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Michele Watches sales rise despite economy
The Tropical Paradise collection by Michele Watches
In a press statement, the chief executive of Fossil said that even though the economy remains uncertain, he believes that his companies are in a good position innovatively, qualitatively and promotionally. He says the company plans to continue to promote its brands and try to up the sales despite the grim times.
Sources inside the company revealed that the luxury watch brand Michele Watches had outperformed the overall category during the last holiday quarter.
Michele Watches has been a luxury watch company with a reputation for quite some time. Its distinctiveness is expressed in its cool, sunny designs, made to capture the vibrant Miami lifestyle. The company’s different models are bedecked with gorgeous diamond cases, mother-of-pearls diamonds and other unique features. The vast range of trendy interchangeable wrist straps makes the watch wearing experience more fun and attractive.
The watches Michele Watches manufactures can be pointed out by their beautiful fusion of tradition grace and contemporary fashion.
IWC launches its iPhone app
Screenshot of the IWC iPhone application
So it seems many companies have caught on to the iPhone application craze. Many makes and companies have adopted the use of smart-phone applications to further their own business advertising campaign; and they have been very successful to say the least. IWC has taken up this challenge and it looks like they have done a really good job in producing a wholesome application that is sure to lure in many buyers.
For starters, the application allows one to access, on the iPhone, much of the information that is available on the brand’s website. Easy browsing of the watch collections is available through the app.
Moreover, if you are interested in the way specific functions work, like the depth gauge on the Aquatime Deep Two or the digital calendar on the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Digital Date Month, with a few clicks on the IWC application you can have a whole animation playing, clearly, but briefly explaining to you the intricacies of the watch’s functions.
The app also allows the user to virtually try out some real watches’ tool; like the winding up of the Portuguese Automatic watch.
The coolest feature has to be the one that allows you to see how certain watches would look on your hand. In a few, easy to follow steps, you can have your hand photographed and fitted into a template that places different model watches on your hand to entice you to buy the watch that best fits you.
Once you decide to buy, an easy IWC store locator will help you find a shop to which you should run to get your new watch.
Movada Watches former campaign man appointed head
Bill Reihl has been elected the Executive Vice President of the Ogilvy Public Relation Worldwide’ North American Consumer Marketing practice. The OPRW is a global public relations and communication company which has served many companies worldwide. Reihl has had his fair share of marketing experience and worked closely with prestigious brands.
Movado’s success has been attributed to ingenious and fervent marketing strategies no less than it has to its great quality and superb design. In this tough and competitive market, no matter how good the product is, a strong voice and advertising scheme is what makes companies prevail over equally honorable makes.
The watch company’s headquarters are located in Paramus, New Jersey, although it was founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland nearly 130 years ago. It currently boast an annual revenue of some $450 million.
Cruise donates Breitling to charity auction
At the Living Legends of Aviation Awards, Tom Cruise was honored as the Top Aviation Inspiration and Patriotism Award. And who better to present him with this award than John Travolta, the Ambassador of Aviation. Cruise was awarded a bird shaped statuette and a Breitling watch which he promptly donated to a charity auction that evening.
Travolta has always been known for his obsession with planes. He is a certified pilot and owns five aircraft. One of his collection is the Australian Boeing 707-138 airliner. He acts as an ambassador for Qantas whose insignia remains are still visible on the plain. On his $4.9 million estate in Florida, Travolta has his own runway and taxiway till the front door.
It is with this history that Travolta was seen as the perfect one to award Tom Cruise with the Top Aviation Inspiration and Patriotism Award. Cruise received the award not only for his own passion in flying and planes, but mainly for his movie Top Gun which features the most grossing aviation scenes of all time.
Many other awards were presented during the evening, most notably the First Out of This World Landing and Take-Off Award, which was awarded to Dr. Buzz Aldrin for his own accomplishments in aviation and exploration. When he was younger, Aldrin flew 66 times on missions to Korea. He is one of 12 astronauts to ever walk on the moon.
The Legends awards gala is organized by the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy, which is a non-profit organization that introduces children to aviation.
IWC Portuguese Grande Complication Watch
The IWC Portuguese Grande Complication timepiece is a fascinating watch of horological complexities and impressive design. It contains the self-winding 79091 caliber, the same caliber that was released by IWC in 1990. Some of its features include a chronograph and a minute repeater, a perpetual calendar that also displays a four digit century indicator. All of these intricacies required 657 parts to be put together, thereby producing a timeless watch, which IWC says collectors will cherish as a new aesthetic identity for one of the world’s most prestigious mechanical watches.
The theme of the watch tends to be of exploration, with an imitation of a globe, with the longitudes and latitudes, appearing on the face of the watch. The multi-counting features render it a watch of discovery and adventure, and the classy design helps it retain the elegance the makers had in mind.
In addition to all of its mechanical functions and design features, the Grande Complication also boasts a case that is designed to be water resistant up to 30 meters. In general, minute repeating watches are not water resistant at all, due to their vulnerable slide piece. But IWC has always been a forerunner for this important distinctive characteristic. Even the predecessor of this watch was 10 meters water resistant which was unlikely at that time.
All in all, the IWC Portuguese Grande Complication is a timepiece that requires much skill and time to produce and therefore, IWC has announced a limit of only 50 watches to be released a year.
Michele Watches founder pleads guilty
The founder and former owner of the Michele Watches company, a Miami-based luxury watch brand, pleaded guilty to a major tax evasion fraud. Jack Barouh allegedly had offshore accounts where he hid profits he made to avoid having to pay taxes on them.
In this particular case he was charged with putting away $10 million in an account he made with the UBS Swiss bank. Barough did not report the income he earned from those accounts and he filed a false tax return based on that information.
He is said to have “skimmed the profits” off his previous business ventures, relocating them to those offshore accounts, where he believed them to be out of the watch of the IRS. Included in those business ventures is the sale of the Michele Watches company he sold in 2004 to Fossil Inc. based in Richardson, Texas for about $50 million.
It is estimated that Barouh evaded some $736,000 between the years 2002 and 2007.
Barouh, who is now free on a $1 million bond, could face up to three years in jail. He is the seventh former UBS client to be found guilty of tax evasion.
The bank has admitted in the past that it has helped US taxpayers move their money elsewhere to avoid paying taxes. As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, UBS provided the US government with names and account identities of some of their overseas clients.
Barouh’s sentencing is set for April 16.
