As an introduction to this ‘Special Glamour’ issue of Europa Star, Pierre Maillard quotes the dictionary definition of glamour as ‘fascination, charm, elegance’ and for good measure throws in the Dorothy Parker quote ‘... It must symbolize a way of life. It must evoke a lifestyle. It must fascinate.’
These quotes offer a fair representation of ‘glamour’, but isn’t one’s opinion of glamour totally subjective and dependent upon human nature’s fickleness? What one person may find glamorous, someone else might find an anathema. To quote myself in Freely Speaking, … tastes change from one person to another and between ethnic groups and countries. What some people find attractive others find hideous, what some consider to be glamorous and trendy, others consider a potpourri of unadulterated rubbish.’
Take the continuing showbiz-created ‘bling’ trend as an example. It isn’t everybody’s cup of tea or idea of urban chic and it certainly isn’t discreet, yet those who parade around in over-the-top gear with a shirt front open to the navel to reveal a chest festooned with chains and trinkets, and wrists bedecked in glittering diamond watches and bracelets to the point where sunglasses are worn for fear of blindness rather than cool, are considered hip by those of a kindred spirit and philistines by the more discreet and discerning consumer. To quote my old friend Leroy Hornblower on Bling watches, “Discreet? You cain’t be street cred with discreet. If you got the ice you flaunt it man … As to the time, these mothers have to look good, it ain’t necessary that they work.”

Defining ‘Creative Glam’
Be that as it may, our Creative Glam is about glamorous watches that do work – both technically and aesthetically. So how do we define Creative Glam as far as watches are concerned? With ‘glamour’ established as charming, elegant, symbolic, evocative and fascinating, we add ‘creative’, defined in this case as watches characterized by originality of thought, designed to stimulate the imagination.
However, all the wonderful definitions and allegorical hyperbole would be meaningless without a glamorous marketing ambience. It’s not for nothing that Chopard and de Grisogono have the Cannes Film Festival as their prominent showcase not to mention their other sparkling events where a whole host of stars of screen and catwalk attend. Other leading watch brands in their marketing programmes link up with the likes of Cindy Crawford (Omega), Monica Belluci (Cartier), Charlize Theron (Raymond Weil), Uma Thurman and Maria Sharapova (TAG Heuer) etc., and portray them wearing the latest horological creations in such a glamorous manner that consumers supposedly dash to their nearest watch emporium and invest.

New York
Let’s look at a perfect example of that all encompassing ‘Glamour’ theme. The 2007 Spring Fashion shows usually take place around the world in September. In New York, Fashion Week took place from September 8 - 15: catwalks were aglow with models sashaying along its length and photographers and fashion journalists oohing and aahing at the designers’ latest creations; ‘Front Row’ celebrities dressed in their eye-catching best were photo-graphed at least as much as the latest couture creations; and however good, bad or indifferent the latest collection is, there are hugs, kisses, bravos and, without fail, a standing ovation for the designer as he too sashays onto the catwalk.
Amongst all this glitz and razzmatazz, another glamorous event entitled ‘Strength and Beauty embodied by Avant-Garde Women’ took place at The Waterfront in down-town Manhattan close to the Hudson River. Devised by the ever-energetic Jean-Christophe Babin, President and CEO of TAG Heuer, with the close collaboration of Tag Heuer’s women ambassadors, the statuesque Uma Thurman, tennis sensation Maria Sharapova and Sushmita Sen, Bollywood actress and former Miss Universe, ‘Strength and Beauty…’ presents ‘Fifteen women from fifteen countries portrayed by fifteen women photographers’. Jean-Christophe Babin explains, “TAG Heuer seeks to pay homage to today’s women, their determination, independence, modernity and success. It is not enough just to say it; it needed a strong and symbolic gesture. … As an international group, we have called on celebrities from around the world who personify our values of prestige, elegance, avant-garde, strength and beauty.”




Jean Christophe Babin, TAG Heuer’s President and CEO with Maria Sharapova
Jean Christophe Babin with Uma Thurman
Claudia Gurisatti & Delta Goodrem



The MONACO WATCH LADY and the MONACO BLACK with diamonds.



The CARRERA DENIM
Jean Christophe Babin with Dita von Teese
Jean Christophe Babin with Tanya Streeter
Eydie Veronique Tai


The compilation will travel the world in the next few months and then be auctioned in 2007 with the totality of the sale given to UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women.
The vernissage of the photos took place in the presence of the photographers and many of their subjects, who included Emmanuelle Seigner, the French actress and TAG Heuer Ambassador, Dita von Teese, the American cabaret/striptease artiste, Delta Goodrem, the Australian actress and singer, Charlie Young the popstar and actress from Hong Kong along with the beguiling Eydie Veronique Tai, the fashion photographer who took her portrait for this event.
Needless to say, anybody that was anybody was wearing a very fashionable timepiece from the TAG Heuer stable of glamorous watches such as the amazingly adaptable diamond-set Monaco White and Monaco Black ladies’ watches, or the Monaco Denim and Carrera Denim with a diamond-set bezel, or the equally exciting Formula 1 Glamour Diamonds collections.





Cannes, Gstaad & Porto Cervo
The great, famous, dazzling and fortuned, along with a dazzling array of guests can be seen at the glamorous de Grisogono events in the three alluring resorts of Cannes, Gstaad and Porto Cervo.
At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, de Grisogono watches and jewellery could be seen on such stars as Sophie Marceau, Faye Dunaway, Aishwarya Rai and Caterina Murino, often accompanied by the brand’s leading man, Fawaz Gruosi. During the Festival, Gruosi, de Grisogono’s founder and President, also hosts a glamorous party, a sort of Who’s Who in the cinema and fashion world, at the famous Eden Roc Hotel.




Caterina Murino and Fawaz Gruosi, Faye Dunaway and John Galliano, Aishwarya Rai, Sophie Marceau in Cannes



Be eight by de Grisogono, 18 carat rose gold watches set with diamonds
Instrumento Grande Open Date by de Grisogono
N° Uno by de Grisogono
Mat tanned white gold ‘Browny Brown’ watch set with 478 brown diamonds and beige lacquered dial set with 135 white diamonds and 12 black diamond indices.



Sharmine Sharivar
Roberto Cavalli and Paris Hilton
Fawaz Gruosi, President and CEO de Grisogono, and Emmanuelle Béart


In Gstaad, Switzerland, the ambience is more refined, more subdued, nevertheless this year, in addition to the actress Emanuelle Beart and Miss Europe, the captivating Sharmine Sharivar, it was a question of just how many of Europe’s Royalty could be spotted. Rumour has it that this glamorous annual event metaphorically sets Gstaad’s Palace Hotel ablaze.
A few months later Fawaz Gruosi celebrated his birthday in Porto Cervo, along with the world’s stars and jet-setters which included Flavio Briatore, George Hamilton, Lenny Kravitz, Kelly Emberg, Tamara Beckwith et al, to mention just a few.
Taking advantage of these glamorous occasions, de Grisogono’s latest watches and jewellery are on show and one has the opportunity to see up-close the very latest de Grisogono creations such as the luxuriously diamond-set versions of Be Eight, FG One, Instrumento Grand Open Date and the Uno Grand Seconde. All of which goes to prove that fascination, charm and elegance combined with a liberal sprinkling of diamonds are some of the defining elements of Glamour.

Elsewhere
Chopard, Piaget and Milus to name but three other leading brands, all enjoy repu-tations for creating eye-catching watches (and jewellery) that can be classified under the ‘Creative Glam’ banner.
The Strada XXL by Chopard, for example, is a stunning diamond-set timepiece. However, add it to the gloved wrist of the alluring Sharon Stone and you have Glamour Unlimited.




STRADA XXL by Chopard
Sharon Stone
Limelight by Piaget



Eridana diamond-set and enamel watch with matching ring and earrings in 18 carat white gold by Milus
Aurigos by Milus


But watches don’t always require the services of a renowned model or an eye-catching event for them to slot into the Creative Glam category. Just take a look at the Piaget Emperador Joaillerie watch for example. The photo of the watch speaks those famous thousand words, but to add a few more, it is in 18 carat white gold and set with 299 brilliant-cut diamonds on the case and mother-of-pearl dial. Equipped with a self-winding manufacture Piaget 551P movement it also indicates small seconds at 10 o’clock and the power reserve at 6 o’clock, with a white alligator strap. And then there’s the Limelight, a tonneau-shaped white gold watch set with 841 baguette and brilliant-cut diamonds weighing 29.9 carats. These sumptuous watches are the epitome of what we are talking about when we talk about Creative Glam.
Milus, a young brand with a competence far beyond its years, is now into creating timepieces that meet the glamorous definition of charming, elegant, fascinating and original. The Eridana Joaillerie ‘Enamel’ watch and the matching jewellery in 18 carat white gold, diamonds and black ‘Grand Feu’ enamel, confirms not only the brand’s dedication to original styling, but also to making a glamorous statement.
Another eye-catching collection is the brand’s Aurigos ‘Diamonds & Sapphires’. The watch is in 18 carat pink gold and the dial is set with diamonds and pink sapphires with a central mother-of-pearl section and a matching pink alligator strap with a ‘mother-of-pearl’ finish.

Ibiza
At a recent presentation of the very latest Zenith creations that took place on the trendy island of Ibiza, I made three important discoveries. Firstly, the new additions to the overall Zenith collection are genuinely breathtaking and, in my humble opinion, are some of the finest watches to emerge from the brand’s ateliers, but more about that in another issue of the magazine. Secondly, although Zenith is predominantly a manufacturer of masculine watches, after just two short years of entering the ladies’ watch market, 30% of its sales are now in this sector. The third discovery is that as well as additional models for the outsized, boldly structured, new and very macho Defy collection that appears to be selling like hot cakes, (Thierry Nataf, the brand’s President and CEO anticipates the demand for the Defy Collection attaining 35% of his total output by the end of the year), Nataf has designed two absolutely new stunning timepieces for male watch connoisseurs seeking a more glamorous Haute Horlogerie collection to go with their evening wear.




Ibiza
Thierry Nataf, President and
CEO Zenith



Star 12 Strokes of Midnight Glam’Rock, Starissime & Baby Starissime, Grande Chronomaster XXT Quantième Perpetual ‘Black Tie’, Grande Chronomaster XXT Tourbillon ‘Black Tie’ by Zenith.


Using the El Primero movement as a base, the two new models are in the ‘Black Tie’ Grande ChronoMaster XXT category: a Quantième Perpétual and a Tourbillon. The Quantième Perpétual has a Calibre El Primero 4003 automatic chronograph movement (36,000 v.p.h) with a perpetual calendar and is housed in a magnificently glamorous 45 mm platinum case set with 60 baguette diamonds. The dial is in gold and Polynesian black mother-of-pearl with a central guilloché section in silver and 11 hand-mounted diamond indices. There is a date aperture at 3 o’clock, moon phases at 6 o’clock, day at 9 o’clock month and leap year at 12 o’clock; centre seconds hand, 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock and a tachymeter scale around the dial. To complete the sophisticated mood, there is a handmade black lambskin ‘Black Tie’ leather strap with a satin trim.
The remarkable Tourbillon also has a 45mm platinum case set with 60 baguette diamonds but is equipped with an El Primero 4005 automatic chronograph movement with tourbillon (36,000 v.p.h). With a dial of the same style as the Quantième, it has nine trapezoid hand-mounted diamond indices and the same ‘Black Tie’ leather strap.
Both of these powerful timepieces are glamorous in every possible technical and aesthetic manner, and they will look great when worn alongside a lady wearing Zenith’s equally magnificent 12 Strokes of Midnight, the Starissime, the Baby Starissime and the Star Glam’Rock. All of these exotic, inno-vative mechanical ladies’ timepieces are equipped with automatic movements and set with diamonds.
With the introduction of the two new men’s models Zenith and Thierry Nataf, the mastermind behind them, have proved that Glamour and Beauty is no longer the exclusive domain of the female of the species.
As they say, ‘If you got the ice you flaunt it man.’


Source: Europa Star October-November 2006 Magazine Issue