Michael Jones Jeweller

TRANSOCEANCHRONOMATNAVITIMER

WWW.BREITLING.COM

With its Manufacture Caliber 01, Breitling has created the most reliable, accurate and top-performance of all selfwinding chronograph movements – entirely produced in its own workshops and chronometer-certifi ed by the COSC. A perfectly logical accomplishment for a brand that has established itself as the absolute benchmark in the fi eld of mechanical chronographs.

One heart Three legends

cover2.indd 1 09/09/2011 12:54

1

welcome

This issue we have chosen a slightly different approach to our normal customer correspondence by producing a book rather than a magazine. Although still a combination of stunning jewellery, informative articles and references to prestigious companies in the Northampton and Banbury area, we felt that a book would create the atmosphere that our beautiful jewels deserve. As well as providing the perfect setting for our fantastic range of jewellery and watches, our book offers a timeless memory of your relationship with Michael Jones Jeweller – after all, buying that perfect piece is an emotional experience and one to treasure forever.

For the most important jewellery-buying experience, read our feature regarding our new Portfolio of Fine Diamonds range. Offering a greater selection of stones and designs than ever before, the Portfolio of Fine Diamonds collection is a mark of a high quality stone delivered at a great price. We now offer this range, which is a brand that customers recognise and really appreciate when making that all-important decision.

Alongside Portfolio of Fine Diamonds this year’s catalogue pages show a selection of our finest pieces including well-known and recognisable brands such as Cresber, Fope and diamond specialists Hans Krieger. From opulent rubies to sophisticated and delicious champagne and cognac-coloured diamonds each piece of jewellery will delight and bedazzle. Paired with our popular brands such as Camilia and Roberto Coin in our jewellery section there is certain to be something for everyone.

As well as our fashion shoot set in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest our catalogue pages this year pay homage to our local icons as we match up statement jeweller pieces and watches with some

of Northampton and Banbury’s most well-known landmarks, people and products of the home towns. Our favourite has to be the emerald snake ring that is paired with the Carlsberg bottle – or perhaps the limited edition Silverstone TAG Heuer watch with an image of one of Silverstone’s most famous driving icons.

Equally iconic is our feature on the late, great Elizabeth Taylor, star of the silver screen – the perfect ambassador of glamour who truly loved the sparkle of diamonds. Equally beautiful is our article about sapphires which shares all the facts about the precious gem, enjoying a resurgence thanks to the recent royal wedding.

For horologists the recent releases from Rolex, Tag Heuer and Breitling are sure to spark their interest. The Omega through the ages article pays homage to over 100 years of success, for both them and us as we have stocked these watches since the beginning of Michael Jones Jeweller.

As for the news from us we continue to be positive in this difficult economic time. Always combining quality workmanship with excellent prices our new Portfolio of Fine diamonds range offers beautiful stones and settings with the guarantee that the jewels are selected by our experts for the highest standard and that the prices are equally competitive.

As usual Michael Jones Jeweller offers a great range of stunning jewellery, classic watches and timeless gifts with a watch team on site for any issues. We always strive to offer the very best service and we are proud of our no quibble guarantee.

We hope that you enjoy the latest issue of the Michael Jones Jeweller publication and look forward to seeing you in our showrooms again soon.

Welcome to the new look Michael Jones Jeweller publication.

William Craghill

MANAGING Director

a combination of

stunning jewellery,

informative articles

and references to

prestigious companies

in the Northampton

and Banbury area, we

felt that a book would

create the atmosphere

that our beautiful

jewels deserve.

MICHAEL_JONES_2011_PRESS.indd 1 12/09/2011 16:31

Michael_Jones_Book.indd 2-3 29/07/2011 09:59MICHAEL_JONES_2011_PRESS.indd 3 12/09/2011 16:31Michael_Jones_Book.indd 2-3 29/07/2011 09:59MICHAEL_JONES_2011_PRESS.indd 2 12/09/2011 16:31


4

01 Welcome

Managing Director William Craghill introduces the new-look Michael Jones Jeweller publication

09 90 Years of Gucci Style

Always stylish, ever iconic – Josh Sims pays homage to 90 years of Gucci

16 Sophisticated Sapphires

The gem of deepest blue enjoys a resurgence in popularity

18 Michael Jones Jeweller Icons Catalogue

The look of an icon – Michael Jones Jeweller pairs original pieces with local icons

46 Up, Up and Away

Rosie Birkett fondly remembers her love for hot air balloons

52 Michael Jones Jeweller 2012 Catalogue

Stunning jewels and sparkling designs – be inspired by our latest collections

88 Great British Couture

Tailored from Savile Row – Hardy Amies launches their latest ready-to-wear collection

92 Is Time Running out for the Watch?

Is functionality a thing of the past? asks Rhodri Marsden

96 The Rolex Datejust II

A stunning piece of watchmaking returns with The Rolex Datejust II

98 Substance and Style

More than just classic jewellery, Cartier are at the heart of quality watchmaking

09 16 46

88


robertocoin.comChristy Turlington wears Fantasia Collection


7

PublisherPeter Marshall

PAOlivia White

Managing Editor Shirley Marshall

EditorKaty Morris

Assistant EditorSue Christelow

Editorial AssistantRebecca Ellwood

Editorial ContributorsRosie Birkett

Rhodri MarsdenJosh Sims

Design ManagerPhilip Donnelly

DesignerJemma Pentney

Production Glyn Mansfield

Network Photography Myburgh du Plessis

Jewellery Sales ManagerDiane Farnham

Sales SupportDiane Warren

28 Ballmoor, Celtic Court, Buckingham MK18 1RQ

Tel: +44 (0)1280 829300 Fax: +44 (0)1280 829326

[email protected] www.networkpublishingltd.com

© Buckingham Book Publishing Ltd 2011.

While every effort is made to ensure accuracy,

no responsibility can be accepted for

inaccuracies, howsoever caused. No liability

can be accepted for illustrations, photographs,

artwork or advertising materials while in

transmission or with the publisher or their

agents. All information is correct at

time of going to print.

140 A Timeline of Success

The watch of the century – take a trip through time with OMEGA

156 When the Saints come Marching in

Strength and stability – take a look at the success of the Northampton Saints Rugby Club

158 Ghost in the Night

Quiet, sleek and Smooth, driving the Rolls Royce Ghost is simply a spiritual experience

165 Specialists in Precious Metal

Mercedes-Benz of Northampton showcase their latest range

166 Tea Time

Time for a brew – see how tea leaves can benefit your health

168 A Portfolio of Fine Diamonds

A stunning collection – Michael Jones Jeweller introduces their latest range of diamonds

140 158

166

168


diamondsa passion for

FE_Ulman.indd 1 12/09/2011 14:58MICHAEL_JONES_2011_PRESS.indd 8 12/09/2011 16:31

An Italian fashion icon celebrates its 90th birthday in style. Josh Sims joins in the celebrations.

90 y e a r s o f

s t y l e

90 YEARS OF GUCCI STYLE

9


BARBRA STREISAND


11

90 YEARS OF GUCCI STYLE

By the 50s it was already established as a name

of international credibility with Hollywood

hotshots, the new paparazzi culture helping

to transmit its status globally.

A family brand

They say travel broadens the mind. It certainly worked for Guccio Gucci. Back in the early 20th century, the young Italian worked in London and Paris hotels as a bellhop and was suitably impressed by the quality of the luggage he got to handle. And it gave him an idea, one that led to the opening of a shop back home in his native Florence, one specialising in top-end leather goods and making the best of the region’s famed artisan skills in this field. The business took his surname. That was 90 years ago. And now it is a global name in fashion worth over €4bn.

Perhaps that ripe old age and considerable value would not have been achieved had the company been anything other than Italian, with its strong tradition of independent, family-owned businesses able to pursue its own agenda and its own pace – a pursuit that, to the bottom line-minded, can seem plain crazy. But when sons Aldo, Vasco and Rodolfo joined Guccio, the company’s then progressive moves – developing signature products, most famously its loafer, or creating a strong brand identity through its double-G logo or red and green bands – would mean that by the 50s it was already established

as a name of international credibility with Hollywood hotshots, the new paparazzi culture helping to transmit its status globally.

Even though family members helped to run the company until the late 80s, one wonders if they could have predicted how – in part thanks to the explosion in demand for luxury goods, in part due to the vision of business leader Dominico de Sole during the 1990s and in part due to some smart appointments in creative directors the likes of Tom Ford and Frida Giannini – Gucci would continue to grow such that come 2011 it could still find those bands not down the side of a bag but a car. The Fiat 500 by Gucci is just one of the company’s 90th birthday celebrations this year, harking back to the early 1970s when Gucci found itself offering one of the first special trim packages to buyers of the AMC Hornet, and later the Cadillac Seville and the Lincoln Town Car. But perhaps even they might have been pleased by an original development in Gucci transportation, with last year’s collaboration with the classic motorboat manufacturer Riva, which saw an Aquariva get a Giannini make-over.

RINGO STARR


ANNIVERSARY EDITION


ANNIVERSARY EDITION


An illustrious past and prosperous future

Indeed, why wait for its centennial to cast an eye back over Gucci’s illustrious history? This year Gucci has launched a number of collections under a new ‘G. Gucci Firenze 1921’ trademark and stamp to mark the company’s step into its tenth decade. Clothes and bags – still, as Guccio would have appreciated, the mainstay of the Gucci product range – are the focus, with, as Giannini has put it, “each item in the collection [telling] a story, representing a chapter within the house’s rich narrative history”.

The references are subtle – and not so subtle. Zip closures on bags and wallets, for example, feature the Gucci crest designed by Guccio and his sons, while loafers come lined using a leather in a deep green revived from the company archives. The company’s equestrian roots – much of its early business was in the making of bridlery – are acknowledged by new horse-riding boots and loafers with the classic horse-bit, this still as much a Gucci signature as the name itself. The same horse-bit features on bracelets, with it and variations on the equestrian theme – such as swaying bridles in the shape of a loose G – appearing on scarves, printed shirts and the lining of a trench-coat and a suede blazer.

Less subtle perhaps, and yet the most appropriate, is the extensive use of leather and in unexpected ways – on limited edition sunglasses, for example, or covering the case of the new 1921 watch which, inevitably, comes with a matching leather strap affixed using the brand’s horse-bit. This is just one of a new collection of watches featuring, for instance, a diamond-set take on the slim rectangular case of the G-Frame watch, unisex diving versions of the G-Timeless and, for men, the new Coupé, a retro-modern watch with a rounded square case and dial in black or more distinctive bronze, both styles featuring the Gucci diamond pattern at its centre.

ROD STEWART


15

A world icon in gold and silver

Indeed, watches and jewellery are increasingly part of the Gucci package. The history here may not stretch back nine decades but it certainly indicates Gucci as being one of the first brands outside of the watch industry to compete in it – back in the 1970s its green and red straps helped popularise the idea that a watch could be a fashion item as much as a functional one. Some 40 years on and its watches are now competing as much on content as style, being made in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland in the company’s own manufactory.

Gucci’s jewellery offer continues to grow too, breaking down into several areas, each referencing the company’s past – Diamantissima, using a criss-cross pattern used by Gucci on luggage as long ago as the 1930s, now transferred onto 18ct gold rings, earrings, bracelets, bangles and the lariat necklace; the Crest line, based on the trademark registered in 1955, used as motif for ages sterling silver and plaited leather pieces; the Bamboo collection, reproducing its look also in sterling silver, and using bamboo wood ‘stones’ on necklaces, earrings and bracelets; and, perhaps most distinctively, its Horsebit line, which takes that famed loafer snaffle from 1953 and re-works it for new necklaces and earrings using unusual materials such as black diamonds, black onyx and black synthetic corundum (a crystalline mineral).

Celebrating 90 years of classic design

Inevitably for a company founded on leather, the 90th birthday special editions also feature bags using these latter two staple designs, including new versions of the Jackie and Horse-bit Chain bags and of the Bamboo – one of Gucci’s most historic products, dating to the company inventively circumventing materials shortages during World War Two by developing bags with bodies made from canvas and handles made using steam-bent bamboo. Even austerity produced an accessories icon. In these new times of austerity, in which even the wealthy are making a more careful assessment of the things they buy, could the 1921 collection prove the founding of perhaps one or two new classics from the House of Gucci? If they are still influential in another 90 years, there will be the answer.

perhaps most distinctively,

its Horsebit line, which takes

that famed loafer snaffle

from 1953 and re-works it for

new necklaces and earrings

using unusual materials

such as black diamonds,

black onyx and black

synthetic corundum

(a crystalline mineral).


the ring was perfectly

showcased by Catherine at

the official engagement

press call, and made the

sapphire a widespread object

of lust once again. Her rising

presence as a style icon has

cemented the modernity and

relevance of the sapphire.

MICHAEL_JONES_2011_PRESS.indd 16 12/09/2011 16:32 MICHAEL_JONES_2011_PRESS.indd 17 12/09/2011 16:32

icons of michael jones jeweller

18




23



carlsberg

Icon of flavourProbably the world’s most well-known brewery – a Scandinavian company operating two breweries and 15 distribution depots with the iconic towers visible from the centre of the town.





33

ICONS OF MICHAEL JONES jeweller

Clock The Georgian Bell Top with Chinoiserie decoration by Comitti Of London £4,935.00






41

ICONS OF MICHAEL JONES jeweller

TAG Heuer ‘Silverstone’ Limited Edition Automatic Chronograph Calibre 11. £5,000.00





48

I’ll never forget that one fateful summer’s evening when one actually crash-landed in our garden. It was incredibly dramatic. It came down with a bump and the pilot’s head was bleeding slightly. My father sprang to his aid, checking that he wasn’t badly injured before getting down to the serious business of discussing the balloon’s engineering intricacies and causes of the crash; and my mother laid on bandages and cold glasses of lemonade. My sister and I couldn’t believe our luck – here we were, up close and personal with the basket, the silky stretch of fabric and the enigmatic pilot, after months of watching from afar.

Since puberty, higher education, carving out a career as a journalist and moving to London, hot air balloons have taken something of a backseat in my life, but it’s reassuring to know that they are still going strong. Hot air balloon festivals, fiestas, events and private gift experiences are

organised and available to enjoy throughout the year. The human love for our slow, graceful flying friends is showing no sign of waning. And why should it? After all, the hot air balloon is the oldest successful feat of human-carrying flight technology conceived. It is in a class of aircraft known as ‘balloon aircraft’, and the first untethered, manned flight was made by Frenchmen Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes in a hot air balloon created by the Montgolfier brothers on 21 November 1783, in Paris.

The idea behind the ‘thermal airship’ is deceptively simple – a hot air balloon consists of a bag called the envelope that is capable of containing heated air. Suspended underneath is a container or wicker basket which carries passengers and a source of heat – usually gasified liquid propane. The heated air inside the envelope makes it float as it has a lower density

than the relatively cold air outside the envelope. The first contemporary hot air balloon to

be built in the United Kingdom was the Bristol Belle in 1967, and Bristol is now renowned as the location for a world class hot air ballooning festival: The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. Recognised as one of the UK’s top five outdoor events, this celebration of the hot air balloon was founded in 1978 and has become an icon for the city, with around half a million people flocking to the rolling hills of Ashton Court on the edge of

hot air balloon

flights are entirely

weather, and particularly

wind, dependent.


top hot air balloon events

www.thenorthamptonballoonfestival .co.uk

www.kentballooning .com

www.westcountryballoons .com

www.bristolballoonfiesta .co.uk


51

Bristol for the free event. The event takes place over four days and this year will be staged on 11-14th of August.

Some of the largest crowds are drawn to the famous Night Glows on Thursday and Saturday evenings, when the balloons tether in the main arena and light up in sequence to music, like giant light bulbs. In September, Leeds Castle is hosting a ‘Balloons and Bentleys’ event which will celebrate travel from the Edwardian era to the 1930s. Hot air balloons, steam engines, boats and veteran cars will all be on display to view up close on the Cedar Lawn. But if you’re more interested in getting right in on the action, then a personal flight in a hot air balloon might be right up your street. When PR consultant Samantha Kirton was stumped for what to buy her husband for his birthday and Christmas present, a flight in a hot air balloon over their local area of Dartmoor was an exhilarating and unusual gift idea.

“We’d done it once before in Kenya in the

Maasai Mara, which was pretty amazing,” says Samantha. “We did that a few years ago with work when I was working for a safari company, but we live on Dartmoor and we’d talked about how nice it would be to do something over the moor, because we love the South West.” Samantha was recommended the name of a small private hot air balloon flight operator, Airtopia, by a work colleague and purchased a gift voucher. “I liked the fact it was a small outfit, without hoards of people in the balloon,” she says.

But the one drawback of such a gift is that hot air balloon flights are entirely weather, and particularly wind, dependent. So if you’re booking something like this, be prepared to be flexible on dates and don’t expect to always fly on your arranged date. “We were really lucky to fly on the day we booked, because one couple we met were on their fifth attempt. The wind has to be exactly right – it can’t be too windy and they only know the day before whether your flight is going to go ahead.”

But when you do set off on a flight, it is something you will remember forever, says Samantha. “We did it last April and it was stunning weather. It was absolutely amazing. We went up over the South Hams, with eight of us in the balloon. We flew up just before sunset and glided over the cows and fields, landing on the edge of a little village close to the church. When we got out we helped pack up the balloon and were then poured lovely glasses of Champagne. It was really, really glorious.”

Of course, those without a head for heights might balk at the idea of such an excursion, but Samantha insists that it’s really not as daunting as it sounds. “My husband has vertigo and I’m scared of flying, but it’s such a slow, sedate pace that it’s not scary at all. It’s lovely – it feels like you’re floating. It’s a lovely present idea because you get to join in as well and is an especially nice thing to do for a special anniversary or birthday.”





















89

GREAT BRITISH COUTURE

“I have absolutely no desire to do anything too revolutionary with men’s fashion,” as the late tailor and couturier Hardy Amies once explained. “I think men have just got used to the idea of where the pockets are.” But then again, in the 60s Amies’ idea of future style foretold of us wearing slim bow-ties, high-buttoning cutaway jackets and extra narrow trousers – good predictions, were it not for the fact that he also suggested said trousers would be worn tucked into calf-length boots.

So the flamboyantly outspoken Amies – who died aged 94 in 2003, leaving the legacy of his design approach and company behind him – did not always get it right. But his name, at least, lives on – and perhaps has those boots on the cards – in the shape of the company recently reborn under new ownership. This autumn/winter season, indeed, sees the first collection from the brand’s new creative director, Claire Malcolm, inspired by Amies’ heyday on the European social circuit of the 1930s, when he hobnobbed between London, Paris, Berlin and skiing in Klosters. The collection includes double-breasted cashmere suits in shades of grey or stony blue but also unstructured blazers, duck-down gilets, checked shirts and two-tone blue (of not calf-length) leather lace-up boots – made in collaboration with shoemaker Edward Green and a nod to Amies’ pronouncement that boots were a sign of virility.

From Savile Row to Ready to Wear, Josh Sims discovers how

designer to royalty Hardy Amies has influenced men’s style

and how his fashion house is still teaching from the ABC of

Men’s Fashion, this time in the 21st Century.

GREAT BRITISH

COUTURE

I THINK MEN HAVE JUST GOT

USED TO THE IDEA OF WHERE

THE POCKETS ARE.


90

GREAT BRITISH COUTURE

To Amies, many such items would have been more casualwear, or what he used to call ‘leisure clothes’. These days that may conjure up images of hoodies and sweat-pants – the track suit being the one totally new garment to have appeared in Amies’ lifetime, as he once noted, slightly disdainfully. He, after all, once defined casualwear by the stark contrast to that which he considered proper – “clothes you wear when you aren’t wearing a suit.” Surely, with Amies such a character – part archetypal English gent, part roue – the revamp of the brand should be celebrated by those who favour the saving of British institutions from the scrap heap?

“His contribution to men’s style is poorly understood,” says Malcolm, whose varied career to date has included spells working with designer Kim Jones, helping hip hop mogul Kanye West create his (yet to launch) menswear line, and designing E.Tautz, another relaunched menswear brand, one that last year picked up the British Fashion Council’s Men’s Designer of the Year award. “People know he’s got something to do with the Queen, but his influence has actually been huge.”

His association with royalty was not a minor one, comprising his being dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth from her accession to the throne to his retirement in 1989. But that was not all he did. For film buffs Amies was the designer of costumes for ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. For sports fans he dressed the 1966 World Cup England team. For business types he was the first fashion designer to expand into homewares. And for fashion fans Amies was the first designer to host a menswear catwalk show, one at the end of which, with tongue firmly in cheek, a huge papier mâché hand appeared out of the wings. That, Amies would later explain to a perplexed audience, was the Queen waving. Amies would also take a bow at the conclusion to his catwalk presentation. Now the done thing for designers, he was the first to do this as well. With such a diverse career, he would have relished the growing interest among men in what they wear.

“The fact is that the consumer now has a stronger expectation of how he wants to dress and is looking for brands, even those in traditional tailoring, to respond to that,” as Hardy Amies’ new CEO Tony Yusuf puts it, stressing what he considers the house’s point of difference. “The very traditional tailors aren’t making the necessary changes from ‘country pursuits’ to more ‘modern’ tailoring. Certainly the past offers integrity but the challenge is to make it relevant again, by fusing Amies’ image as a bon viveur with contemporary menswear.”

That means that, despite being headquartered on West London’s Savile Row, the spiritual home of traditional men’s tailoring – and where Hardy Amies maintains a bespoke operation – the brand’s new collection is as much about advanced manufacturing techniques, use of progressive fabrics and building close relationships with specialist suppliers as it is sharp shoulders and nipped-in waists. If much if not all of Savile Row might appear stuck in the past – potentially

turning off vital new generations of customers – Yusuf argues that there is a crucial need for even classic menswear to respond to a consumer who, thanks to the media, the internet and a revolution in high-street fast fashion, has never been better educated in matters of style.

“It’s all in keeping with the fact that British tailoring has to move forward to keep pace not only with lifestyles but the fact that more of us have a sense of aesthetics that is fundamental to everything we buy, whether it’s a car, computer, mobile phone or clothes,” he says. “Savile Row has long played on history and heritage, which have a certain cool now. But it’s not an interesting enough story alone to a man in his 20s or 30s. Really it should just provide the credentials that allow a company to move forward.”

Will the new house of Amies successfully reinvent itself as a Savile Row institution for the 21st century? Amies himself was something of a master of reinvention – born Edwin Amies, but taking his mother’s maiden name as his first; an agent with the Special Operations Executive during World War Two turned couturier; a knight whose lordly pronouncements on how men should dress are still read today in his classic ABC of Men’s Fashion. Following his dapper example, success seems likely – especially if the brand reins in the licensing that arguably tainted its appeal over the last years of Amies’ life.

“The new Hardy Amies is still very much in its founder’s spirit,” says Malcolm. “If you look at photos of Amies on holiday during the 30s and 40s he always looked immaculate and clearly had a very good time. It was an era when men knew how to dress without being into themselves – something Amies described as being especially vulgar. Now we have a fresh approach to capture a similar sense of the modern British gentleman. We have this terrific history, but effectively also have the clean slate and progressive outlook of a new company. It’s the best of both worlds.”

the consumer now has

a stronger expectation of

how he wants to dress and

is looking for brands, even

those in traditional tailoring,

to respond to that.


92


93

IS TIME RUNNING OUT FOR THE

WATCH?

IS TIME RUNNING OUT FOR THE WATCH?

My own watch is battered, scratched and held together with the aid of three 50mm elastic bands. It’s a bit of an inelegant solution. The strap tends to fall off whenever I accidentally bash it against a hard surface, but there’s a bloke in my local market who reattaches it for me for four quid, which is probably a rip-off but it’s a long-standing arrangement that I don’t have the heart to break. It’s got an hour hand and minute hand – as you’d hope – and a second hand, too; it can’t tell me the date, but it is ‘5 bar,’ which apparently means it could operate under 40m of water (an attribute that’s unlikely to be tested unless I fall drunkenly off the side of a boat).

But it’s much loved, much fidgeted with, and assists me whenever I’m catching trains, keeping appointments or getting annoyed when people fail to show up when they said they would. If I can’t find my watch, I get a bit distressed. If I leave the house without it, I immediately have a nagging sensation that something is wrong. I feel ill-equipped to deal with life. Without my watch, I feel a bit nude.

Having said that, I’d grudgingly admit that my watch doesn’t do anything that my mobile phone can’t – and that’s another item that’s firmly

bonded to my person. My phone is more than capable of showing me the time; I just have to press a button. It doesn’t tell me the number of seconds, sure, but that’s never a problem unless I’m timing a boiled egg, which I’m generally not. My phone effectively renders my watch superfluous, except as a decorative object – and this is a realisation that dawned on the younger generation quite a while ago.

A survey conducted by Mintel last autumn showed that under-25s are twice as likely as the rest of us to have jettisoned their watches and assigned any timekeeping duties to their phones instead. More of us own a mobile phone these days (91 per cent) than own a watch (86 per cent), with one in seven of us feeling, on reflection, that we could probably do without wearing a watch altogether.

Statistically, the person most likely to be wearing a watch right now is a woman over the age of 55; in a few decades’ time, perhaps watches will become obsolete. Pointing to your wrist to ask the time could be as dated a gesture as tipping your hat.

But while the traditional function of the wristwatch is neutered by the ability of other

gadgets to tell us the time, its form and its style certainly aren’t. While sales of watches overall are flatlining, the market for cheap timepieces is growing; that’s to be expected in a time of economic uncertainty, but those who keep at least one eye on the fashion blogs won’t fail to have noticed the brow-furrowing trend of toting multiple watches simultaneously; girls wearing them layered like bangles, boys eliminating the possibility of checking the wrong wrist by having a watch on each. No trend quite exposes the devaluation of the watch’s role as a timekeeper as this one.

Clocks on mobile phones and computer

screens suggest that traditional timepieces

are obsolete. Technology guru Rhodri

Marsden argues that there’s always a place

for a watch face – as long as it’s stylish.

If I can’t find my watch, I

get a bit distressed. If I leave

the house without it, I

immediately have a nagging

sensation that something is

wrong. I feel ill-equipped to

deal with life. Without my

watch, I feel a bit nude.


94

IS TIME RUNNING OUT FOR THE WATCH?

Watches are still adored by who have a few grand to chuck about, too. Fashion house Balenciaga recently unveiled their wristwatch collection designed by Nicolas Ghesquière, with straps in ‘python’, ‘crocodile’ or ‘lizard’, and which come in at a cool $1,400 (£880). Watches by the likes of Rolex or Cartier still double as timepieces and copper-bottomed investment opportunities, while a Swiss watch brand such as Jacob & Co only needs to have its creations photographed while they’re wrapped around the supple wrists of Kim Kardashian for tongues to start wagging and their products to become sought after once again.

If anyone can be relied upon to provide a colossal, flashing signpost to the current favoured excesses of the wealthy and privileged, it’s probably Kanye West; he recently chose to design a watch that features a likeness of himself – complete with sunglasses, naturally – picked out in diamonds and gold. It set him back $180,000. Kanye doesn’t need to tell the time; he has people to do that kind of thing for him. But he still wears a watch.

“Men will never lose that Meccano mentality,” says Robert Johnston, associate editor of GQ. “Swiss quality watches are objects of incredible beauty; little men on Swiss mountains spend their life hand-polishing screws that are barely visible to the naked eye, and there’s something incredibly sexy about that.”

But the horizontally-arranged mainspring barrels and tourbillon regulators in, say, “The Quenttin” watch by Jacob & Co seem to me to be the direct counterparts of the ‘Miracle Broth’

that scientists rigorously evaluate in each batch of Creme de la Mer moisturiser, or the 600Hz subfield motion in pricey plasma televisions. Untold research and technical skill goes into each (although I’m personally inclined to be less impressed by the Miracle Broth), but the ultimate status comes with the price tag of the finished product. The enhanced accuracy that a tourbillon regulator might give my watch (if my watch had one) obviously wouldn’t help me arrive at a party any more promptly, but nor would it make me any more of a hit at the party when I arrived.

The wow-factor of wrist-mounted technical wizardry has been eclipsed by the phone in our pocket; the “complications” that watchmakers cram into timepieces with such supreme skill – the Easter date and moon-phase calculators, the compasses and barometers – are, sadly, less impressive than a smartphone app that records everything you say in your sleep.

For many years the most expensive watch in the world was the impossibly intricate Supercomplication by Patek Phillipe, a pocket watch made in 1932 with 24 complications and 900 parts. That was, however, effortlessly outstripped when Chopard produced a watch with 163 carats of white and yellow diamonds stuck on the front that sold for $25m. Enough said. It’s all about the bling.

This surely leaves digital timepieces with nowhere to go. To be honest, the digital watches that friends of mine had at school that were able to add, subtract, multiply, divide and display the current time in Hong Kong were never more than superficially impressive. But as components become smaller and more powerful, the temptation to pack more and more functionality into a wristwatch-sized device becomes incredibly tempting to technology companies.

For years, the industry has wrestled with the idea of convergence; exactly how much should you pack into one gadget? Enabling a satnav to play mp3s or an mp3 player to give you a close-run game of Scrabble presents no technological problems whatsoever. But are they really the best vehicles? Having the time easily and quickly visible on your wrist will always be useful (although, if you’re glancing at it while wondering

“how much longer will this person keep talking at me,” be sure, they will notice you doing it).

But if the existence of the £50 watch is really being threatened by the mobile phone, how about incorporating that mobile phone technology into the watch itself?

This isn’t a new concept. Ever since Chester Gould, creator of Dick Tracy, equipped the detective with a 2-Way Wrist Radio in a comic strip on January 13 1946, possessing a real one became a dormant ambition embedded within the minds of geeky boys – boys who inevitably ended up working for the world’s big technology companies. Samsung have had repeated (although slightly half-hearted) stabs at launching one, the first being the catchily-named SPH-WP10 back in 1999, with further teasers at technology fairs at 2001 and 2003. But it’s only now that the idea seems to be gaining traction.

The online forum at giffgaff, the O2-backed mobile network whose development and expansion is partly driven by its own customers, buzzed sufficiently on the subject for a competition to emerge to design the phone-watch of the future, while a Nottingham-based firm, Swap (Smart Watches and Phones) has seen itself expand rapidly since its launch in 2008. Its sWaP Rebel watch, with its rubber strap, touch screen, mini stylus and USB port, was stocked in Harrods and was picked out as a cool stocking filler last Christmas; perhaps unsurprisingly, one of its directors, Peter Theo, has commented that “the watch isn’t dead, it’s just evolving”.

Swap’s fortunes will have been done no harm by the appearance of the new iPod nano, a cute mp3 player in Apple’s range that was unveiled back in September and is the size and shape of a wristwatch face. The presence of an analogue clock on the device’s lock screen only emphasises the similarity, and when CEO Steve Jobs casually mentioned as an aside that an Apple board member intended to wear it as a watch, that was enough for yet another small industry to piggyback on the popularity of an Apple product. Cheap and cheerful wristbands were hurriedly launched by companies such as Griffin, while more sophisticated offerings started to show up on design blogs. A company called MNML Studio

Kanye doesn’t need to tell

the time; he has people to do

that kind of thing for him.

But he still wears a watch.


“But then the industry

asked themselves a question:

what is a watch for? And

they realised that it’s not for

telling the time.”

sought investment via the website kickstarter.com for two wristbands that promised to transform the iPod nano into the “world’s coolest multitouch watch”; it ended up becoming the highest funded project in Kickstarter’s history. Digital trickery on the wrist is still an enticing prospect, clearly.

But how well does it work in practice? The one obvious boon of having our digital lives encased in a wrist-mounted gadget is that we’re much less likely to lose it; it’s bound to us, literally. But when the website Engadget reviewed the iPod nano as a watch, it didn’t score particularly highly.

Firstly it’s quite big (although if you’re a bloke that’s probably less of an issue.) Secondly, you can’t just glance at the time – you have to wake up the screen first, which can ultimately get a bit irritating. And if you want to listen to music – which is, after all, the point of the iPod nano – a cable running from your ears to your wrist isn’t the best ergonomic solution; fling your arm out to hail a bus and your headphones ping out of your ear. It’s perhaps telling that the aforementioned watch design competition on the giffgaff forum was won by a circular pocket watch rather than something that sits on the wrist. Of course, the technology industry will eventually get the period of experimentation out of its system and establish what does and doesn’t work.

Leading the way, perhaps, is Sony Ericsson’s Live View, much cooed over on technology blogs; it’s just a wrist-mounted remote control that allows you to check out what’s going on on your phone without having to reach into your bag or your pocket. Essentially just a wireless bridge, nothing more. But deemed to be very cool.

“When quartz was introduced, everyone thought that Swiss quality watches were dead,” says Robert Johnston. “But then the industry asked themselves a question: what is a watch for? And they realised that it’s not for telling the time.” So, kids might have briefly fallen out of love with watches. But ultimately, if something looks good, or if it does something vaguely useful, we’ll strap it to our wrist. At the very least, it breaks up the uniform monotony of our hand, wrist and arm. That’s got to count for something.




Clockwise from top left: Parsifal Automatic chronograph movement, 18ct rose gold case, Black dial with date windowMaestro Moon Phase Automatic Moon Phase movement, Stainless Steel case, Silver Dial with date subdial

Freelancer Automatic chronograph movement, Stainless Steel case, Black Baton dial with day/date functionsNoemia Quartz movement, Steel case encrusted with 54 diamonds, Mother-of-pearl diamond dot dial


For more than 150 years the company has combined innovation and enduring style to conquer

and master the measurement of time in its smallest fractions. Founded by Edouard Heuer in 1860,

in the little village of St-Imier in the heart of the Jura Mountains, TAG Heuer has become the

world’s top manufacturer of prestigious chronographs with a precision of 1/10th, 1/100th and

1/1,000th of a second, and a benchmark for technology and design.

150 years of mastering speed TAG Heuer celebrates

101



ROYAL AIR FORCE, RED ARROWS

UNSTOPPABLE.

ThE RED ARROWS ARE.So is Citizen Eco-Drive.

Fuelled by light, it never needs a battery.

IT’S UNSTOPPABLE.Just like the people who wear it.

Red Arrows Skyhawk A•T Flight Chronograph Titanium 5 year guarantee


KIM CLIJSTERS, Three-Time US Tennis Open Champion

UNSTOPPABLE.

KIM CLIJSTERS IS.So is her Citizen Eco-Drive.

Fuelled by light, it never needs a battery.

IT’S UNSTOPPABLE.Just like the people who wear it.

Regent 28 Diamonds RRP £299 5 year guarantee


T I S E N T O M I L A N O

www.tisento-milano.com

3356-TS-adv_michaeljones.indd 1 9/12/11 2:29 PM



The Facesof Time

A watch is such a personal possession that, often, your

choice of watch represents what kind of person you

are. Many watch houses use celebrity ambassadors to

embody the essence of their brands, which can help you

decide on the timepiece that best represents you.

FACES OF TIME

109


110110

FACES OF TIME – OMEGA



113

FACES OF TIME – BREITLING



115

FACES OF TIME – LONGINES


116

FACES OF TIME – TAG HEUER



119

FACES OF TIME – CITIZEN


120

JEWELS OF THE RAINFOREST


122



123

jewels in the rainforest



125



126



127



128



129



130



131


...winding chains

sparkle in the dappled

light and pendants

swing with the breeze...



133

ICO

NJosh Sims pays homage to the silver

screen’s leading lady and diamond queen,

the late great Elizabeth Taylor

A DIAMOND

A DIAMOND ICON


134

A DIAMOND ICON

“She was the most sullen, uncommunicative and beautiful woman I have ever seen. Elizabeth and I lived on the edge of an exciting volcano. It was marvellous. But it could be murder.” When Richard Burton made this comment of his wife, ex-wife, then wife and ex-wife again Elizabeth Taylor, the two of them were the most talked about couple on the planet. Indeed, while both excelled in their craft – Taylor picking up two Academy awards, for example – their names have come to be magnified by the mutual reflection of their tempestuous high-profile relationship.

The miner’s son from Pontrhydyfen and the London-born art dealer’s daughter met on the set of ‘Cleopatra’ – then the most expensive film ever made (in part due to Taylor’s then record-breaking $1m fee, in addition to 10 per cent of the gross) and, given its subject matter, a fitting backdrop for the almost mythological nature of their romance. But while Burton’s star was snuffed out early, aged just 58, Taylor – who died this past March, aged 79 – went on to become less an actress, not even a businesswoman or activist, so much as an icon. One, certainly, whose fame was such that, sadly, she was asked to stay away from Burton’s funeral, lest her presence turn a sombre occasion into a media circus.

What defines an icon is not easy to pin-point. The times can be an icon’s making – and Taylor, together with Burton, defined the pizzazz of the Jet Set during the 1950s and 60s, when she was also at the peak of her acting powers. One of the last exemplars of the old star-making Hollywood studio system, she continued to represent a bygone quality of glamour long after celebrity had become a more tawdry product of hype and a bedfellow of sales and marketing.

Talent is a given for an icon too, essential to any lasting credibility – and anyone who has seen Taylor’s performances in ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’, opposite fellow icon Paul Newman, or in ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’, opposite Burton, can hardly be in doubt of her having that (despite her noting that “I, along with the critics, have never taken myself very seriously”). She had, after all,

been acting since she was 10, and was a star by the time she was 12, with the release of ‘National Velvet’. Burton even once suggested that Taylor suffered psychologically from being too famous too young, an insight she seemed to echo, once stating that she had “the emotions of a child in the body of a woman” and had been “rushed into womanhood for the movies”.

But the beauty of that womanhood, as Burton’s comment above suggests, helped her establish her iconography too: Taylor had an easy style, making a silk scarf and headband signature accessories, yet unusual genetic quirks meant that not only were her eyes violet in colour but, thanks to a condition she was born with called distichiasis, each eye was also framed by two rows of lashes. An anecdote has the director of one of Taylor’s earlier movies, ‘Lassie Come Home’, insisting that she be removed from the set until make-up had scrubbed off the excess mascara she was wearing. She was, of course, wearing none at all. A 1976 magazine poll saw her win the title of ‘most memorable eyebrows’ as well. The runner-up was Lassie.

A life larger than life also adds to the allure – and Taylor definitely had that, as her seven husbands (one making her a widow at 26), legendary boozing (“I could drink everyone under the table and not get drunk – my capacity was terrifying,” she once noted), and grand love of jewellery testify too. And that is arguably an understatement for a woman who owned some of the most famous ever pieces, including the 33-carat Krupp Diamond, the Grand Duchess of Russia emeralds, the La Peregina Pearl and the 69-carat Burton-Cartier Diamond, the latter two both gifts from Burton, with the stone subsequently renamed the Burton-Taylor diamond. Eddie Fisher, her fourth husband, once said that a $50,000 diamond could keep Taylor happy for around four days. She had her own explanation: “My mother says I didn’t open my eyes for eight days after I was born. But when I did the first thing I saw was an engagement ring – and I was hooked.”

But hers was also a complex, rich life, one lived under the glare of a media attention newly critical and progressively candid after decades of sycophantic, mutually back-scratching arrangements with Hollywood. Indeed, Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor – more often known by the more familiar Liz, somewhat counter to the stratospheric elevation of her fame – was among the first stars to leverage her celebrity power for more than personal gain.

She was a pioneer of the celebrity fragrance and jewellery markets, launching her first perfume in 1988 and becoming the first celebrity to win a FiFi award, the fragrance industry’s Oscar. But it also allowed her to survive a disregard for public opinion and work to less popular ends – a disregard perhaps only a star of her brilliance can afford to maintain. After all, she was instrumental throughout the late 80s in changing public attitudes to AIDS’ victims, auctioning off much of her jewellery to fund charities, raising some $80m in a decade for her own – when scare-mongering was still rife – helping make her a hallowed figure among gay communities in particular. Similarly, she remained a vocal and lifelong friend to Michael Jackson – another child mega-star, with whom, maybe, she shared an understanding – long after his eccentricities had made him something of a bizarre figure.

Do such qualities add up to an icon? It has been said that Elizabeth Taylor defined the modern conception of the celebrity, with her life – the child star, the romances, the excesses, addictions and illnesses – like a blueprint for the 21st century’s more fleetingly famous. The big difference? Few today will have her lasting impact.

Image taken from Elizabeth Taylor: Queen of the Silver Screen, by Ian Lloyd. Published in hardback by Andre Deutsch, £14.99. Available to buy from all good bookstores and online.


My mother says I didn’t open my eyes for eight days

after I was born. But when I did the first thing

I saw was an engagement ring – and I was hooked.

135


Even the wealthy

don’t want to

throw money away

now and are less

label-oriented and

more conscious of

getting value.

136


137

FASHION INDEPENDENCE

‘A brand by any other name ... would smell as sweet.’ A

true statement perhaps, leading Josh Sims to ask how is

the world changing for the industry’s favourite brands,

is quality worth more more than just a name and with

unique luxury boutiques more accessible than ever,

is this THE rise of fashion independence?


Something unexpected happened at the Dior catwalk show in Paris this spring. At its end, rather than the designer making the customary bow, a troupe of white-coated old folk (how terribly unfashionable) made an appearance. These, indeed, were the power behind the throne – the craftspeople who made the goods. Meanwhile, Hermes was launching a book, ‘La Maison’, full of detailed colour plates featuring not the brand’s luxury goods, but factory floors and work benches, people with tools and templates actually making the goods. Brand, these brand giants seemed to be saying, is no longer enough – you have to actually make genuinely good products. It is quality and distinction, rather than logos and celebrity endorsement, that is the way ahead.

Nor are Dior and Hermes alone. Diverse companies the likes of work-boot manufacturer Red Wing, new menswear label Albam, through to Savile Row tailors Gieves & Hawkes are among many fashion and lifestyle companies putting craft before cool with advertising, special edition books and on-line videos all seeking to demonstrate the substance behind the label. The shift is, in part, recessionary.

“Even the wealthy don’t want to throw money away now and are less label-oriented and more conscious of getting value,” suggests Helen Lambert, head of luxury market analysts Lambert Associates. “It has become a question of giving purchases greater consideration, of looking for those things that are luxurious by the old definition – genuinely limited, with smaller production runs, that have a story behind them and are more personal.”

As Sergio Loro Piana, the co-managing director of the Italian luxury goods house Loro Piana, notes, the fashion brand giants in particular have enjoyed boom years – ones largely fuelled by the emerging markets of India and China especially – but in doing so have suffered over-exposure, which in turn has somewhat tarnished their gloss for more mature markets. “Luxury isn’t something you can get everywhere,” he says. “Brands now have to take a much more ‘clubbable’ approach – their customers may recognise a brand being worn or used by each other, but it’s certainly not obvious to those outside of the club.”

It has become a

question of giving

purchases greater

consideration, of

looking for those

things that are

luxurious by the

old definition –

genuinely limited,

with smaller

production runs,

that have a story

behind them and are

more personal.


138


The internet has also been an essential factor in this shift of buying approach in favour of the more niche and exclusive – exclusive less in the sense of being beyond most people’s pocket, so much as in the sense of being hidden away and little known examples of best-in-class products. If a decade ago brand was a stamp of recommendation largely bought with advertising dollars, now those dollars are of diminishing importance in the virtual world – not only can even one-man-band companies reach many more people purely by having an on-line presence, but the internet is a hive of tips, recommendations and insights that allows a product to be critically assessed. Blogs, comments and comparison sites all allow the cream to rise to the surface and the little man to get attention. They cut through the dazzling glitz.

“The internet is a game-changing means of exploring artisanal and craft products, or just smaller companies who specialise in what they do, and perhaps have done so under the radar for generations,” says Lambert. “It has encouraged a move away from the global to the more local which seems likely an entirely healthy change.”

Issues of sustainability are an additional factor. While studies show that only a small fraction of consumers who voice a wish to buy products with environmental or social credentials actually do so when presented with the choice, the greening of consumerism is only going to become more prevalent – and smaller companies are better able to prove the credentials that global companies, often lacking close control over their production chain, simply cannot.

But perhaps more potent a force still is the simple desire for individuality that consumerism has heightened by the contradictory way it functions, especially in terms of fashion and other so-called ‘identity goods’ (those through

which we might well seek to express who we are). With companies seeking growth through greater distribution and the success of their brands having been predicated on giving their customers distinction (as well as the products’ more utilitarian benefits, of course), inevitably the bigger the brand gets, the less distinctive it becomes.

Where’s the cachet in something that is everywhere and available if not quite to all then certainly to many? What individuality is there in being a walking billboard for what are, underneath the myth-making, international corporations like any other? Increasingly, self-expression – and for those who genuinely care nought what people think – self-satisfaction through the things we buy is found not in the well-known and mass-market, but the obscure, the special, the private and the personal. So savvy is today’s consumer that they like to make their own discoveries, not to be one of the crowd being sold the same thing on the paper-thin pretense that it is just for them.

One happy off-shoot of this evolution in consumer thinking – especially if one buys into the idea that the UK’s towns and cities are losing their own flavour under the onslaught of identikit chains – has been the proliferation not only of independent brands – rather than depend on the usual big hitters, store buyers are now more likely to seek out less well-known and interesting labels – but a return of the independent retailer. These are the stores best able to target a certain consumer with a more carefully curated stock – and consumers are increasingly looking to and trusting certain stores to do the hunting for the unusual on their behalf. Indeed, for all that this new era of austerity may seem like a terrible time to go shopping, in many senses it is the best of times.

The internet is a game-changing means of exploring

artisanal and craft products, or just smaller companies

who specialise in what they do, and perhaps have done so

under the radar for generations.


139









153

2000OMEGA SEAMASTER PLANET OCEAN

During the noughties, globalisation excelled with the increased use of the internet. Developments in computing and wireless internet took information technology further than ever before, and Google and Facebook became social phenomenons. In science, the Human Genome Project was completed, the first human face transplant was conducted and the Large Hadron Collider was developed to recreate the first few seconds after the Big Bang. Terrorism reached an unimaginable scale with the 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, which sparked the Iraq ‘war on terror’, while Britain was also targeted when a series of bombs were detonated across London’s transport system in 2005. A number of devastating natural disasters also occurred, including Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the boxing day tsunami in Indonesia.

The definitive Omega model of the noughties was the newly updated Seamaster Planet Ocean collection. The new models combined definitive styling with the trusted features that divers and sporting enthusiasts had come to expect from Omega, including water resistance up to 2000 feet. The indexes on the dials of the Planet Ocean collection were coated with white Super-LumiNova, as were the rhodium-plated hands, allowing divers to keep track of time at a glance. Every model in the collection was updated with a revolutionary Omega Co-Axial movement – so reliable were the mechanisms that every timepiece was offered with a four year warranty.

Imag

e co

urte

sy o

f CER

N


154

2010OMEGA ‘LADYMATIC’ 2011

Originally launched in 1995, the Omega Ladymatic has been given a contemporary revival for 2011. The Ladymatic was one of Omega’s first self-winding watches to be created specially for women, and it was designed to embody the elegance and grace of its wearer. As true to that philosophy now as it was on its original launch, the new Ladymatic Collection combines groundbreaking technology with distinctive design. The 34mm cases, each crafted in 18ct red or yellow gold or stainless steel, are decorated with a unique wave pattern around the edge, and are complimented by either a polished or snow-set diamond-paved bezel. The design is completed with a bracelet either in a matching metal, or striking alligator leather.

The decade so far is proving to be a time of political reform, with uprisings in Libya and Egypt. Closer to home, the 2010 election saw the first peace-time coalition parliament since the 1930s, with Conservative leader David Cameron as Prime Minster and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister. In technology, Apple’s iPad was launched and became the biggest selling technological gadget of all time. The rescue of the Chilean miners captured the attention of the world, as did the wedding of Catherine Middleton to Prince William. In the sporting world, the Olympic Games of 2012 and the Rugby League World Cup, due to held in the UK in 2013, are set to bring great prosperity to the country.


PH. F

RA

NC

O P

AG

ETT

I W

WW

.FO

PE.C

OM


It was in the 1950s that the

Saints’ position at the top

of the English game became

assured, nurturing some of

the finest players of the time

including Jeff Butterfield

and Dickie Jeeps.





Sytner GroupMercedes-Benz of Northampton Riverside Business Park, Carousel Way, Northampton NN3 9HG 01604 949 072 www.mercedes-benzofnorthampton.co.uk

Call us on 01604 949 072 to book your test drive today

Like its predecessors, the latest SLK is a perfect blend of roadster tradition and Mercedes-Benz comfort, combining agile handling and sports car performance with superb everyday useablilty. Its new-generation engines are exceptionally free-revving and responsive, while BlueEFFICIENCY measures ensure they are good to the planet too, reducing fuel consumption by up to 25% thanks to innovations such as direct petrol injection and ECO start/stop.

Official government fuel consumption figures in mpg (litres per 100km) for the SLK-Class range: urban 19.5(14.5)-25.4(11.1), extra urban 32.1(8.8)-48.7(5.8), combined29.1(9.7)-36.2(7.8). CO2 emissions: 209-184 g/km.Model featured are a Mercedes-Benz SLK 200K BlueEFFICIENCY AMG Sport Manual at £33,170 on the road (on the road price includes VAT, delivery, 12 months’ road fund licence, number plates, first registration fee and fuel). Prices correct at time of going to print (August 2011).

Precision driver meetsprecision driving machineThe Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class


165

Why should motorists choose Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-Benz of Northampton?

Mercedes-Benz has a unique history. It invented the car and pioneered such features as airbags, ABS braking and stability control, the result being that today’s Mercedes-Benz are as technologically advanced as possible. The range is extensive and when you add Smart and our Approved Used Cars, we have a model to suit all budgets.

We strive to make every customer’s visit a happy one. Our team recognises that as a customer of the finest products you deserve the finest support.

Isn’t owning a Mercedes-Benz expensive?

Not as expensive as many think. Services on some models start at £150 and we offer Service Care plans to spread the payments and fix the cost of up to the next four services. BlueEFFICIENCY engines and improved drivetrains mean not only better performance but also improved fuel economy and lower, tax-friendly CO2 emissions. Our new car finance offers are amongst the best available too.

Independent garages can seem cheaper, so why should Mercedes-Benz owners use Mercedes-Benz of Northampton?

We’re competitively priced and our facilities and manufacturer-trained technicians mean we can carry out any work efficiently. Whilst an independent may have a cheaper hourly rate we often find they take longer to do the work. We can agree a price before work commences and it’s always undertaken to the manufacturer’s recommendations.

What is unique about Mercedes-Benz of Northampton?

Our Service team is in the top 25 per cent of retailers in the Mercedes-Benz UK Network for the service they provide. Our sales team have great repeat business and referral sales. This business is all about people and how we look after them. All I can really say is drop in and say ‘hello’. I think you will be able to feel the positive, helpful atmosphere immediately.

What’s new for enthusiasts of Mercedes-Benz and what’s in the pipeline?

The future for Mercedes-Benz and us as their representative is very bright. We have just launched the C-Class Coupé and latest SLK and the new M-Class, B-Class and A-Class are on the way. There will be another 30 new engines in the next year too!

What does the future hold for Mercedes-Benz of Northampton?

We will continue to develop and invest. For example, we are in the process of developing our smart repair operation and are hoping to build on our recent recruitment with even more new appointments in the spring.

For more information about Mercedes-Benz of Northampton visit www.mercedes-benzofnorthampton.co.uk

Mercedes-Benz of Northampton

and Michael Jones jeweller share

a synergy for providing a product

and service that really does sparkle.

SPECIALISTS IN PRECIOUS METAL

Based at Riverside Business Park since 2005 and staffed by an experienced team of over 60, Mercedes-Benz of Northampton is able to meet all the motoring requirements of the region’s Mercedes-Benz and smart enthusiasts.

Having worked for the brand since 1988 and having overseen the build of Mercedes-Benz of Northampton’s current cutting-edge showroom, general manager Mike Sands has all the answers when it comes to how the retailer can help local motorists:

SPECIALISTS IN PRECIOUS METAL – MERCEDES-BENZ



168

PORTFOLIO OF FINE DIAMONDS


169

PORTFOLIO OF FINE DIAMONDS

For Michael Jones Jeweller their reputation for stocking high-

quality jewellery and watches is well-known. Now their latest

collection, the aptly-titled ‘Portfolio of Fine Diamonds’,

ensures that they can offer the finest quality engagement rings

at extremely competitive prices.

A PORTFOLIO OF FINE DIAMONDS

When it comes to watches and beautiful jewellery Michael Jones Jeweller has always prided itself on being able to offer a great amount of choice at competitive prices without reducing the level of quality craftsmanship or service. So what is so special about the new ‘Portfolio of Fine Diamonds’ range?

“We have been looking to improve our position in the diamond ring market for some time,” explains Managing Director William Craghill, “as we have always been very well-known as a destination for high-end brands but found the engagement ring sales slightly disappointing. This is obviously something that we wanted to change and ‘Portfolio of Fine Diamonds’ has been the perfect way to show the quality and selection that Michael Jones Jeweller offers.”

Part of a unique buying group with other leading independent jewellers from all over the UK, Michael Jones Jeweller was inspired by fellow group members who have featured the ‘Portfolio of Fine Diamonds’ range for some time and invited Michael Jones Jeweller to take part in the franchise. “Only a few independent jewellers are involved in ‘Portfolio of Fine Diamonds’ which means we can be autonomous

with our better prices, greater variety and better quality of designs. The supplier the company uses manufactures high quality mounts and sources a wide variety of diamonds which are certificated by various independent gem laboratories to ensure that they are of a very high standard,” William continues.

The brand, which was launched earlier this year, has already been very popular and William and the Michael Jones Jeweller team have already noticed a significant increase in diamond sales. A great deal of this success is based on advertising, with more being planned for the autumn and Christmas period, however the main area of interest has to be the ‘Portfolio of Fine Diamonds’ website which is specifically linked to the current Michael Jones Jeweller site.

As well as providing the opportunity to view the range online, the website offers tips and background information so that customers can be certain that they are well-informed and happy with their chosen ring. Adding additional credibility to the ‘Portfolio of Fine Diamonds’ website, the home page features a video about the associate stores and their personal guarantees of good quality service.

Portfolio of Fine

Diamonds’ has been the

perfect way to show the

quality and selection that

Michael Jones Jeweller

offers.




TRANSOCEANCHRONOMATNAVITIMER

WWW.BREITLING.COM

With its Manufacture Caliber 01, Breitling has created the most reliable, accurate and top-performance of all selfwinding chronograph movements – entirely produced in its own workshops and chronometer-certifi ed by the COSC. A perfectly logical accomplishment for a brand that has established itself as the absolute benchmark in the fi eld of mechanical chronographs.

One heart Three legends

cover2.indd 1 09/09/2011 12:54

Documents

Michael Jones Jeweller