Blue Diamond Achieves Record Price at Sotheby’s
On Tuesday May 12, Sotheby’s realized $9,488,754 (CHF 10,498,500 / �7,024,336) for a fancy vivid blue, internally flawless cushion-shaped diamond weighing 7.03 carats. This is the highest price for a fancy vivid blue diamond sold at auction and the world-record price per carat for any gemstone sold at auction – $1,349,752. The sale was held in Geneva, and the price topped the pre-sale estimate of $5.8-8.5 million. The diamond, which was cut from a 26.58 carat rough, was discovered in 2008 at Petra Diamonds' historic Cullinan diamond mine in South Africa, the world's most consistently reliable source of blue diamonds. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) graded the stone as fancy vivid blue in color and internally flawless in clarity, the highest possible grading for a blue diamond. The winning bidder, who wishes to remain anonymous, has not yet exercised his or her privilege to name the stone.

Pop Art TechnoMarine Cruise Britto Collection Reminds Us Of Novel Swatch Watches From The 80's
Brazilian Artist Romero Britto has popularity in many art circles because his work combines styles cherished by many. Though he has his own distinct look, it is all heavily influenced by Picasso cubism, Roy Lichtenstein pop art, Japanese pop art, and a "world" urban happy feel. I'd say that most of his art tends to bring a smile at the least, and positive elation at best.In a bold and unexpected move, TechnoMarine has released the Cruise Britto collection featuring four watches, each with a different Romero Britto image on each. As far as I know, this is a first for TechnoMarine, but it makes sense. Focus on the female market in the last few years has been fruitful as TechnoMarine is a solid go-to watch when you want a watch that combines function, sport, and distinct feminine styling for those who aren't sold on always wearing a formal watch. TechnoMarine was one of the first to present the world with the rubber watch with diamonds. At one point this seemed an odd combination, and for

Marcello C Rising: Watching The Growth Of This Impressive German Watch Maker
Marcello C is going places quickly. The growing German watch maker came out of the mind of an ex Oris master watch maker 15 years ago. Just when the mechanical watch was making a comeback, Marcello C started hammering out extremely high quality watches for unheard of low prices. At that time, the philosophy was simple; do not reinvent the wheel. Marcello C is not a design innovator, and it does not need to be. Marcello C excels at taking handsome, classic designs and making very good watches based on them. The most distinctive quality of a Marcello C watch is that the watch is built better, and functions with more accuracy that most watches costing twice their price.This direction has allowed Marcello C to take a lead role as one of the fastest growing small watch companies. Saving money on not having to test designs, they focus on quality. Let others make the mistakes and produce what the consumer clearly wants. Perusing the Marcello C collection, you will see all familiar faces. The

Anyone use tang instead of Deployment on Royal Oak?
Would love some input here guys- when I had my Panda I used the tang buckle on my horseback straps as the deployment is just not that comfy. Does anyone run a tang on their leather strap on royal oak? Just got the 41mm rose chrono on strap and wanted to get the rose gold tang buckle. Any input would help. Thanks everyone!

New member to the AP club
I have finally done it and purchased my first AP