Austrian billionaire Richard Lugne, who has been buying a celebrity date going on nineteen years now, has recently paid $150K for a date with Lindsay Lohan.

77-year old Lugne will be taking Lohan to the Vienna Opera Bal, Austria’s premier social event of the year.  In previous years the billionaire has taken the likes of Sophia Loren, Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton.

It’s that time of the year boys and girls!

Neiman Marcus unveils their 2009 Christmas Book.

Neiman-Marcus has unveiled the 2009 Christmas Book.  Oh happy days and damn any recession because we have visions of cupcake-shaped electric cars for the kiddos, the world’s fastest electric motorcycle, and dinner with some of today’s bestselling authors.  These are just a few of the fantasy gifts for sale in Neiman Marcus’ 2009 Christmas book.

Dallas-based Neiman Marcus made a conscious effort to offer more affordable options while not disappointing loyal luxury shoppers as it unveiled its Christmas Book at the Dallas Contemporary.

Among this year’s offerings are a customized Cupcake Car for kids that costs $25,000 and reaches top speeds of 7 miles per hour. For adults, there’s a 2010 Jaguar XJL super-charged sedan, priced at $105,000. Neiman Marcus customers will be the first to be able to purchase the vehicle, which comes with a 5-piece set of luggage that matches its leather interior.

This year’s his-and hers gift – an annual tradition – is an ICON A5 sports aircraft, with pilot training for two. It costs a mere $250,000.

At $200,000, the Algonquin Round Table Experience includes dinner for two at New York’s Algonquin Hotel with Malcolm Gladwell, John Lithgow, Nora Ephron with eight famous authors, including and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

About 40 percent of this year’s catalog items are priced under $250.

The luxury retailer’s his-and-hers gifts and other over-the-top holiday gift ideas represent a tradition that dates back to the 1950s. Stanley and Edward Marcus started picking attention-grabbing gifts to get the store on national TV, and it still works.

Last year, the Dallas-based retailer offered all 530 square yards of one of the end zones at Texas Stadium and a party to go with it for $500,000. His-and-hers gifts were life-size Lego likenesses of the buyers for $60,000 apiece.

A limited-edition 2009 BMW Individual 7 Series sedan offered a year ago didn’t sell out. Thirty-one were offered to represent the number of years that BMW has been selling in the U.S. A car has been part of the catalog for many years and has been known to sell out in a matter of minutes.

Luxury has been hard hit by the recession and has experienced some of the biggest sales declines. Neiman Marcus is adding more merchandise in its middle price points this year, while it continues to sell its highest priced luxury brands.

For the second year, Neiman Marcus is publishing a separate holiday book featuring “giftable” items, many under $100.

Have you ever fancied having a billiard table mounted on a saltwater aquarium?

Hurricane Custom Billiards

How about with a big base filled with penny candy and fuchsia felt covering the surface?

Regardless of what captures your imagination  chances are Hurricane Custom Billiards in south Florida can get you set up in style.

Case and point:  Unique Autosports South is base in Miami and wanted something sufficiently decadent for their showroom.  HCB fashioned a table out of chromed steel and mounted in on low-profile tires with giant rims.  The surface is covered with black felt (no word if it’s more heavy on the wool or nylon to determine the speed), and polished it off with fiberoptics that can display up to 1,000 colours.

Alec Bradley Cigars has brought a new experience to market. The makers of the Tempus and Maxx cigars have released its Select Cabinet Reserve series. It should be on cigar shop shelves this month and promises to be quite a treat. The series consists of Corona, Robusto, Churchill, Torpedo and Gran Robusto cigars with Honduran Trojes wrappers. The sticks will be released in boxes of 20.

This line of cigars was born from a conversation that Alec Bradley president Alan Rubin had while back on the family farm in Trojes. Over the past five years, the Rubin family had accumulated a large amount of aged, mid-priming Trojes wrapper.

“We talked about the natural sweetness of the wrapper and the chance to develop a blend around its unique flavor profile,” Rubin says. “When we got back to the factory, we went to where we store all the wrapper tobacco and opened a few bales for inspection. I grabbed a hand of tobacco containing 25 leaves, plucked two of them, de-stemmed them, and rolled a sample. These caramel colored leaves were glorious to the touch and looked fantastic. Even better, they smoked every bit as good as I expected.”

A year later, Alec Bradley’s latest creation has been completed and is missing only a cutter, a lighter and someone to enjoy it. Expectations are high, particularly given Rubin’s assessment of the product. “The SCR line is built around a mid-priming Trojes wrapper that allowed us to focus on the natural sweetness of the leaf,” says Alec Bradley president, Alan Rubin. “The blend is buttery smooth, and possesses an abundance of complex flavors and aromas that will hold your attention from start to finish.”

Luxury house Hermes is inundated with demand for their products.  It’s not unsual for people to literally wait years to own of their $50,000 bags.  

In an effort to meet this demand for their accessories, Hermes has opted to start their own farms in Australia for the sole purpose of breeding crocodiles..

“It can take three to four crocodiles to make one of our bags so we are now breeding our own crocodiles on our own farms, mainly in Australia,” says Patrick Thomas, chief executive of the luxury line. “Hermes already faces a major challenge producing 3,000 crocodile bags a year. The world is not full of crocodiles, except the stock exchange!”

At the time of posting, there has been no response from PETA.

Swiss makers Thomas Prescher and Angular Momentum have organized a special multi-day presentation of some of the most interesting and exclusive independent luxury watch brands out there. Such makers often struggle to get the message out about their watches, but once their timepieces are known, they are often very well received by the watch lover population. By banding together, they draw on each others’ products resulting in what should be a very interesting exhibition of watches and watch makers. The event will take place from June 18 – June 21 at the Angular Momentum Time Gallery (located at Brunngasse 58 in 3011 Bern, Switzerland).

The Time Gallery is a special multipurpose watch store and gallery which is a perfect location to showcase the wonderful watches. Aside from luxury novelties from both Angular Momentum and Thomas Prescher, notable brands will include Svend Andersen, Vianney Halter, Voutilainen, Pita, and Louis Moinet – among a few others as well. In addition to the watches being on display (and for sale most likely) the watch makers themselves will be present during the duration of the exhibit available to discuss their fine timepieces. And excellent opportunity to meet and mingle with true modern masters.

For more information contact Thomas Prescher or Angular Momentum (link to e-mail addresses), or call 41 (0)32 315 28 66.

Now up to 45mm wide (up from 43mm) the Baume & Mercier Riviera Magnum XXL beats the older XL in size and design for the look of the sportier version of the standard Riviera watch that wasn’t exactly stuffy to begin with. Complications include a 30 minute flyback chronograph powered by the automatic mechanical Ref. 8834 movement that is likely a modified Valjoux 7750. The dial of the watch is something you’ve probably noticed. Call it skeletonized, call it a “view to the movement,” the dial is actually a black tinted sapphire crystal. The text and Roman numerals are applied directly on the tinted dial in luminant.

The case is PVD coated steel with a cool looking sandblasted look. Everything about it is big from the four large hex screws, chronograph pushers, and massive crown. It is hard to tell in the images but the left side of the case is decorated with vertical cutaway slits (Baume & Mercier says they are meant to remind you of a car grill). The case is also 200 meters water resistant and features a exhibition caseback. Despite what is likely broad appeal, the Baume & Mercier Riviera Magnum XXL Flyback Chronograph watch will be limited to just 1000 pieces. A nice action version of the already sporty Riviera Magnum watch line.

You might think the diamond-covered phone market had dried up in this economy but companies are still creating them.

Luxury designer and jeweler Knalihs Athem has come out with their latest diamond-covered phones: The Diamond Blackberry Bold (BlackBeauty) and The Diamond Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte (SnowWhite).

The custom phones can be decorated with pink, yellow, black, champagne and white diamonds and personalized with initials, lucky number, logos and anything else your heart and back account desire.

Each one is a custom creation although the Nokia clearly offers more room for stones to be inlaid. The Knalihs Athem Blackberry Bold looks almost modest by comparison with its small rim of diamonds.

Next month Birds of Sausalito, makers of luxurious boxer shorts for men, will debut its new premium pajamas.

Made of the same custom Pima cotton fabric as their beloved boxers, each pair is hand tailored with extraordinary attention to details such as single needle stitching and mother-of-pearl buttons.

Price at $280 per pair, they will be available as of June 1 at select stores and online. Birds set out to create the best-fitting, most comfortable boxer shorts ever made, perfecting every detail of design, cut, fit and fabric.

They’re hand sewn and made of a 2-ply 160-thread count Sea Island Cotton, arguably the most luxurious available.

The real allure of this Louis Moinet Tempograph watch are the looks. The classically futuristic form is based on master watch maker Louis Moinet’s 200 year old designs – and give you a Jules Verne type of mofit on your wrist. You can literally pick out these designs from Louis Moinet’s old manuscripts – and they have been beautifully composed into watches like the Tempograph. The name refers to the unique retrograde seconds hand that measures in 10 second increments before moving to the initial position. Watching the seconds go by can be like watching a musical tempo meter. The retrograde seconds hand is horizontally aligned and covers most of the face. The hours and minutes are placed in a smaller dial at the top of the face.

Other elements of the watch serve to highlight the movement rich complication with the unique Louis Moinet charm in a large 47mm wide case, available in two shades of rose gold. The case and dial also include titanium, PVD (black colored) coated steel, and a dial that is available in black of silver. The pictured Tempograph is the Ref. LM-13.40.50/60 in rose gold and should be available soon. This is also the same watch featured on the side of Louis Moinet’s Primetime Race Group’s sponsored # 11 Dodge Viper car in this season’s American Le Mans race series.