Knight Frank's annual Wealth Report is out, and in it, the real estate consultant takes a look at luxury spending.

Specifically, they break down which countries are most likely to see increased spending on luxury goods, based on a number of factors, including their luxury store "footprint," their own wealth growth, and the population of "Ultra High Net Worth Individuals" (worth $30 million or more) who live in each country.

Out in front this year is the United Kingdom, which scored 9/10 for its luxury store footprint and 8/10 for its premium travel and spending.

"The finding underlines the importance of the UK for luxury brands, which sold over £8 billion of goods in the country last year," the report said.

China takes the number two spot, scoring a 10/10 for its luxury store footprint. And, according to the report, Chinese consumers are already the top buyers of luxury goods around the world.

Perhaps the most surprising country on the list is India, in fifth place. The number of super-wealthy in India is skyrocketing, and with it, its luxury consumption is also soaring. According to the report, the value of champagne imports there rose 19% last year.

So keep these trends in mind, whether you're a luxury brand looking to expand, or you're part of the ultra-wealthy yourself and curious about where to go for your next shopping spree.

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The Apple Watch is going to hit the market very soon. 

But before the Apple Watch was announced, another well-known brand captured the attention of the horological universe in dramatic fashion.

It was Swatch. 

Yes, Swatch — maker of all those witty plastic timepieces that everyone wore in the 1980s, and that still have a following in both low and high places today.

The watch was the Sistem51 — an innovative and radically new automatic timepiece that's purely Swiss and purely Swatch.

The Sistem51 only costs $150 and went on sale in the US in 2014. It created a sensation at the big annual watch show in Basel in 2013. From my perspective, it's the coolest $150 watch in the world right now.

There were four original versions of the watch. They have now been joined by five new editions, including a variation of the Sistem Blue that now has a more legible dial for timekeeping.

CREATING A SENSATION

When it was revealed, Sistem51 took the Swiss watchmaking community by storm.

"Jaws dropped," said Carlo Giordanetti, Swatch's Creative Director. "No one thought it would be possible."

So what exactly did Swatch manage to achieve with Sistem51?

It reduced the number of parts in the movement to 51, about half of what a typical automatic watch requires.

An automatic movement is powered by the movement of the wearer. The finest watches in the world are automatics, costing tens and even hundreds of thousands. Their movements — complicated miniature machines — are a source of fascination to watch collectors and enthusiasts.

There are plenty of cheap automatics out there. You can pick up a perfectly good one for less than $100. It won't be anything to write home about, but it won't need a new battery every few years, either.

And it won't be as innovative as Sistem51. 

"51 became a target," said Giordanetti, who has been with Swatch since 1987. " It was a challenge for our engineers to get the same number of components in an automatic as in a quartz."

ELIMINATING COMPLICATION

The overriding goal was to eliminate complexity. For the record, complications are what the traditional Swiss watch industry thrives on. More complications can make for a far more valuable and desirable watch. Quartz watches, by contrast, are fairly simple: they use a quartz crystal and electric oscillation to generate very precise timekeeping. 

Automatic watches use mechanical action to wind a mainspring, which powers the timekeeping function.

There's no fastidious watchmaker laboring over a bench with tiny tools and a sure, practiced hand producing the Sistem51. Instead, there are robots. The entire assembly process is automated. The movement is constructed around a single, central screw.

No shortage of traditional watchmaker know-how went into creating the watch, according to Giordanetti. It was, however, updated, forward-thinking know-how.

"There were 25 to 35 young people involved, all from watchmaking families," he said. "No other brand could have done this."

The traditional Swiss watch industry is doing quite well these days, supported by global demand for luxury timepieces from Rolex, Patek Philippe, and other big names. It's all about automatics, so Swatch saw an opportunity to use its heft to introduce something radically new into this market — all while keeping intact the brand's affection for whimsy and irreverence.

IT'S NOT ABOUT SHOWING OFF

"It was an innocent provocation," Giordanetti said of the roll-out of Sistem51 in Basel in 2013.

But it was more than that. "It was emotional," the Swatch veteran added.

Apart from watchmaking innovation, Sistem51 also represents another core Swatch value: cheerful unpretentiousness. 

"It's not about showing off," Giordanetti explained. "It's all about lightness. A Swatch collector wants to look at his or her watch and smile two or three times a day."

"You can hide it," Giordanetti said, and he's right. This isn't a watch that will live on display below your shirt cuff. It's the farthest thing from a chunky, stainless-steel dive watch you can get. It's the anti-Rolex Submariner. But like the Rolex, it's still a completely Swiss watch.

And at $150, it's also the most affordable all-new, super-innovative all-Swiss movement you can lay your hands on.

Sistem51 is a piece of watchmaking history, as important as the arrival of Swatch quartzes were in the 1980s. The Apple Watch will be a big deal. But Apple isn't the only innovator in watches these days!

You can find the Sistem51 here.

Here's a look at the new designs:

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"I'm 2 Chainz and I'm flamboyant, I like the fancy things, and I'm always craving for something more." 

This is the tagline rapper 2 Chainz uses to introduce the second season of his GQ web series, "Most Expensivest Shit," in which the 37-year-old tries out all of the fanciest toys, food, and gadgets, and the craziest luxury goods in the world.

In honor of season two premiering this week, and 18 episodes in the can so far, we've rounded up five of the most outrageous below.

1. A $2 million car.

2 Chainz visited Cooper Classic Cars in New York City to check out the rarest vintage rides money can buy, including this $2 million 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL.

The dirt alone on the car is worth $20,000, owner Elliot Cuker tells the rapper.

2 Chainz was especially impressed by the car's gullwing.

Watch the full clip here.

2. $30,000 limited-edition headphones.

"In the early '90s, Sennheiser gave its engineers a mission: make the best headphones ever, irrespective of price," explains Gizmodo. "They came up with the Orpheus HE90. Only 300 were made. They initially sold for $16,000. Today they sell phone upwards of $30,000 on eBay."

2 Chainz got his hands on the headphones, which he says "are even louder than they look."

Here are the headphones in their special case:

For listening purposes, the headphones must be plugged into the mate unit, called a stereo amplifier, which is an amp just for the headphones.

"It's the closet you can get to live music," says the headphone owner.

Watch the full clip here.

3. A $4,000 toothbrush.

Germany's Reinast luxury toothbrush is the most expensive toothbrush in the world.

It is made of titanium, has a patented coating, and it's antibacterial so it helps fight the bacteria that causes cavities.

Every month, new bristles are sent to the toothbrush owner, so it really lasts a lifetime.

And, it's even customizable.

Watch the full clip here.

4. The $295 Le Burger Extravagant from Serendipity 3.

"This burger costs more than your iPhone," the rapper says while introducing the Guinness Book of World Records' most expensive hamburger.

Why the price tag?

Check out the list of ingredients: Japanese Wagyu beef infused with white truffle butter, cheese that has been aged 18 months in a cave, shaved black truffles from Italy, heirloom tomato ketchup, quail eggs, and $200 per ounce caviar — all held together with a gold and diamond toothpick.

Watch the full clip here.

5. A giant pipe filled with cannabis, which costs $800 an ounce.

2 Chainz tried out a ridiculously large pipe filled the world's most expensive weed.

The world's two most expensive cannabis types are called Isla and Top Shelf, which are canned cannabis. It is actually cut off the plant, trimmed, put it in the cans, sealed, and cured in the cans.

It costs $100 per can, or $800 an ounce.

Once the pipe is ready to be smoked, it's so big that it has to be lit with a blowtorch.

The rapper seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself.

2 Chainz also tried out 24K gold, handmade edible rolling papers.

Two sheets will set you back $20, or 12 sheets for $55.

Watch the full clip here.

SEE ALSO: Nancy Grace and rapper 2 Chainz have an incredible debate over legalizing pot

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The Apple Watch is going to hit the market pretty soon.

There's a raging debate about whether it will revolutionize the smartwatch category or be a humiliating flop that destroys the shared destiny of Apple CEO Tim Cook and design majordomo Jony Ive. 

A lot of chatter around the Apple Watch has a decidedly confused quality to it. If people don't much wear watches anymore (They have iPhones to tell time!), why would they want to buy one that starts at $350?

If you want a timekeeping device for your wrist, you can get one for $10 that tells time flawlessly and doesn't need to be recharged every night.

What does Apple expect folks to do with the watch — invent new modes of communication? Streamline their ability to pay for stuff?

Wear it like a fashionable high-end watch?

It only looks like a watch ...

Having paid attention to watches for a long, long time and, a few years back, predicted that wearables were going to be the next hot thing in tech, I can say that much of the confusion about the watch has to do with how it looks.

By that, I mean: Apple is calling it a "watch." You wear it on your wrist, and Ive and Apple's design team have worked hard to make it look like a nice watch, including the brilliant touch of retaining the traditional horological crown as an input feature. 

But the Apple Watch is not just a watch. If you consider all the other stuff the watch can do or will be able to do, the Apple Watch will essentially be a tiny iPhone strapped to your arm. It could do for wearable computers what the iPhone did for desktops and laptops and cameras and cell phones — rendered them all optional. (For a brief period a few years back, I was between laptops and reverted to using a very old model which couldn't browse the Web effectively, but I had an iPhone and experienced no real problems.)

So the critical question: With the Apple Watch, are we really dealing with a watch? Or a new genre of device that only shares with traditional watches a piece of real estate on the human body?

Obviously, it's not a watch. It's a small wearable computer that, for the moment, requires a slightly larger yet still very portable pocket computer — the iPhone — to work. Watches are only good for one thing, basically: telling time. Some have various other functions related to time built in, but they're called "timepieces" for a reason.

I use my watches to tell time time and, occasionally, to time things. Otherwise, I just enjoy looking at them. 

The magic, mutable Apple watchface

The only thing that interests me about the Apple Watch as a watch is the ability to change the watch face. It could look like a Cartier Santos ...

... or a Rolex Sub ...

... or a Panerai Luminor ...

... or a digital watch ...

... or something wilder and more exotic ...

 Cool!

The Apple Watch also benefits from a trend in watches of late: bigness. It's a large timepiece (although not, reportedly, enormous). A few decades ago, no one would have wanted to wear anything so chunky on their wrist — even the legendary Rolex Submariner, originally a diver's watch with a large form factor for its day, looks dinky compared with the slabs of micro-engineering that some people are strapping to their wrists these days.

The whole point of fine Swiss horology was to strive for thinness. For example, the Patek Philippe Calatrava, an automatic wristwatch that packs all its ingenious mechanical technology into mere 7-millimeter-thick case, like the example to the right.

Aesthetically, the Apple Watch fits in with the current style of wrist wear.

Leaving the world of watches behind

The only precedent I can think of for the Apple Watch is the modern dive watch, which is actually a dive computer. For decades, divers needed reliable watches that could survive the rigors of the deep. This is why the Rolex Sub is so iconic — it was the dive watch by which others were judged.

But nobody goes scuba diving with a Rolex Sub these days. They use one of these:

It costs $1,800. Which is a relative bargain, compared to the Rolex, which goes for about $8,000 — and was pricey even during its more utilitarian heyday. 

However, the dive computer does SO MUCH MORE than a Swiss automatic dive watch that it isn't even funny. That's why it's called a "computer."

And therein lies the tricky issue with the Apple Watch. Apple seems to be trying to please two constituencies with the device: those who wear or would wear a watch; and those who desire a wrist computer. 

Logical, given that the existing smartwatches haven't really taken off as a new tech category. They just don't much appeal to the watch set, which sees them as glorified Timex Ironman digitials. So naturally Apple decided to "conquest" these people, in the lingo of marketing. So the Apple Watch is exceptionally watch-like, as smartwatches go.

Apple wants watch folks to wear the watch every day, too, something that watch folks don't always do. Watch folks like to wear different watches. I would be depressed if I had to wear the same watch every day.

So to be a success, the Apple Watch has to be something that completely transcends all our preconceived notions about a gadget you wear on your wrist. Just as the iPhone completely redefined what a "phone" could be.

That's a lot to take on. Because I can go out right now and buy a great $350 traditional watch that will last practically forever, look good, and tell time.

For my perspective, there isn't much to be gained for Apple to compete with that. So it must have a much more all-consuming and ultimately indispensable future in mind for its much-awaited new gadget.

SEE ALSO: There are now a whole bunch of new versions of the coolest $150 watch in the world

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It was revealed Monday at the Apple Watch presentation in San Francisco that the most expensive Apple Watch will cost a whopping $17,000.

Of course, that's small potatoes compared to this $2.6 million Swiss watch which is arguably the most complex wristwatch that has ever been made.

For its 175th anniversary, the luxury Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe invented a collection of limited-edition commemorative timepieces called The Grandmaster Chime with 20 complications, two dials, and 214 parts.

The watch measures 47.7 mm in diameter and has 1,366 individual components. It took a whopping eight years and 100,000 man hours to develop, 60,000 of which were spent just on the watch's movement. 

Patek Philippe calls the Grandmaster Chime an “intelligent watch” with features such as a minute repeater, instantaneous perpetual calendar with a four-digit year display, and a second time zone.

It also has two deluxe features that are a world-first for chime watches, including an acoustic alarm that strikes the alarm time and even a function that chimes the date.

The Grandmaster Chime is the first double-face wristwatch to be presented by Patek Philippe, meaning that it can be worn with either dial facing up — one shows the time, while the other shows the calendar. The “swivel case,” which enables the watches smooth reversal, took an astounding four years to perfect.

Both sides are equally stunning. The 18k rose gold 16.1 mm thick clasp was fully engraved by hand. Even the strap is meticulously designed — hand-stitched and made from alligator.

Only seven of the Grandmaster Chimes will be produced, and Patek Philippe will keep one in the company’s museum in Geneva where it can be admired by the public. 

And for those who want to purchase the remaining six, it's not enough to have $2.5 million in the bank. Lucky customers must also be interviewed by Thierry Stern, the chairman of the watchmaking brand.

"I would like to chat with the client and make sure he's a watch lover and make sure he's going to enjoy the watch for many years,"Stern told CNBC.

SEE ALSO: This Wrist Watch Has 876 Parts And Costs $2.5 Million

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The problem with the 18k gold Apple Watch Edition isn't that $10,000 is a lot for a watch. It isn't. 

It is, however a lot for a first generation gadget.

Once you get into the $10,000 range in watch buying, you start buying for investment. These are the watches that become family heirlooms: timepieces that are kept forever, worn on special occasions, and eventually passed down to children.

It's virtually guaranteed your children are not going to want a first generation Apple Watch. In fact, in only a few short years the Apple Watch Edition will probably only be as valuable as the metals that can be salvaged after melting it down

Luxury watch brands, on the other hand, have been making mechanical movements and gorgeous watch cases for centuries.

Their intricate movements and insanely strong pedigree helps them maintain their value. And the best part is: the technology never changes.

Here are just a few smart purchases for those in the market for an investment-grade watch.

IWC Portugieser Automatic IW5007

The Portugieser is one of IWC's most popular models. With its legendary Pellaton winding system and select ceramic components, this watch is sure to hold its value.

Suggested Retail: $13,700

Rolex Datejust

Rolex is probably the most recognized watch brand in the world. This means that everyone knows how great the Datejust is — and everyone wants one.

Suggested Retail: $12,750

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Memovox

Jaeger-LeCoultre is a watch name that needs no introduction. It's been making spectacular watches with insanely precise movements since 1833 and the elegantly designed Master Memovox continues that tradition.

Suggested Retail: $11,100

The lunar Year of the Horse may be over in China, but for international equestrian sports dealers, it may have just begun.

In addition to spending heavily on luxury goods, cars, international real estate, and their own health, China’s ultra-wealthy are increasingly spending on another trapping of the global elite—equestrian sports.

While not new to China—polo clubs and racetracks have cropped up across the country over the past decade-plus—horse-riding sports have had a slow start in China thanks to the amount of time and training they require. Those in the industry remain optimistic about their future, however, as China’s upwardly mobile middle and upper-middle-class becomes the latest to aspire towards equine status symbols.

According to a recent Voice of America report, China now has some 300 equestrian clubs and 25 racetracks, among them Tianjin’s $2 billion “Equine Culture City” currently under construction. In addition to a racetrack, the new venue has a stunning 4,000 stables, training tracks, a clubhouse, and international equestrian college.

One major push for the development of equestrian sports in China is real estate as luxury developers add high-end recreation such as golf courses and polo fields to new projects. In addition to fostering an upscale image, these perks help their properties stand out in a saturated market filled with “ghost cities.”As the infrastructure and interest in horses builds in China, this means big business for horse breeders worldwide. Horse dealers have been seeing an uptick in China sales in recent years, but there still remain logistical hindrances. Specifically, “bad dealings” between European sellers and Chinese buyers have hurt the cross-border trade. One Chinese expert told VoA that examples include Chinese buyers “attempting to bargain for horses, canceling deals and contracts at the last minute and even disappearing after a horse is en route to China and the seller has already spent thousands of dollars on the shipping procedures.”

Despite these setbacks, major horse sellers see no end to the opportunity in China as they focus on educating consumers about equestrian sports. As one American seller told VoA, “We’ve seen steady growth [in China] over the last three or four years. But the general theme is, our belief is that the market isn’t going to grow unless we get more training and assistance for clubs and more competitions. So that has been our focus for the last two years. We are putting on more horse shows, trying to show people that it’s easy to get involved, and that it is fun and not all about the money.”

Like other training-intensive luxury pursuits such as skiing and yachting, the infrastructure is being rapidly developed and a buyer market exists. The key is now to focus on convincing China’s affluent that the activities are worth the time and effort on a wide scale.

SEE ALSO: Meet the richest person in 34 major countries around the world

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On Monday, Apple’s Watch presentation drummed up a lot of buzz surrounding its $17,000 gold timepiece.

But that’s nothing compared to a $55 million diamond-encrusted watch.

We rounded up the latest top timepieces that cost over a million dollars, disregarding auction prices and past sales. We only included watches that are currently on the market that you can actually buy.

That is, if you can afford it. 

Keep reading to see seven of the most expensive watches in the world.

The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Quatuor watch costs $1.1 million

Debuted in 2013, the Excalibur Quatuor silicon watch took 2,400 hours to build and over 7 years of research to create. Each of its balances pulse four times per second, so instead of a classic ticking watch, it sounds more like a whirring machine.

Only three of these watches exist in the world, each made of 590 parts and with a $1.1 million price tag. Read more about the Excalibur Quatuor here.

Jaeger-LeCoultre's Hybris Mechanica à Grande Sonnerie timepiece costs $1.5 million

With 1,472 parts, this is one of the most complex watches in the world. It has a perpetual calendar, flying tourbillon, and took five years to the develop.

The watch also comes with a Hybris Mechanica 55 Safe which is a part of the extreme price. It’s a leather-coated trunk that is code-secured with a sound system within the safe that allows the chiming of the Hybris Mechanica à Grand Sonnerie to be heard. 

The Greubel Forsey Art Piece 1 watch costs between $1 million and $2 million

Along with 30-degree double tourbillons, a beautiful blue dial cover, and sapphire case back, this watch has a tiny work of art by British artist Willard Wigan. It’s a tiny gold ship which you can see by looking through what looks like a second crown but what is actually a 23x magnifier that displays the microscopic sculpture.

The price for this exquisite Greubel Forsey design isn’t technically known (it’s only available for serious buyers), but it’s estimated to be between $1 and $2 million. 

Richard Mille's Tourbillon RM 56-02 Sapphire watch retails for over $2 million

With a transparent case made from solid sapphire, this Richard Mille watch has titanium movements and is both scratch-resistant and water resistant up to 3 meters.

Only 10 of the Tourbillon RM 56-02 Sapphire were made and they cost $2.02 million. Each watch “requires 40 days of continuous 24/7 machining for the case followed by 400 additional hours” of finishing work, according to Watch Time. 

A. Lange & Söhne's Grand Complication timepiece costs over $2 million

This A. Lange & Söhne watch debuted at a price tag of €1.92 million ($2.05 million at today's conversion rates) with 876 individual parts.

It takes a full year for the watchmaker to complete each watch. Since it debuted in 2013, there’s only been one of these watches released each year — the last and final watch will be sold in 2018. Read more about the Grand Complication here.

Patek Philippe’s The Grandmaster Chime watch costs $2.6 million

In honor of the storied Swiss watchmaker’s 175th anniversary, Patek Philippe unveiled this gorgeous watch with 20 complications, two dials, and 214 parts.

It took eight years and over 100,000 man hours to develop. Only seven of the two-faced watches were produced, each retailing for a whopping $2.6 million. Read more about the Grandmaster Chime here.

The Graff Diamonds Hallucination watch costs $55 million

Blowing away the competition is also the only watch for women on the list — the gem-studded Graff Diamonds Hallucination from Graff Jewelry, a new name in the watch business that debuted at last year’s Baselworld watch show.

The bracelet has a tiny face and huge colored diamonds all set in platinum. Only one was made and as far as we know, it’s still up for sale if you're interested.

Only time will tell if Graff outdoes itself at this year’s Baselworld later this month.

Did we forget an amazing watch over $1 million? Let us know in the comments!

SEE ALSO: 9 beautiful watches that cost $10,000 and won't become obsolete

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NOW WATCH: Here's Tim Cook answering all your questions about the Apple Watch

Still got cash to burn after dropping $17,000 on the high-end gold Apple Watch Edition? For $4,100, you can see Apple design chief Jony Ive discuss "the new 21st century definition of luxury" at Condé Nast International's first ever "Luxury Conference" in Florence, Italy.

As Cult Of Mac reports, Ive is to open the conference in April in conversation with Vogue International editor Suzy Menkes, and will also be joined by top Apple designer Marc Newson. The pair will be discussing "the new 21st century definition of luxury and their collaborative work to date."

It's a clear sign of how Apple is positioning itself as a luxury brand. The Apple Watch, its first foray into wearables, is launching in April. The gold version is going to retail for $10,000 and above — more than twice that of most pre-announcement estimates, which pegged it as around $4,000-5,000.

The Wall Street Journal wrote that the launch of the Apple Watch establishes Apple as "technology's luxury brand... crossing into high-end fashion, with a smartwatch that blurs the lines between jewellery and gadgetry." And Google Venture partner MG Siegler said that "it's about what the Watch stands for: a new Apple that is just as much about fashion as it is about function."

Even prior to the Apple Watch, the Cupertino company has increasingly become viewed as a luxury brand. In January 2015, its products officially became the top luxury gifts in China, unseating previous #1 Hermès, and beating out fashion brands including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Chanel.

"Apple is now a powerful part of the luxury industry,"Menkes said in an announcement about the Luxury Conference. "The iPhone, iPad, and the upcoming Apple Watch are in direct competition with handbags, timepieces and high end accessories. I want Jony Ive to tell the conference delegates where 21st century luxury is headed."

So what do you get for your $4,100? The conference will "focus on the future," says Menkes. "A new world, in which technology competes with hard luxury — watches and jewellery — and leather goods." In addition to Ive and Newson's conversation, speakers include Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld, Hermès CEO Axel Dumas, and fashion designer Jeremy Scott.

Attendees will also get "lunch and refreshments, on both days of the conference, a welcome reception, and a party," but accommodation and travel to Italy is not included.

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NOW WATCH: Steve Jobs' biographer says the Apple Watch makes perfect sense

The Italian designer Federico Fiorentino created the Belafonte superyacht concept with a contemporary exterior that also features many traditional elements.

The profile of the 164-footer is svelte and aggressive, with a low-slung top deck. The exterior’s open areas at the back of the main and upper decks give the yacht an appearance not unlike that of an offshore powerboat. Depending on the choice of engine, Fiorentino estimates that the Belafonte will be able to reach speeds as high as 24 knots.

Despite its head-turning profile, the Belafonte never crosses into futuristic design—a category that can appear dated after a few years. Instead, its simple, classic lines, mahogany-covered handles, and stainless-steel grille on the bow should keep it looking contemporary.

“We use strong contrasts between classic and modern designs and try to combine aggressiveness and elegance,” says Fiorentino, whose favorite space aboard the yacht is the bow area. He notes that the stainless-steel nose is reminiscent of a 1960s Alfa Romeo radiator grille.

The Belafonte’s interior can accommodate up to 10 guests in five staterooms, including a full-beam, 1,000-square-foot owner’s suite, which includes a separate office and studio, a folding balcony, and two walk-in closets. An expansive saloon and formal dining areas are located on the main deck. The semi-enclosed upper deck has an open aft area with a sky lounge.

Fiorentino estimates that the Belafonte will cost about $26.4 million, with a build time of about 2.5 years. “The yacht is comparable to a Porsche or Aston Martin—sports cars with an elegant touch, [and] modern lines mixed with classic elements,” he says. “This yacht calls for the same type of person who would buy those cars.”

SEE ALSO: The Audi Q3 is the most confusing car I've ever driven

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How do you price a new type of smart watch at $600 (£410), or more, when the market price is below $300 (£205)? That’s the problem Apple faced when the time came to devise a pricing strategy for the Apple Watch.

The following chart shows that Apple has successfully managed to maintain the average selling price (ASP) of the iPhone – the company’s most valuable product – at above the $600 (£410) level for the last six years. The reason why the average selling price (ASP) of the iPad had dropped is due to the introduction of the iPad mini, and the introduction of lower-price iPod models also explains why the ASP of the iPod has dropped over time.

Here are a couple of insights we can glean from this:

• Don’t place an upper limit on the price at the point of launch: You would not want to set up the Apple Watch product strategy in such a way that the entry price represented a price ceiling. If you did that then you’d know that you may eventually be forced to introduce lower-price models that would then result in the same downwards trend that has affected the iPad and iPod;
• Try to prevent rivals from developing lower-priced alternatives that will cannibalise sales: The iPhone had managed to avoid the fate of the iPad and iPod because it has not been feasible for rivals to develop a clearly distinct segment within the premium smartphone market at a lower price.
  
  The only way to reduce the ASP in the smartphone market was to either develop a physically smaller device (which would damage usability) or reduce the functionality. The market has taken the latter course which explains why we are seeing very low-price models being sold in price-sensitive markets - but these devices have not been affecting demand in the premium segment, which is where Apple and Samsung are competing.

The watch market has given Apple the perfect opportunity to execute what I think will be seen in years to come as an extremely astute pricing strategy – that will allow the company to effectively guarantee that the ASP will be well above the entry level of $349 (£239), and probably some way above $600 (£410).

It is clear to me that Apple has spent a lot of time studying the Swiss watch industry: in spite of manufacturing just 29 million finished watches in 2014, representing just 2.3% of worldwide industry production volume, Swiss watchmakers accounted for nearly 67% of retail expenditure.

This picture is even more distorted if you take a look at the top end of the Swiss watch market, which is defined as watches that retail for over $10,000 (£6,800): this rarefied segment accounted for just 0.1% of worldwide production volume in 2014 – but 48.5% of retail expenditure.

This goes some way towards explaining what Apple is trying to achieve with its seemingly bizarre pricing strategy for the Apple Watch, where prices start at a reasonable $349 (£239) but then go all the way up to $15,000 (£10,200).

To understand what is going on here, I firstly divided Apple’s watch market into three broad price segments:

• Entry: $349 to $1,000 (£239 to £680)
• Mid: $1,300 to $5,000 (£880 to £3,500)
• Luxury: $5,500 to $15,000 (£3,750 to £10,200)

I then needed to estimate the sales level for each of these segments.

The starting point for this is our projection that Apple will sell 20.5 million Apple Watch units this calendar year - if you’re interested in understanding where this figure comes from then you will find plenty of background in the 2015 edition of Generator Research's Smart Watches report.

I then prepared three different uptake scenarios which were modelled on the reality of the Swiss watch industry, where shipment volumes are heavily skewed towards the lower price bands while value is heavily skewed towards the upper price bands.

The three uptake scenarios were:

• Scenario A: Entry @ 95%; Mid @ 4%; Luxury @ 1%
• Scenario B: Entry @ 90%; Mid @ 8%; Luxury @ 2%
• Scenario C: Entry @ 85%; Mid @ 11%; Luxury @ 4%

This now gives us sales levels for each of the three price segments, for each of the three scenarios.

The next step is to estimate the revenues.

To do this I developed some plausible demand curves which were based on sub-dividing each of the three price segments into 14 sub-segments - with unit sales decreasing on a straight-line basis from the lowest price to the highest price. I adjusted the elasticity in each of the three segments to reflect the fact that people in the Luxury segment are clearly less price sensitive than those in the Entry segment.

The result was a set of demand curves that look like this:

This results in the following table:

• The base case is where the Apple Watch is just one price ($349, £239) which would mean that the revenues for 2015 would be $7.2 billion (£4.9 billion). All of Apple’s rivals are operating a price model that either involves a single price or a number of closely-related prices (compared, that is, to the massive difference between the entry level and top end prices of the Apple Watch);
• Basic economics tells us that a ‘flat rate’ pricing strategy is sub-optimal because it fails to extract the maximum revenue from every buyer. With the iPhone, Apple is stuck with a ‘flat rate’ pricing model because pricing in the premium segment of the smartphone market is quite concentrated. But that is not the case in the Swiss watch market, which provides Apple with a great opportunity to move to a revenue-maximising pricing strategy for the Apple Watch;
• If 95% of unit sales of the Apple Watch were in the $349 (£239) to $1,000 (£680) segment, with just 1% in the $5,500 to $15,000 segment (£3,750 to £10,200, Scenario A) then this would have the effect of doubling the average selling price from $349 (£239) to $748 (£478) and doubling revenues from $7.2 billion to $15.2 billion (£4.9 billion to £10 billion);
• In the most optimistic scenario (Scenario C), where 4% of unit sales of the Apple Watch are in the luxury segment, then the revenue earned by the luxury segment for calendar 2015 would be $8 billion (or 33% of total revenues, £5.45 billion) while revenues for all three segments for 2015 would be $24.1 billion (£16.40 billion) – or nearly 3x the base case.

To me the conclusion is that Apple has been very clever in how it has priced the Apple Watch – even more so when one realises that most sales in the $5,500 to $15,000 (£3,750 to £10,200) luxury segment will be incremental to sales of Swiss luxury watches: most buyers will see an Apple Watch as an additional device, not a substitutional device.

We already know that the high average selling price of the iPhone has allowed Apple to accumulate around 80% of smartphone industry device profits – and that was with an average selling price of about $600 (£410).

In the long run, when manufacturing processes are mature, then because the Apple Watch has a lower mass and contains less electronics than an iPhone, it will actually cost less to produce. When combined with the higher ASP then the Apple Watch is set to be even more profitable for Apple than the iPhone.

Andrew Sheehy is chief analyst at Generator Research. 

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Since the first auto insurance policy was written in 1897, for drivers, paying for car insurance has become an unavoidable expense. But not all cars are created equal — some are considerably more expensive to insure than others. To find out which cars will hit your wallet the hardest, Insure.com crunched the numbers for more than 1,500 models in all 50 states from six major insurers. 

"Insurance rates are all about claims – how many and how big," Insure.com consumer analyst Penny Gusner said. "Cars that are cheapest to insure typically are easy to repair or have fewer claims or both."

Here's how Insure.com created its ranking:

Averages are based on full coverage for a single 40-year-old male who commutes 12 miles to work each day, with policy limits of 100/300/50 ($100,000 for injury liability for one person, $300,000 for all injuries and $50,000 for property damage in an accident) and a $500 deductible on collision and comprehensive coverage. This hypothetical driver has a clean record and good credit. The rate includes uninsured motorist coverage. 

Another factor that affects insurance prices is location. For instance, according to Insure.com, the owner of a 190 mph Nissan GT-R could pay as little $2,012 per year in Hawaii — but as much as $6,630 in Montana. And although, the fun Jeep Wrangler Sport 4WD came out as the cheapest car to insure with an average annual premium of just $1,134, other car owners weren't so lucky. 

Here are the 10 most expensive cars to insure in the U.S.

10. Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG 4Matic Sedan: $2,972 average annual premium

9. Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG 4Matic Wagon: $3,042

8. BMW M6 Convertible: $3,115

How bad is public transit in San Francisco? Bad enough that a huge industry of private transportation options have sprung up, from Uber and Lyft to newcomers like this week's controversial startup du jour, Leap Transit— a high-end line of private buses equipped with WiFi, coffee, snacks, power outlets, and leather seats. 

Leap's slogan is "Your daily commute. Redesigned." But San Francisco at large has backlashed: People see it as yet another way for startups to cater to the needs of those who can afford expensive private services. 

In an effort to see what the fuss is about, I took a trip from the start of the Leap line, up at the La Luna Inn, all the way downtown. Here's how the trip went.  

Leap, which opened for business on Wednesday, runs 4 private buses (with one kept in the yard for emergencies) that run loops between San Francisco's high-end Marina neighborhood, where plenty of techie types live, and the city's Financial District from 8am to 10am, and then the opposite way from 5pm to 8pm. Fares are a hefty $6 each way (compared to $2.25 for public transit), but less if you buy in bulk.  

Leap stops are demarcated by blue-and-white poles with the Leap rabbit icon on top. I was the only one waiting at this first stop.

From the outside, Leap looks like your normal, everyday city bus, just in a bright shade of blue.  In fact, three older tourists who were staying at the Inn asked if it was the bus that goes to Fisherman's Wharf (it isn't). 

Before you get on the bus, you have to pull up the app, which provides a real-time arrival estimate as well as a number for how many seats were left. You can either check in with a QR code or activate an "express" check-in option which uses Bluetooth to check you in automatically. I went with the second option. 

I was skeptical, but as soon as I stepped on the bus, my phone buzzed, and Richard, the Leap "attendant" on duty, confirmed I was checked in. True to expectation, it was just me and Richard on this bus.

Given free rein to choose my seat, I sat down at what looked like the counter at your everyday coffee shop and sat on the leather stool, facing the window so I could watch the masses not on a private bus go by. On the other side of the bus were rows of black leather armchairs.

In the back of the bus was a more open seating area with benches and wood paneling.

Richard had a little bar counter where he could serve food and drink from a cooler and answer questions. A little Beats Audio boombox played indie rock from a Spotify playlist.

Striking up a conversation with Richard, I found out that it wasn't usually this empty, and that the bus loop he had attended previously had as many as eight people on board.

Given that the buses can seat around 30 comfortably, that's not exactly reassuring, but Richard said that the number has been growing every day. At one point, he had to go up front to confirm the route with the driver.

"We're still working on routing stuff," Richard said. 

I ordered a Stumptown Cold Brew iced coffee from the Leap app, which automatically charged me the $4.50 before Richard handed it to me. Other options included cartons of Blue Bottle New Orleans iced coffee, coconut water, and fresh pressed fruit juice. If I were hungrier, I could have also ordered a yogurt, a Simple Squares "Cinna-Clove" snack bar, or whole-fruit energy bar. 

Two more people got on at Gough and Greenwich, bringing us up to our peak ridership of three. One of them said he had tried Loop, a black car company with a similar service plan, and the other told me he only works from the office one day a week but takes Uber rides.

For his part, Richard says that most riders who take Leap complain about packed San Francisco city buses that get so full, they stop picking up passengers and just drive on by.

For both of my fellow riders, Leap offered a cheaper and more relaxed way to get where they're going. They said they could see the service catching on. 

"I think this is gonna get packed so fast," one rider said. 

The best thing I could say about Leap is that it's boring: It's designed to be frictionless, so you sit there and have a smooth ride and get off. It is, admittedly, a stark contrast from a crowded city bus.

Feedback from San Francisco at large hasn't been so positive. When Leap launched, it became something of a local object of ridicule, just one more private transportation option for the 1% who can afford it but don't already work at a company like Google that has its own buses. One headline on Leap Transit reads "San Francisco Gets The Ridiculous City Bus It Deserves."

When a Leap bus broke down yesterday, on its second day of service, the schadenfreude ran deep.

Meanwhile, Leap — which doesn't have a permit to operate as a transit service or use bus stops in the city — has had to fiddle with where it puts its stops to avoid stepping on toes and blocking traffic. In one case yesterday, Richard said, a homeowner got mad at a Leap bus for blocking her driveway, so the company had to move the stop. But then the bus stop was blocking a convenience store, and the driver made a complaint with Leap, forcing Leap to move the stop again. 

Richard says a lot of complaints have come from people who live in the Marina who don't want more traffic or more squealing brakes in their neighborhood — a complaint he shrugs off, saying that traffic shouldn't be anything new.

"You already live in the city," he says.

SEE ALSO: Seven crazy things you might be able to do with an Uber soon

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Brands are the best way to show off wealth, and there is a flood of new millionaires around the world who like showing off.

"The brands bought are actually more important than the level of money earned," HSBC managing director Erwan Rambourg writes in his recent book, "The Bling Dynasty: Why the Reign of Chinese Luxury Shoppers Has Only Just Begun."

Rambourg created a brand pyramid to show how major brands range in accessibility from everyday luxuries like Starbucks to ultra-high-end luxury like Graff diamonds. This is the luxury power ranking:

Brands or products associated with luxury of any kind can benefit from increasing affluence around the world.

Still, brands that become too accessible are less appealing to superrich buyers. Louis Vuitton, for instance, is considered a "brand for secretaries" by many wealthy Chinese.

"Louis Vuitton has become too ordinary," a billionaire woman told China Market Research Group managing director Shaun Rein in 2011. "Everyone has it. You see it in every restaurant in Beijing. I prefer Chanel or Bottega Veneta now. They are more exclusive."

Gucci is similarly suffering from a reputation problem, while bespoke goods and less-well-known European labels like Bottega Veneta are soaring.

High-net-worth consumers are particularly hungry for obscure luxury brands.

"I buy the brand Maison Ullens in Paris — it's a French brand all made in Italy," Sara Jane Ho, the founder of the elite Chinese etiquette school Institute Sarita, told Business Insider. "When I came back to China all my students were wondering where my clothes were from. Very naturally, my school became Maison Ullens point of sale simply because my students really love buying their stuff."

Of course, bespoke items remain the ultimate luxury good.

"Whether it's a bespoke Louis Vuitton trunk for Scotch and cigar fans or an exceptional stone at Graff, the ultra‐high‐end and bespoke category is a no‐limit segment where all the craziest dreams (and prices) come true," Rambourg writes.

SEE ALSO: An obscure Italian brand is suddenly the hottest name in teen retail

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Luxuries, for the most part, are a fun part of our lives.

They are not needs, but instead are wants that we are fortunate enough to be able to afford.

That led me to think the other day that I should ask you what luxuries you enjoy paying for.

However, it wouldn’t be fair to ask without sharing our list first.

Below is a list of just some of the luxuries that we happily pay for in our lives.

In order to find what luxuries we pay for, I did a couple of things.

First, I looked around our home and found items and services we enjoy that definitely are not needs.

Secondly, I looked at our financial records from Quicken to see what we've been spending our money on.

1. Cable television

The first luxury we happily pay for is cable TV. In fact, we happily paid for a 65″ TV to watch it on, as well. Luckily, we got a great deal on the TV during a Black Friday sale and we’ve negotiated a decent rate for our cable from Comcast.

Compared to the amount of money we spend, we easily get much more entertainment value out of our cable TV subscription per hour than any other form of entertainment we currently pay for.

2. The internet

Access to the internet at our home is another luxury we enjoy paying for. While we could use internet at public places, I make money through the internet so it easily pays for itself. In addition, the internet opens us up to a whole world of ideas and opinions. We wouldn’t go without internet unless times were really, really tough financially.

3. Smartphones (really … any cell phone at all)

We also happily pay for our smart phones, another luxury we get a lot of value out of. My wife currently has a phone on Republic Wireless which is an amazing deal. I'm still on my parents' family plan with AT&T, but I plan to switch once my contract is up to save even more money.

4. Air conditioning

We live in Florida and could not live without air conditioning. Technically it would probably fit as a want, not a need, but we happily pay to cool our house to 77 degrees in the summer. Our comfort is easily worth a few hundred dollars of higher electric bills in the summer.

5. Vacations

Vacations are yet another luxury we happily pay for. Whether we're cruising around the Caribbean or visiting Disney World, vacations are a nice escape from reality.

We're pretty cost conscious when it comes to our vacations, so we aren't blowing a ton of money on them. We even use credit card rewards to supplement our vacation budget in order to take even more fun adventures.

6. Owning two cars

A luxury most people don’t think of is owning two cars. We're super happy to pay for two cars because our work schedules are so different. Tori works nights at the hospital for twelve hour shifts and I work a typical Monday through Friday corporate job, so having only one car would be a huge pain.

Luckily, we can afford to pay to maintain two cars even though we already own them outright. Still, insurance and maintenance isn't cheap.

7. Dining out

We also happily pay to eat out a restaurants which is definitely a luxury. Every once in a while it is worth it for us to not have to worry about cooking or cleaning and paying someone else to do it for us. We've been cutting back in this department lately, but still enjoy eating out a couple times a month.

8. Pets

Pets are like family to us. That said, pets are luxuries, not needs. We're super lucky to have an amazing dog, even though she has expensive allergies. We happily pay for allergy shots so she isn't a miserable wreck (and those shots aren't cheap either)! She loves us very much and adds much joy to our lives.

9. Photography

While I'm not a big photography person, Tori loves photography. She has even started a side hustle out of it. We're fortunate enough to be able to afford for her to be able to take awesome pictures and learn the skills she needs to do so.

10. Nice things in general

This list could probably go on for quite a while longer, but I think you get the point. Whether it's the home we live in or the cars we drive to work, our money allows us to buy many nice things and we're happy to pay for them.

Be grateful for the luxuries you can afford. Taking a mental list of the luxuries in your life is a great way to do exactly that.

SEE ALSO: The $100,000 razor, and 9 more luxury items no one ever needs to buy

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Last year in 2014, Jacob & Co. debuted a very interesting watch with an extravagant movement they called the Astronomia Tourbillon.

I didn't get a chance to personally see the piece when they debuted it, and I am not sure if the original Astronomia Tourbillon case style was even actually delivered, since according to these new 2015 Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon pictures, there is a totally new case design.

The sheer complexity of the movement in the watch requires a lot of tweaking to make it work and years of effort. For 2015, however, it looks like the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon is back with a new case design as well as a very much "Jacob & Co." version called the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon Baguette that comes with a lot of diamonds.

Below, you can see a video from last year of the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon in action. Much of the movement is placed on a series of four arms that rotate around the entire dial each 20 minutes. Those arms also move to create other actions such as keeping the dial to indicate the time in the proper orientation, as well as operating the tourbillon.

Taken together, the entire ballet of gear work in the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon is almost hard to believe. More so, as much as you may like or be ambivalent to what Jacob & Co. produces, you have to give it to them that they understand showmanship is an important part of the luxury watch industry.

Compared to the large sapphire crystal bubble dome over the initial Astronomia design, this new 2015 case makes a bit more sense.

We are still looking at computer renders, but I am confident that the smaller pieces of sapphire crystal (which are now divided into a series of windows and one large one over the top) with the additional metal makes for a more plausible, wearable design. According to the brand, the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon is 50mm wide and 25mm thick. The case is in 18k rose gold, and there is a version with and without diamonds.

Notice the lack of crowns or pushers on the case? The movement is actually set and would via two "bow-style" fold out crowns on the rear of the case. The movement, which is, of course, the most interesting element of the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon, is the exclusive to Jacob & Co. caliber JCEM01, with 48 hours of power reserve and a tourbillon that operates at 2.5Hz. Surprisingly, the movement is produced from just 235 parts - which seems very efficient given the complexity of the concept.

Technically, because the tourbillon moves around the entire dial each 20 minutes, it is a triple axis tourbillon. The other axis is the normal spinning you see from a tourbillon cage, as well as being spun in its connection arm. It sits opposite the dial for telling the time to help balance out the weight. The other two arms have a small hand-painted titanium representation of earth, and its opposite arm has a rotating disco ball that makes one full rotation each 60 seconds.

Really, disco ball? Well, that is what I am calling it. Jacob & Co. claims that the spherically cut diamond uses an exclusive cutting process debuted by Jacob & Co to cut a diamond with 288 facets. This round diamond is supposed to represent the moon - which makes me wonder what "night life" would be like on your planet if our moon was actually a large disco ball too.

While the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon movement looks and sort of feels like it offers astronomical complications - it really only does so in concept. This is really a movement made for viewing pleasure, versus strict functionality - and in that, it succeeds.

If the "standard" Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon isn't enough, you can opt for the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon Baguette, which replaces the watch face's night/space sky with baguette-cut diamonds. The diamonds are invisibly-set on the dial and lugs, totaling 342 stones weighting 16 carats. While I personally can't see myself as a buying customer of a Jacob & Co. Astronomia the fact that there might be a few people out there who can enjoy this sort of wrist-worn mechanical entertainment delights me.

Once again, Jacob & Co. set out to shock, amuse, and please... which is exactly what I feel that Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon is all about. Price for the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon (without diamonds) is 540,000 Swiss Francs (right now about $548,000) and price for the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon Baguette is 1,000,000 Swiss Francs (right now about $1,015,000).

SEE ALSO: The 6 hottest watch trends of 2015

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Paul Sullivan, the New York Times Wealth Matters columnist and author of "The Thin Green Line: The Money Secrets of the Super Wealthy," has a theory about why people fall into the trap of spending beyond their means.

He calls it the "Bordeaux Dilemma."

In "The Thin Green Line," Sullivan writes that some of his best memories are of drinking wine from the Bordeaux region of France, "particularly Chateau Margaux, which can entice me to spend $300 or more on a bottle. Bordeaux is as seductive to me as debt is to other people: I certainly can't have just a little bit."

He writes, "But at times I've wished I had never drunk Chateau Margaux or any of the region's other great wines. Once you have, your tasted buds are changed forever."

He uses the experience of drinking — and getting used to — expensive wine to relate to people who extend themselves beyond their means to afford the luxuries they're used to, even if they can't afford it. In fact, he draws a parallel between this attitude and the get-as-much-house-as-you-can attitude during the housing boom preceding the 2008 collapse.

As far as Sullivan knows, he writes, there are three "cures" for an appetite beyond your budget: "poverty, incredible wealth, or self-restraint mixed with occasional indulgence. This last is a great balancing act, and the key to being on the right side of the thin green line."

Sullivan goes on to explain that the only realistic solution for managing debt — or, if you extend the metaphor, a taste for expensive wine — "is to create a plan with moderation, not abstention. People can't live in voluntary deprivation. Any debt solution is about arithmetic and the battle against compounding interest."

While there are exceptions, like people who set aside half their income to pay off their mortgage or devote all of their energy to eliminating their debt in just a few years, Sullivan finds that the most effective management method is to divide your available resources between your costs and savings goals, and then devote only what's left over to your debt payments, creating a "sliding scale" to contribute more as you earn more.

"Then spend no more than what you have left, even if you have to wait until the next month to buy something," he writes. "No excuses."

SEE ALSO: 11 simple steps to help you pay off any kind of debt

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Natalie Massenet, the founder of the online high-end fashion retailer Net-a-Porter, will become £46 million ($67.9 million) richer in Net-a-Porter's agreement to merge with the Italian online discount fashion store YOOX Group.

Not bad for a former writer for Tatler and Women's Wear Daily.

Massenet already made £50 million from the group when she sold Net-a-Porter to Switzerland's Richemont in 2010, according to figures cited by the Guardian and the New York Times in interviews with Massenet at the time.

Cartier-owner Richemont initially held a 29% stake in the company. In June 2010, Massenet sold her remaining Net-a-Porter stake for £50 million to Richemont, bringing its total stake up to 93%.

She remained as Net-a-Porter's executive chairman ever since. She also reinvested £15 million back into the business alongside Richemont at the time of the deal.

Now that the Net-a-Porter and YOOX merger deal has been agreed, she will be handed a 4% in stake in the new company, in the form of stock worth £46 million, as part of an incentive scheme she received when she sold her company to Richemont in 2010.

The Net-a-Porter and YOOX deal is worth £2.3 billion and will create a digital fashion giant with combined sales of £946 million.

YOOX Group founder and former investment banker Federico Marchetti will become the CEO of the new combined company called YOOX Net-A-Porter Group. Meanwhile, Massenet will serve as executive chairman of YOOX Net-A-Porter Group with "defined responsibilities." 

Massenet said in a statement:

"Today, we open the doors to the world’s biggest luxury fashion store. It is a store that never closes, a store without geographical borders, a store that connects with, inspires, serves and offers millions of style-conscious global consumers access to the finest designer labels in fashion. A store that provides established and emerging brands with the greatest interactive shop window to the world.”

Richemont will hold 50% of the shares in the newly formed group. 

Massenet worked as a journalist from 1993 to 1998. She created Net-a-Porter in 2000 by selling designer clothes from her Chelsea flat. In the early days, she piled her stock in the bathtub. She said in an interview with O32C online magazine that she realised selling clothes online could be big business after she identified the “insane popularity" of pashmina scarves at the end of the 1990s.

Net-a-Porter, which sells in-season, high-end fashion brands such as Alexander McQueen and Roland Mouret, has annual sales of around £510 million.

Former investment banker Federico Marchetti launched Yoox Group at the same time in 2000. Yoox's business is complimentary to Net-a-Porter because it sells high-end fashion but at a discounted price. It buys overstocked or unsold items from previous seasons from brands, such as Dolce & Gabbana and Armani, and sells them online at a discount.

In 2014, Yoox's revenue jumped 18% to £381 million. Yoox's shares are currently trading 7.5% up at €27.68 on the Italian stock exchange.

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Known for creating some of the world’s slimmest complications, Piaget has once again worked its miniaturizing magic—this time creating the world’s thinnest chronograph. The Piaget Altiplano Chronograph is equipped with the company’s new 883P caliber, which is an astounding 4.65 mm thick and is housed in a case just 8.24 mm thick.

The watch’s chronograph function is of the flyback variety, meaning that unlike a traditional chronograph—which requires three presses to stop, reset, and then restart the mechanism for timing intervals—it takes a single press of the pusher at 4 o’clock to reset the hands to zero and then automatically begin a new timing cycle.

Not satisfied with fitting just one complication into the Altiplano’s svelte case, Piaget also equipped the watch with a GMT feature, allowing the subdial at 9 o’clock to display the hours in another time zone. The watch’s movement, which has a power reserve of 50 hours, is finished with circular Côtes de Genève and circular graining.

Starting at $28,000, the Piaget Altiplano Chronograph is available with either a rose-gold case or a white-gold case set with 56 brilliant-cut diamonds. The watch will become available for purchase in September.

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