Canadian border retailer Peace Arch Duty Free has reported a 15% rise in sales in the year to date, which it attributed primarily to its expansion into the luxury goods sector. Overall sales at Canada’s land border crossings are up by about 5%.

The store caters for a high number of Asian travellers. According to Peace Arch Duty Free president Peter Raju, spend per head is more than $75, the highest rate at a Canadian border crossing. He added that despite construction work, new legislation requiring travellers between the US and Canada to carry a passport and the rising value of the Canadian dollar, the 15% increase vindicates the retailer’s decision to focus on an upscale duty-free offer catering for all consumers.

Cartier and Omega have established shop-in-shop concepts at the location, and Gucci, Longines and Christian Dior watches are customising their boutique shop-in-shops. Raju said the Peace Arch Duty Free store is the first in North America to list the Bvlgari cosmetics line. The company has also added Dunhill leathergoods and plans to expand its men’s designer clothing range. It has already expanded its British Columbia wine and icewine collection and upgraded display fixtures in the liquor section.

Construction work at the border is nearing completion and Raju said he expects double-digit growth in 2010, with the addition of leading brands into the store and the Winter Olympics next year in Vancouver.

LUDHIANA: If ever, any more proof was needed to establish that the economic meltdown has not touched prosperous denizens of Ludhiana even a bit, a visit to this city of Mercs and mega-malls during the festival season would do. The items listed above are but a small sample of what residents of Ludhiana are picking up this Diwali as gifts for their near and dear ones, besides for the ‘influential’ who need pampering and cajoling through expensive gifts in the name of Diwali greetings.

It is again that time of the year when splurging is the norm and everyone wants to outdo others in giving other people lavish gifts.

Besides jewellery, costly electronic items, shawls and warm clothing, cars are now appearing on the wish-list of our die-hard shoppers for gifting this season.

Busy in handling crowds of shoppers, Sonam, a manager at Nilkamal Jewellers, manages to mutter, “What slowdown? I don’t see even 1% of its effect here. The other day, an ornately dressed customer walked in to place an order for 20 Rado watches, each costing over Rs 80,000.” Market sources reveal that expensive watches brands have always been a favourite when it comes to gifts for highly-placed government officials and business barons.

“People are spending as much as they can. A few days back, a woman walked in and picked up a Rs 5 lakh necklace for her daughter,” an employee at the jewellery shop revealed, without breaking her concentration while handling customers. A couple of diamond bangles, each costing Rs 1 lakh, is another favoured item for gifting this season. Orders for gold coins are also pouring into jewellery shops like never before and there is nothing to suggest that businesses have taken a beating due to slowdown here, as most of the orders are being placed by businessmen.

In a city where almost luxury automobile giants are setting up shop in times of slowdown, could cars stay out of the gift-list? RS Uppal, dealer of Radiant Toyota, comments, “If 3,600 cars are sold in the entire state in a month, 1,600 of them are bought in Ludhiana, but on Diwali, people prefer to gift small cars, particularly to their family members. Expensive clothing is a must-buy too.”

Sonu of Nilibar Bridal Wear swears by the trend and reveals that apart from the wedding season, this year, there has been a nearly 30% increase in sale of items meant for gifts. “Pashmina shawls are preferred by corporate houses as gifts for their contacts. Even intricately embroidered Phulkari is becoming a rage these days,” he revealed. The shawls carry a price tag that ranges from Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000.

High-end cellphones, particularly the touch series and music editions, are a hit as gifts for business acquaintances and government officials, reveals a shop owner in Ghumar Mandi. “Anything priced over Rs 25,000 is picked up as gift by corporates and businessmen,” he revealed.

The profile for chocolates and candles as gifts is also undergoing a change, when it comes to their looks and price tags. Business-houses have placed bulk orders for Belgian and Swiss chocolates while spending anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 on gift-packing alone.

Seema Vij, director of Cesta Chocolates, believes that the concept of gifting chocolates has picked up further this year. Reports of recovery of spurious ghee, khoya and stale sweets coming out months in advance are helping the trend further.

Candles shaped as aquariums and even chocolate-scented ones are drawing a good response, especially from the younger crowd, reveals a shop owner in Sarabha Nagar market.

Ritika Kapila, a dealer who markets hand-made candles, said she had been selling candles with themes ranging from Ganesha to love-birds, besides those that were chocolate-scented and sequined-decorated. “You could get candles for as cheap as Rs 100 to Rs 2,000 according to your budget,” she stated.

Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of India, would have wanted to share the 23,000 dollar special edition Montblanc fountain pen that has been named in his honour and is being offered around the world this year with the entire country, claims Lydia Powell, an Indian economics fellow with the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation.

“But today in India affluence is not negative, at all. Today India’s youth are more likely to look up to Bill Gates rather than Gandhi,” she added.

The Washington Post quoted Neeraj Singh, a Montblanc representative for India, as saying that many Indian clients had already preordered the pen.

“We had a pen on Alexander the Great. We had a pen on Winston Churchill,” he said.

“If you want to do something on an Indian personality, then nobody is greater than Mahatma,” he added.

Some Gandhi loyalists, however, said India’s founding father would have questioned why a public servant would spend 23,000 dollars on a pen in a country with a third of the world’s malnourished children.

“This pen is really funny. Gandhi would say it should be tossed in the trash or, better, sold off to pay for water and power for the poor,” said Amit Modi, secretary of Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram.

“Gandhi would have been ashamed,” he added.

“I consider the Montblanc pen their acknowledgment of the greatness of Gandhi. They are doing it the only way they know how,” said Gandhi’s great grandson Tushar Gandhi, adding: “His writing implement was his greatest tool.”

The Montblanc pen, unveiled for the celebration of what would have been Gandhi’s 140th birthday on Friday, has prompted howls from Hindu groups and Gandhists who say the sticker price is the lifetime income of many of India’s poor.

The limited-edition fountain pen in 18-carat solid gold is engraved with Gandhi’s image and tricked out with a saffron-colored mandarin garnet on the clip and a rhodium-plated nib.

The pen honors the independence leader, known as Bapu or father, who fought against unbridled materialism and even eschewed imported luxuries as harmful to India’s mostly agrarian economy.

Montblanc is issuing only 241 commemorative Gandhi pens, a number that highlights the amount of miles Gandhi walked in his famous 1930 “salt march” to the Arabian Sea, a successful act of civil disobedience against salt taxes levied by the British.

It was about time that Mike McCullough received an award.

Recognizing this, Warrant Officer Jeff Dickson and officer cadet Kevin Smith — members of the Canadian Forces’ 10th Field Regiment — presented the Saskatchewan Roughriders linebacker with a watch on Thursday.

“This is our Gladiator watch for Mike McCullough,” Dickson said as the Roughriders completed their workout on Taylor Field. “We thought he got ripped off.”

Each week on TSN, football analyst Glen Suitor presents a gleaming Movado watch to his Friday Night Gladiator. The most-recent selection was quarterback Buck Pierce, whose gutsy performance helped the B.C. Lions outlast the visiting Roughriders 19-16 one week ago.

“We don’t have a contract with Movado, so this is the best we could come up with,” Dickson said while displaying a weathered timepiece that is dubiously labelled a Rolex. “This one is from the Kandahar bazaar.”

Smith found the watch during a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He proudly notes that the stones on the watch’s face are “genuine zirconia.”

There is only one problem. The hands are deficient — might this award be more appropriate for a slumping receiver? — so the time is stuck at 4:55.

“Yes,” Dickson noted, “but the time is correct twice a day.”

The correct time to give McCullough the award was after practice. Once the formalities were over, the eighth-year Roughrider discussed the honour of receiving a watch that has a street value of at least $1 US.

“My Olex, minus the R?” he said with a chuckle. “It’s a nice acquisition, for sure. I’ll definitely pass it on to my kids, and hopefully they’ll pass it down to their kids.”

Failing that, there are some quality pawn shops on Dewdney Avenue, near the stadium.

“They’d probably lock the doors if they saw me carrying this thing over there,” McCullough said. “I don’t think many people in the world want this watch. But I’ll hold on to it as a keepsake.”

Smith, Dickson and McCullough were acquainted long before the ersatz Gladiator watch was presented. By sheer coincidence, Smith went to high school with McCullough’s father-in-law, Peter Langsford, in Kingston, Ont.

In recent years, the community-minded McCullough has gone out of his way to assist members of the Forces. Earlier this month, he ensured that the Roughriders’ players signed various forms of memorabilia, including pennants and flags, for Afghanistan-bound members of the Regina garrison.

“He took it over to the stadium in a bag and put (the memorabilia) in the locker room to get everyone to autograph it,” said an appreciative Dickson, who noted that members of the Forces are to visit the Roughriders’ dressing room after Saturday’s CFL home game against the Toronto Argonauts.

Such gestures are typical of the Roughriders, and of McCullough.

“When you talk about Mike, certainly you talk about character,” Roughriders head coach Ken Miller said.

“We were talking the other day in the locker room about players contributing to charities and non-profit things. He contributes to just about every one of those that come around here.”

The contributions carry on to the field, given McCullough’s excellence at middle linebacker since being promoted to front-line duty in mid-August.

“He is a strong character person and that really comes out in his play as well,” Miller said. “The last couple of years, he has been a special-teams player and a part-time linebacker, and this year the opportunity came for him to play. He has just taken this opportunity and run with it. He has done a fabulous job.”

That compliment applies to McCullough’s on- and off-field efforts, even though he is reluctant to accept any commendation. Instead, he lauds the soldiers for their exemplary efforts.

“I’ll do anything I can to help those guys,” he said.

“You see how young they are and what they’re going to do for our country, so it’s a big deal for us, too.”

Breguet was the original inventor of the tourbillon complication for pocket watches about two centuries ago. It was meant to help pocket watches that sat in a mostly vertical position remain relatively accurate by attempting to average out the effects of gravity on the balance wheel. The 20th century saw the tourbillon complication finds its way into wrist watches, even though the complication was never really meant to assist the different way wrist watches are carried around. For the most part a tourbillon complication in a watch remains a novelty – but a beautiful and wonderful one to watch at that.

Breguet recently held an exhibit of their tourbillon watches. The Swatch Group, Breguet’s current parent, has a large center in Tokyo where many of its brands have shops. Here a large collection of Breguet tourbillon watches was on display. Even though Breguet started the tourbillon craze, their current approach to advancing it is via interesting interpretations on the theme. For example, their reference 3998 watch has the tourbillon combined with the hour hand on the watch, making it circle the watch dial once every 12 hours.

The exhibit was held from September 25 – 27 at the Breguet Boutique Ginza in the famous high rent district of Tokyo, Japan. Everyone who attended who was an existing Breguet owner received a special gift and a free watch servicing. This makes sense as the best potential customers for a brand are already existing ones.

By Adam Keith, Associate Timepiece Editor for ViaLuxe-With the newest 1000 Miglia GT XL Chrono Speed Black watch, Chopard again makes a compelling case that sporty design and elegant sophistication are not mutually exclusive.  This striking Chopard watch presents famous Mille Miglia collection signatures, such as the tire tread-rubber strap and calibrated tachymeter bezel in combination with a sophisticated 44mm case that joins together stealthy DLC-treated stainless steel and brilliantly polished 18-karat rose gold.  

An abbreviation for “Diamond-Like Carbon”, the DLC treatment featured on the case lends the Chopard 1000 Miglia GT XL Chrono an extremely distinctive appearance, but it also provides a considerable degree of protection for the underlying stainless steel.  Nestled against this satiny black material are the sleek chronograph pushers, the screw-down winding crown, and the aforementioned tachymeter bezel that is indispensable for the calculation of average speeds.  

The Chopard 1000 Miglia GT XL Chrono Speed Black timepiece also makes a superb impression with its intricate and harmoniously arranged jet black dial bearing the Chopard signature and the famous Mille Miglia logo.  Luminous indications at the hours and minute track ensure superb legibility, while the countersunk chronograph subdials create a three-dimensional aspect that keeps visual interest high.  This visual fascination is also enhanced by the gently curved sapphire crystal which features large transferred Arabic numerals to mark the hours of 12 and 6 o’clock.  As with the hour markers, the polished gold-plated hands display an ample amount of Superluminova material for effortless reading in dim or nonexistent lighting.  A circular magnifier is applied to the underside of the crystal; this discreet element provides a subtle aid to reading the date in its dial aperture at the 3 o’clock position.  

Animating the Chopard 1000 Miglia GT XL Chrono Speed Black watch is a variant of the robust and extremely precise Valjoux 7750 chronograph caliber.  This self-winding Swiss movement has earned great praise throughout the watch fraternity for its robust construction, reliable operating characteristics, and well-proven integrated chronograph mechanism. A balance frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour enables the chronograph function to record elapsed time sets to the nearest 1/8th second.  Power reserve of the mainspring barrel is approximately 48 hours.  Each of these calibers is submitted by Chopard to an office of the Swiss Official Chronometer Control (COSC) where it undergoes 15 days of tests to assure that precision falls within an exacting range over a variety of positional and temperature variations.  The certificate supplied with each timepiece, as well as the “chronometer” inscription on the dial, both attest to the movement having emerged successfully from these trials.  

The Chopard 1000 Miglia GT XL Chrono Speed Black watch in rose gold will be produced in a limited edition of just 500 pieces.  Each of the watches features a sapphire crystal exhibition caseback with a “Speed Black” transferred motif, and a textured rubber strap patterned in the manner of a 1960’s-era Dunlop racing tire.  A DLC-treated stainless steel clasp engraved with the Chopard brand insignia joins the Speed Black to its owner.  Water resistance of this limited edition Chopard Mille Miglia timepiece is 100 meters.

Swami, who could not be present before metropolitan court after summons due to illness, died leaving many unanswered questions. The anti-terrorist squad (ATS) revealed this before the court in the last hearing.

The court also enquired assistant sub-inspector Narpatsinh Chavda, who had gone to the sessions court to deposit the muddamal in 1996. These articles included the expensive diamond-studded ring, a Rado watch, a Christian Bernard diamond watch and a television set, which were seized by ATS sleuths while arresting Latif in Delhi. However, the ASI argued that the sessions court normally does not admit any charge sheet without muddamal mentioned in it.

Thus, the ASI’s reply raised another question on whether these articles were mentioned in the charge sheet at all. This development led Latif’s sons – Mushtaq and Jamil – to file another application before the chief metropolitan magistrate complaining that 10 months have passed and the court inquiry has not been able to ascertain where their father’s belongings were?

In their recent application, advocate Aslamkhan Pathan demanded for perusal of the charge sheet as well as all notings on court register in this regard. Urging the court to expedite the search, the applicants requested the magistrate to call for all records from the sessions court registry and to summon all ATS officers concerned, who were involved in the operation to nab Latif.

Earlier, after Latif’s gang members came out of jail, the issue of confiscated articles came to the fore. A TADA court last year ordered that the seized goods should be returned to accused and their relatives in various cases. This led Latif’s sons to request the metropolitan court to get them the jewellery. The metropolitan court has already inquired from the ATS, the sessions court and the Shahibaug police station in this connection. But none of the above offices have claimed to have possession of these articles.

New York–All that glitters and is “green” was on full display last night in Manhattan at eco-luxe, a one-night showcase of luxury products that are eco-friendly and sustainable.

Fittingly held at environmentally conscious restaurant Rouge Tomate, the event showcased everything from reusable water bottles designed to cut down on plastic waste to a $3,000 wedding dress made entirely of 100-percent-natural Portuguese cork.

Jewelry on hand included Alberto Parada’s line of recycled and reclaimed gold jewelry with Kimberley Process-certified diamonds, pearls from Jewels of Ocean, watches from carbon-neutral IWC Schaffhausen and pieces from Conscious Jewelry and Let it Bee, a new line of jewelry where part of the proceeds go toward researching why the world’s honey bee population is dwindling.

While being green was all the rage in jewelry through much of 2008, it seemingly took a backseat to survival following the economic collapse in September.

Parada, who had traffic at his booth all night, said it’s a difficult market right now for a green designer who works exclusively in gold, even when that gold is all recycled or reclaimed.

He said the high price of gold–the metal hovered around $1,013 an ounce on Wednesday morning, according to Kitco.com–has consumers looking toward alternative metals.
Parada said his line is currently doing better on the West Coast, especially in eco-conscious cities such as Portland, Ore., and Seattle, and that he’s seen an increase in orders for custom engagement rings.

A few booths down from Parada was watch company IWC Schaffhausen, which prides itself on the fact that it produces its watches in a carbon-neutral Swiss factory.

IWC Schaffhausen North America spokeswoman Lisa Pilkington said price point will always be an issue with consumers–especially now–but green can still be a selling point.

“It helps justify the purchase and encourages someone to think in a smart way,” she said.

Designer Danna Weiss had her Conscious Jewelry line of gold-dipped brass, crystal and gemstone jewelry on display.

Her line, currently sold at Neiman Marcus and a number of other outlets, is designed to engage consumers, which is especially important in times when people are hesitant to part with their money.

Weiss encouraged each person to approach the table and select the stone to which they were most drawn, with the idea being that people will naturally choose the stone that contains the healing properties they currently need most.

Weiss, whose pieces are priced between $30 and $1,000, said consumers have taken a step back from green given the state of the economy, especially when the green product costs more than its non-green counterpart.

“But I do think that’s a temporary situation,” she said.

Also, making its debut last night at eco-luxe, was Let it Bee, a line of jewelry dedicated to drawing attention to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). CCD is the mysterious disappearance of worker bees from their hives. This causes the colony to collapse and ultimately threatens the pollination of agriculture and the food-supply

Despite the attendance of two luxury watch brands at the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix, there will be a raft of timepiece manufacturers aiming to attract buyers at the event, it has been reported.

According to Singapore’s Business Times, a number of leading chronographic watch makers will be putting their best foot forward via window displays around the city, particularly in Raffles City.

Many of them will also be displaying their exclusive deals through the event and its drivers and teams, such as Tag Heuer’s Carrera Calibre 16-Day Date Chronograph, which is affiliated with the grand prix itself, as well as Oris, which is producing watches on behalf of AT&T Williams F1.

A spokeswoman for Panerai, a subsidiary owned by Swiss luxury goods group Richemont, told the Business Times of its strategy: “We are leveraging on the F1 race to promote our watches and by increasing the visibility in the shops, such as doing Ferrari window animations during the F1 period.”

Earlier this year, Brawn GP announced they would be partnering with Graham-London to produce branded watches for the team.

Belleair Bluffs, United States  Florida’s premier Authorized Dealer of luxury timepieces, Harold Freeman Jewelers follows the success of its recently updated website by offering the complete collection of the Patek Philippe watches.

Known as the very finest high-end luxury watches, Patek Philippe watches occupy one of the most important ranks in the art of fine watch making. Harold Freeman Jewelers prominently features  the Patek Philippe Twenty~4 collection, the Patek Philippe Nautilus collection, the Patek Philippe Aquanaut, Gondolo and Calatrava collections. Patek Philippe is well known and valued for its complicated movement timepieces such as the Patek Philippe Annual Calendar Ref. 5146. You will always find an excellent selection of Patek Philippe complicated timepieces at Harold Freeman Jewelers.  Patek Philippe is the top choice for luxury watches among watch enthusiasts.

Harold Freeman Jewelers also offers a fine selection of Patek Philippe cufflinks and Patek Philippe jewelry. Having built a reputation as Authorized watch specialists, Harold Freeman Jewelers proudly offers its customers the complete line of Patek Philippe watches.

Harold Freeman Jewelers carries a superb collection of Swiss timepieces. Harold Freeman Jewelers can offer rare and limited edition timepieces from many of the finest luxury watch brands including the Patek Philippe.  “Every spring we travel  to the Basel World in Switzerland, where we get the first opportunity to purchase the very latest models of watches” says Mr. Ron Freeman, owner of Harold Freeman Jewelers. Sign up for their online newsletter and be informed of rare and limited timepieces, as well as fine jewelry .