weekend to an unnamed British museum for £55,000.

The auction of 350 lots at Henry Aldrige & Sons also included a set of Titanic keys from an officer who transferred off the ship before it set sail that sold for £54,000, and a photograph of Rosa Abbott, who was saved from the water after the Titanic sank, that went to a private collector for £35,000.

Have you ever wondered what it was like to eat first-class aboard The Titanic? Wondered what luminaries like John Jacob Astor IV and Benjamin Guggenheim dined on before the luxury liner hit the iceberg and began taking on water?

Chef and proprietor Conor McClelland of Rayanne House in Holywood, near Belfast, Ireland spent two months researching the last menu served on board the ill-fated ship.

The nine-course experience recently launched at his establishment for the Titanic Made In Belfast Festival in the guest house's private dining room. "It was such a beautiful menu. There was so much attention to detail in the food that it really was a first-class feast," said Mr McClelland at the opening.

The banquet, last served on April 14 1912, includes foie gras pate, asparagus and watercress salad served with Champagne, and rose water and mint sorbet. Chef McClelland has sourced the ingredients from local suppliers. He and his wife Bernie were lucky enough to find an original wine list too. "In those days a different wine would have been served with each course, which isn't the case today. The wines served back then were European...so we can offer similar ones," said McClelland.

The menu has been only slightly altered to suit the modern palate. For example, a foie gras pate would have been served just before the dessert, which is not a custom followed today.

McClelland trained in Galway before working as a chef in both the Black Forest and New York. He returned to the Belfast area with his wife Bernie seven years ago to open Rayanne House. The 11-bedroom guest house features a private dining room that can accommodate between eight and 36 diners.

The sinking of the Titanic has captured the imagination of the world for decades. Because of that interest anything associated with the ship takes on additional weight. An ongoing legal battle over ownership of the remnants of the ocean liner is currently heating up.

Thousands of artifacts have been recovered from the ship which went down in the north Atlantic in 1912 killing 1,522 people. The artifacts could be worth over $100 million. There have been several voyages down to the ship to recover various items. The company RMS Titanic (RMST) has emerged as the owner of the salvage rights. RMST is considering a seventh dive next year, its first since 2004 although other dives, including one financed by "Titanic" director James Cameron, have taken place. RMST has already recovered 5,900 artifacts from the ship during the first six dives. Legally the company does not own the ship nor the recovered items and it has gone to court in pursuit of limited ownership as a way to make up for the huge salvage costs. RMST shareholders would like the company to be more profitable. An agreement between Britain and the U.S. protects the Titanic as an international memorial and protects the site from unauthorized treasure hunters.

RMST would like to be declared the legal owner of the existing Titanic collection in order to recover some of the costs of salvage which have not been covered by revenues from the touring exhibition which has been shown at various museums. If RMST were declared the owner it could also sell the collection to a museum. If it cannot get the rights, RMST has asked a salvage reward of $225 million.

The US state department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington would like to limit ownership rights and keep the collection as a single entity. Robert Ballard, the oceanographer who first discovered the site in 1985 has come out against repeated tourist dives and salvage operations because he is concerned that these actions are hastening the complete destruction of the wreck. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said that the remaining structure may collapse within the next 50 years.

One of the first releases in the DNA of Famous Legends collection by Romain Jerome was the Titanic DNA watch, featuring oxidized steel salvaged from the real Titanic. The collection is rapidly expanding with several different models now available featuring everything from rust to jewels, but perhaps one of the most noteworthy is the "Day&Night" watch. It doesn't tell the time, it just tells you whether it's day or night.

It may seem like a silly idea but it's really just a reflection of the times -- watches are less and less about actually telling the time (we all have cell phones and PDAs for that now) and more about style and luxury. The Day&Night watch sells for $300,000 and the first lot sold out in just 48 hours. Apparently there are a lot of people looking to know whether it's day or whether it's night -- from their watch.

This Titanic lamp looks exceptionally simple and downright plain in design other than the fact that it's "sinking" right into the table like its famous namesake ship did into the sea so many years ago. It's made of lacquered wood with a cotton and steel shade, plus it does turn on to provide light so it appears more like a normal lamp that just happens to be sinking than it does some molded sculpture -- but you'll have to resist the urge to "save" it by setting it back up straight. Available in white only from Viable London.

Watch company Romain Jerome has taken a page from the book of Krone Pens with their new DNA of Famous Legends collection. As Krone did previously, Romain Jerome is creating products that have a connection to iconic figures in history. Their first model in this series is the Titanic DNA watch. It is partially made of oxidized steel from the Titanic and titanium from the future Titanic II at the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast. The watch uses an automatic La Joux-Perret 8235 movement with a 42-hour power reserve. The hands were inspired by the anchor of the Titanic and the dial's deep black is meant to reference the coal collected from the wreck. The watch is being done is an edition of 2012 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Titanic in 2012 which is when Titanic II will be launched in Belfast. It is available in a case of platinum or white or pink gold with elements of steel and titanium.

A deck chair from the Titanic is up for auction at Bonhams & Butterfields. The beech wood chair is one of only six surviving in the world and has the five-pointed star that was White Star's trademark emblazoned onto the headboard. The chair was not snatched off the deck during the last moments of the ship, but was taken as a souvenir by a newspaper photographer, Mr. Thomas Barker, when he did a piece about the ship at its last docking point on April 11, 1912. After the shop sank, Barker wanted nothing to do with the chair and it changed hands several times over the years. It is offered by a private collector. Nothing special in and of itself, as a relic of the Titanic, it is estimated to be worth $75,000 to $100,000.

[Image Bonhams]