Thursday, December 22, 2011

BREGUET ACQUIRES AN EXCEPTIONAL TURKISH WATCH AT AUCTION IN BEIJING



The Breguet Museum has acquired an extremely prestigious watch, made in 1808 for a dignitary of the Ottoman Empire, for the sum of CHF 650,000. This represents a record bid for a Turkish-style Breguet watch, and also a record for a pocket-watch auctioned on the youthful inland China market.
This historical piece was ordered in 1807 by His Excellency Esseid Ali Effendi, former Turkish ambassador to Paris of the nation nicknamed “The Sublime Portal”, and a personal friend of Abraham-Louis Breguet. He contributed to the latter’s early awareness of the Turkish market’s significance, especially since Turkey was the only major power still allied with Napoleonic France… One may recall at this juncture that Napoleon’s gift to mark the instatement of Sultan Mahmud II in 1813 was a Breguet sympathique clock covered in precious stones – the most expensive object ever made by A.-L. Breguet, and which is still kept in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.



The Breguet N° 1090 Grande Complication watch is a quarter-repeating model with independent grande and petite sonnerie featuring a case and double-case enamelled in the classic Turkish style, along with a dial graced with ancient Arabic numerals – all in an exceptionally good state of conservation. This piece was the highlight of the sale held by Poly Auction in Beijing and generated intense bidding. It will thus now be joining the other Breguet Museum treasures and will be exhibited in a few weeks’ time in Paris in the Breguet Museum located above the iconic boutique on the Place Vendôme.

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CHOCRÓN PRESENTA EL NUEVO CATÁLOGO BENÉFICO Ch-2012 “Diez personas 10” Autorretratos.

Chocrón Joyeros reunió a más de 300 ilustres invitados en el emblemático Palacio de la Bolsa de Madrid para celebrar la gala de presentación de su catálogo benéfico 2012, titulado “Diez personas 10”. Autorretratos.
Un año más, diez personalidades de enorme prestigio social y profesional accedieron de manera absolutamente desinteresada a colaborar con Chocrón Joyeros en su esfuerzo por apoyar a los más necesitados, posando ante el objetivo del fotógrafo norteamericano Brian Hallett a cambio de una aportación económica destinada a una Fundación, Asociación benéfica u ONG de su elección.
El actor Imanol Arias, el campeón del mundo Alvaro Arbeloa, la reciente ganadora de un Grammy Latino Niña Pastori, el tenista Feliciano López, la bailarina y Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes Tamara Rojo, el diseñador Adolfo Domínguez, la reconocida soprano Ainhoa Arteta, el Chef varias estrellas Michelin Paco Roncero, la prestigiosa presentadora Anne Igartiburu y el conocido periodista deportivo Paco García Caridad aceptaron el reto de hacer su “Autorretrato”, explorando su faceta más personal e intimista que queda plasmada en unas instantáneas absolutamente inéditas.
Las fotos solidarias ocuparán las primeras páginas del Catálogo de imagen de Chocrón Joyeros 2012, que incorporará un vídeo con los momentos más significativos del making of.




Anne Igartiburu fue la encargada de presentar la gala en la que los protagonistas del Catálogo benéfico 2012 hicieron personalmente entrega de sus donaciones a los representantes de las Organizaciones escogidas.
Entre los amigos de Chocrón que no quisieron faltar al evento, se encontraban rostros conocidos como Genoveva Casanova, embajadora de la firma, Imanol Arias acompañado por Irene Meritxell, Xabi Alonso, Álvaro Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Niña Pastori con Chaboli, Ainhoa Arteta, Anne Igartiburu, Aitor Karanka, Paco García Caridad, Remedios Cervantes, Lluvia Rojo, Sergi Arola, Paco Roncero, Darío Barrio, Víctor Ochoa y Angel Martín, entre otros.

Monday, December 12, 2011

THE AUDEMARS PIGUET FOUNDATION LAUNCHES A SCHOOL BOAT ON THE AMAZON



A new boat is crisscrossing the Amazon region of Peru. Funded by the Audemars Piguet Foundation, the Selma Viva (a name that means ‘living forest’) is dedicated to serving the Indian populations living along the river and who are the best guardians of the Amazonian forest.This summer, a group composed of representatives of the French non-governmental organization ARUTAM which will operate the Selva Viva, and of the Audemars Piguet Foundation which is backing the project, tested the boat before it performed its first missions. Eight days of navigation along the Amazon and two of its tributaries, the Marañon and the Samiria, enlivened by encounters with the Cocama Indias living along its banks, served to highlight both the qualities of the boat and the villagers’ expectations regarding its future missions.

A traditional boat equipped with state-of-the-art technologiesThe story of the Selva Viva began in Belem, a poor district of Iquitos, the capital of the Peruvian Amazon region. Amid the floating houses, jobless workers built a large wooden boat of the kind that existed when the city was the hub of the rubber trade.Inside it throbs a sturdy second-hand engine, while the upper deck is equipped with cutting-edge technologies such as GPS, sonar, satellite phone and laboratory instruments, all indispensable means that will enable it to safely accomplish its future missions.


Living along the riverAs the natural guardians of the forest, Indians will find it easier to resist the lure of the city shanty towns if they are better trained in their home villages and can gain additional income from the sale of medicinal plants for which there is strong demand in the city.In this part of the Amazon region where there are no roads, villagers travel to the city once a year to sell their harvest, drifting with the current on hand-made rafts in a journey that can take several weeks, before returning by an expensive taxi-boat service.

TrainingThe main mission of the boat will be educational. With its three decks, four two-bed cabins, a kitchen, a dining room, toilets, laboratory and a study, the Selva Viva will enable specially trained shamans to help the villagers perfect their knowledge and practice of traditional medicine and to safeguard the biodiversity of the Amazonian medicinal plants.





ResearchResearchers will regularly use the boat for missions serving to make an inventory of the Amazonian flora, in order to help in its conservation. They will also facilitate exchanges of knowledge between villages and will enable villagers, who have few opportunities to meet each other due to the extremely long journeys by dugout canoe from one village to another, to exchange their experiences and their needs.

Sustainable eco-tourismThe boat is also available to small groups wishing to experience an adventure far removed from traditional tourist circuits. This aspect of the activity of the Selva Vita will serve to fund the boat’s scientific missions while also facilitating respectful encounters between Indians and tourists.



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