Mika was born on 18 August 1983 under Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr’s name. He is a London-based, Grammy-nominated and BRIT Award-winning singer-songwriter, who has a recording contract with Casablanca Records and Universal Music. He rose to fame at the start of 2007. Mika was born in Beirut, the third of five children born to a Lebanese mother and an American father. When he was a year old his family was forced to leave war-torn Lebanon and moved to Paris After listening to Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box," he wrote his first song, which he describes as an "awful" piano instrumental called "Angry". The first piano piece he learned to play was «Les Champs-Élysées» from Joe Dassin. The family moved to London when he was nine years old. There, he attended the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, where he experienced severe bullying. He also had problems with dyslexia. In response to these experiences, Mika was home-schooled by his mother at the age of 11, for six to eight months. He then attended St Philip's School in Kensington where he was the head of the Schola Cantorum (the St Philip's Choir). Later he attended WestminsterSchool and the Royal College of Music, which he left to record his first album at Casablanca Records. He has also slightly altered his given name, Mica, changing the "c" to a "k" because he was frustrated by how often people would mispronounce it.
MIKA has selected world-renowned timepiece maker, PIAGET, to wear in his latest music video “Rain” from his new album, The Boy Who Knew Too Much. The song “Rain” continues the international success of Mika and its music video does not disappoint. Piaget was the natural partner for this imaginative, vibrant, high-energy video that embodies Mika’s playful and exuberant style.
A superb and elegant 18 carat pink gold and chocolate brown dial Piaget Altiplano watch adorns Mika’s wrist throughout his performance. Loyal to its characteristic pure lines and well-respected classicism, this watch is equipped with an ultra-thin hand-wound movement of 2.5 mm thickness. The sapphire crystal back enables to admire all aspects of the movement decoration, such as circular Cotes de Geneve and blued screws which are the signature features of Piaget movements. This iconic ultra thin watch perfectly captures the modern, brightly coloured, graphic essence of this music video.
Proceeds from $28,200-valued timepiece to benefit National Runaway Switchboard. Music icon Chris "Ludacris" Bridges not only left his fingerprint on music, film and philanthropy worlds but also it was used to design a unique Swiss-made watch by Geneva-based Piaget. The Ludacris Fingerprint timepiece, valued at $28,200
hristopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977) better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings. Ludacris is the highest-selling Southern hip hop solo artist of all time with over 17 million units sold in the United States and 24 million records sold worldwide. Ludacris has won SAG, Critic's Choice, MTV, and Grammy Awards during his career.
The song "Politics As Usual" from Ludacris' mixtape The Preview has stirred controversy due to lyrics in the song criticizing Reverend Jesse Jackson ("Now Jesse talkin’ slick and apologizin’ for what?/ If you said it then you meant it"), John McCain ("McCain don’t belong in any chair unless he’s paralyzed"), President George W. Bush ("Yeah I said it, 'cuz Bush is mentally handicapped/ Ball up all of his speeches and throw 'em just like candy wraps/ 'Cuz what you talkin' I hear nothin' even relevant/ And you the worst of all 43 presidents"), and insulting Hillary Clinton ("Hillary hated on you, so that bitch is irrelevant..").
Piaget took Ludacris' fingerprint earlier in 2007 and shipped it to Piaget's offices in Switzerland where the piece was created. The Fingerprint watch is crafted in 18 K white gold with 78 brilliantly cut diamonds circling a 38 mm case. The watch's face is based on the distinctive pattern of whorls and swirls of the fingerprint which are set with 286 sparkling cut diamonds. The piece features a 430 P movement (the engine of the watch), one of the thinnest of its kind. Piaget is among the few Swiss manufacturers that actually produce their own movements. .
Antiquorum announced in Geneva, last June 10th, its upcoming event: the "Important Collector's Wristwatches, Pocket Watches and Clocks" sale prepared to be celebrated on June 27th, 2009 at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong. The auction willfeature 479 lots and will bring together a remarkable selection of the finest timepieces by world-renowned watchmakers.
Between the highlights we can find:
Lot 479 / Patek Philippe
Ref. 3974, a 18K yellow gold minute-repeating gentleman's wristwatch with black dial, perpetual calendar, leap year indications and moon phases, estimated between 2,000,000 and 2,700,000 HKD (300,000 and 400,000 Sfr).
Lot 360 / Patek Philippe
Ref. 3450, an 18K yellow gold wristwatch, made in 1982, with perpetual calendar, moon phases and a red dot for the leap year indication, estimated between 1,350,000 and 1,700,000 HKD (200,000 and 250,000 Sfr).
Lot 110 / Horological Machine No.1", No. 15, by Busser & Friends
Tourbillon with 7-Day Power-Reserve Maximilian Busser & Friends, "Horological Machine No.1", Ref. 10.TR41. Made in a limited number, circa 2006. Extremely fine and innovative, oversized, self-winding and manual, water-resistant, 18K pink gold wristwatch in the form of an eight, with four mainspring barrels providing 7-day power-reserve and visible one-minute tourbillon regulator.
Estimate: 400,000 HKD - 550,000 HKD
Lot 272 / Grande and Petite Sonnerie, Minute Repeater - Perpetual Calendar (made in 1997 by Franck Muller)
Caliber 97, Grande et Petite Sonnerie Minute-Repeater, Perpetual Calendar Franck Muller, Geneve, "Grande et Petite Sonnerie, Minute-Repeater - Perpetual Calendar." Made in 1997. Unique, fine and rare, astronomic, grande et petite sonnerie minute-repeating, platinum and diamond-set wristwatch with retrograde perpetual calendar, equation of time, moon phases and 24 hour display.
Estimate: 1,750,000 HKD - 2,500,000 HKD
Lot 173 / Piaget Diamond & Sapphire Rocaille
Diamond & Sapphire Rocaille Piaget, Ref. 3259. Made in the 1960's. Extremely fine, rare and elegant, 18K yellow gold, diamond and sapphire-set lady's bracelet watch with an integral 18K yellow gold, diamond.
Estimate: 60,000 HKD - 87,000 HKD
Lot 290 / Vacheron Constantin Platinum, sapphires and diamonds
Platinum, Sapphires and Diamonds Vacheron & Constantin, movement. Made in 1923. Very fine and rare, sapphire and diamond-set platinum lady's wristwatch.
Estimate: 55,000 HKD - 85,000 HKD
Lot 379 / Mirror Image Pair "Farewell to the Beloved"
Mirror Image Pair - Farewell to the Beloved Swiss, Geneva. Made for the Chinese market circa 1830, and attributed to the Frères Oltramare. Extremely fine and very rare, mirror-image pair of 18K gold and painted on enamel, pearl-set center seconds, musical, quarterrepeating pocket watches playing music on the hour or at will.
Estimate: 900,000 HKD - 1,200,000 HKD
AUCTION Saturday June 27, 2009 MANDARIN ORIENTAL HONG KONG
2nd Floor, Victoria & Chater Room, 5 Connaught Road,
Central, Hong Kong
Tel. + 852 2522 0111 Fax + 852 2810 6190 Antiquorum Auctioneers (Hong Kong) Ltd.
Suite 1405, 9 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong
Tel. + 852 25 22 41 68 Fax. + 852 25 22 41 38
Session 1: lots 1 - 110, at 11 a.m.
Session 2: lots 111 - 479, at 2 p.m.
For the last 30 years, Piaget has been associated with the polo universe. Thirty years ago, the watchmaker brand produced the first polo watch.
The Piaget Polo watch, with its unique style and design, was launched in 1979 and soon became one of the brand’s iconic models. Inspired by the characteristic elegance of the polo clubs and their associates, the Piaget Polo Watch was adopted not only by the polo circle but also by stars as a luxurious object. It was a symbol of its time as it became a new way of wearing entirely gold timepieces.
It was then during the 80s that Piaget, under the lead of Yves G. Piaget, associated the watch brand to polo sport as it was an activity that clearly reflected the brand’s values: boldness, rigour and precision.
In order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of this emblematic collection, Piaget gave birth to five new versions in 2009 with a remaining faith to the 1979s design, the historical dials reveal their precious character without ostentation. Piaget’s anniversary models pay tribute to the characteristic design of the collection. But the landmark above all is represented by the new sporting chic model that opens up a whole new phase for the watchmaker company.
1979-2009: the Piaget Polo collection has made its mark on 30 years of watchmaking history. A brand icon, Piaget Polo is more timeless than ever.
Piaget & Co. was founded in 1874 by Georges Piaget, a farmer who became a watchmaker in the village of La-Cote-aux-Fees. He decided to assemble watches in order to earn some extra money during the winters.
Not much is said about the company's first years, only that his sons took over the business and run their father company through the First World War, the Second World War and the Great depression.
Before World War II, Piaget watches were sold through other companies which engraved their names on the dials. However, after World War II, Gerald and Valentin Piaget, the founder's grandsons, took over the company and decided to give the company a turnover and place it in the marketplace following a plan. A new collection of wristwatches was released and caused an awesome sensation. The rest is history.
Foreign markets such as the United States opened up during the 1950s and this led to the establishment of branch offices in New York, Geneva and Germany. It helped that the company introduced a number of innovative movements during this period, such as the ultra-thin nine line "9P" movement. This allowed Piaget to create a popular series of elegant, ultra-thin wristwatches for both men and women. Another commercially successful movement was the "12P", which was the world's thinnest automatic watch movement until 1967.
In order to have a strict control of quality, the company bought up several case and bracelet manufacturers.
A few years late, Piaget's market started to change its focus. The watches featured an appearance of fine jewellery.
Not only could the dials be found in a number of styles, but also the materials used became exotic. There were more jewellers than watchmakers employed by the House.
Nevertheless, though Piaget did not ignore the new quartz technology, it continued manufacturing mechanical wristwatches.
Companies such as Rolex and Omega began to dominate the sports watch field, Piaget took a very sensible decision: he decided to specialise in the dress and jewellery watches.
Piaget was recognized as one of the world's most successful watch companies in the 1970s, thanks to successful model as the polo watches, which has an appealing solid gold bracelet.
Piaget successfully brought the counterfeiters in Hong Kong and Italy to court, putting an end to the problem.
Nowadays, Piaget is extremely well known for its ladies watches and solid gold dress watches.
Though complicated watches continue to be produced in limited quantities, most Piaget watches are jewellery-oriented. To wit, Piaget buys several thousand carats of the best quality gemstones, together with five tons of gold. It should also be mentioned that every component in a Piaget watch, besides the movement, is made of solid gold, even the dials.
Watches (Including Pocket Watches in addition to wristwatches), cars, sports (Polo, Golf, etc), celebrities and all kind of information related to first class activities. From watch brand's histories till unique products description: Time stories, Pictures of particular Wristwatches, Lifestyle, Curiosities about Watches and also about their owners and creators. Emblematic personalities. Watches, Jewelery, cars, Luxury Boats, Ships and even technology used in movies. Pictures and descriptions about coming timepieces. With brands like: Tag Heuer,Omega,Cartier, Baume & Mercier, Rolex Chopard, Graham, Breitling, Panerai, Patek Philippe, between many others.
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