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CasinoMan Blog - Category Articles: company history

World's Top Watchmakers - IWC

There are only a few watchmakers in the world who have endured over one hundred years of fluctuating marketplaces and ever-changing public tastes and opinions. Although they’ve had their share of hot and cold runs, IWC has always been able to stand out as a creator of fine watches.

IWC, which stands for the International Watch Company, was founded in 1869 when Florentine Ariosto Jones, an engineer from America, decided to make the big move to the hub of watch-making, Switzerland. At first, the company only produced high-quality parts for watches and shipped them mostly overseas.

A few years after IWC proved to be a successful venture, Jones met a fellow watchmaker, Johann Heinrich Moser, and the duo began to produce a line of pocket watches.

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Top Fashion Brand Overview of Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana is another in a long line of famous fashion houses by way of Italy. For a country barely larger than the state of California, an overwhelmingly large percentage of the world’s high-end fashion is a result of the boot-shaped land mass. The fashion conglomerate takes its name from the owners: Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The brand is relatively new in comparison to other fashion lines out there, getting their start in the 1980s and experiencing the height of their success only a few short years later.

Dolce & Gabbana are the quintessential power couple of the fashion world. Their partnership began while they were each working as assistants to fashion designers in Milan, Italy. The duo discovered that they shared a lot of interests in common, and after forming a partnership in love, they merged their names for fashion in 1985 after the organizers of the Milano Collezioni invited them both to participate in a new talent show launch. In 1986, the duo tirelessly worked to produce their line and subsequent “ready-to-wear” women’s fashion show. The show was a smash hit, and stars of the day like Madonna and Nicole Kidman flocked to the line.

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Overview of Fashion Company Chanel

Chanel is one of the world’s most recognized fashion names. From the first Chanel shop to open in 1912, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel quickly rose to fame and became one of the premier fashion designers in France.

Her fashion themes ushered in a new era for women of Paris. Instead of the tight and restricting corsets of old, she introduced a comfortable and casual feel to women, yet her designs were still elegant and transcending. Her simple suits, women’s trousers, jewelry, and various textiles helped to cement her position in the fashion world before 1920.

Born in Auvergne in 1883, Chanel was primarily raised by her father after her mother died when Gabrielle was only six-years-old. She picked up the name Coco during a very brief career as a café singer in the early 1900s. She was a mistress to a wealthy industrialist, and later would design some simple hats that quickly became something of a legend.

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Ferrari, a car maker and formula one giant

Ferrari is one of the most popular sports cars in the world. With its sleek style and ultimate performance capability, it’s often the most sought after car by connoisseurs and anyone with a particular need for speed.

Ferrari is based in Maranello, Italy, and was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929 as Scuderia Ferrari. Ferrari is also very well known in the Formula One racing world, where it has enjoyed phenomenal success on the track.

Today, Ferrari employs almost 3,000 people, and pulls in annual revenue of over €1,688. From the very beginning, something was different about Ferrari. No one ever expected the cars to be as popular as they are today, not even founder Enzo Ferrari.

Enzo Ferrari never intended to produce such a popular brand of sports cars. In fact, he formed Scuderia Ferrari in 1929 as a sponsor for amateur drivers headquartered in Modena. Enzo helped prepare and successfully raced various drivers in Alfa Romeo models until 1938, where he was then hired by Alfa Romeo to head their motor racing department.

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Tag Heuer, makers of world class chronography watches

Tag Heuer is one of the most prestigious brands of luxury timepieces in the world. Second to only Rolex in popularity, Tag is another Swiss watch brand known for its sports watches and chronographs.

It is a division of LVMH, a leading luxury goods company. The company has a motto, “Swiss Avant-Garde Since 1860.” Today, a Tag Heuer timepiece can be purchased from multiple locations. Their watch styles and models number in the hundreds, but it is a few particular types from which their popularity was born.

The watchmaking company was founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer. He slowly built the company from the ground up, and was a very innovative watchmaker. Heuer patented the first crown-winding mechanism for his pocket watches in 1869. And then, during the Universal Exhibition in Paris, 1889, the Heuer Company won the silver medal for its collection of various pocket chronographs.

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James Bond's favourite car brand, Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British luxury performance car manufacturer. Their headquarters are based in Gaydon, England, and the company’s name is derived from one of the company’s founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb located near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire.

Aston Martin’s are most well known for being prestigious luxury cars owned by the rich and famous. Perhaps most famously, Aston Martin is a favorite automobile of none other than 007 himself, Mr. James Bond. Of course, Aston Martin didn’t start out so prestigiously. Similar to most other car brands, AM had to pay their dues.

Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin. The two had met the previous year while selling cars made by Singer. Martin frequently raced specials at Aston Hill, and the two eventually began to manufacture their own cars.

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A review of Rolls Royce, the prestige automobile company

Rolls-Royce is undoubtedly the most luxurious car brand on the planet. For over a century, Rolls-Royce has been the marquee standard when it comes to the development of a luxury car, and other carmakers have copied, imitated, and stolen Rolls-Royce design concepts for decades.

Due to a recent resurgence in popularity, Rolls-Royce has once again taken the top spot as kings of the automotive world. The company was officially formed in 1906 when Charles Stewart Rolls and Fredrick Henry Royce formed a partnership. The company’s six-cylinder Silver Ghost was debuted that same year. RR was unlike any other manufacturer of the era. Their attention to detail and dedication to quality was clear from the start.

During the 1920s, Rolls-Royce opened a second factory in Springfield, Massachusetts in order to keep up with the rising demand. This factory only stayed open for 10 years, but they launched the Phantom 1, which would ultimately become the defining Rolls-Royce model.

The car was powered by a pushrod-operated overhead valve engine with detachable cylinder heads. This was very cutting-edge technology for the time. And in 1931, with the acquisition of Bentley, Rolls-Royce had the market of luxury cars cornered.

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The world renowed Cartier, where it all came from

Cartier SA is a French jeweler and watch manufacturer that is a subsidiary of Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA. The company carries the name of the Cartier family of jewelers whose control came to an end in the 1960s. The company has a very long and distinguished history of serving all manors of royalty, celebrities, and the well-to-do.

The Prince of Wales once hailed Cartier as “Jeweler to the Kings, King of Jewelers.” Louis-Francois Cartier founded the company in Paris in 1847. He took over the workshop of his master and began making quality pieces of jewelry. Louis’ son, Alfred Cartier, took over administration of the company in 1874, but it was Alfred’s sons, Pierre, Jacques and Louis who were responsible for establishing the world-wide brand name of Cartier.

In 1904, a British aviator named Alberto Santos-Dumont complained of the unreliability of using pocket watches while flying. Dumont’s friend, Cartier, took it upon himself to answer the challenge and developed a flat wristwatch. This watch was a hit with many of Cartier’s clients, and thus the “Santos” design was born.

This was the first men’s wristwatch in history. Louis was responsible for a lot of Cartier’s designs, such as the mystery clocks, fashionable wristwatches, and Art Deco designs. Cartier signed a contract with Edmond Jaeger in 1907, and agreed to exclusively supply the movements for Cartier watches. Cartier had several branches by this time, including branches in London, St. Petersburg, and New York. Cartier was quickly becoming the most popular watch brand in the world.

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A little background on the MGM Grand Las Vegas

The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel/casino located on the Las Vegas Strip. The MGM Grand is truly that, grand. It’s the second largest hotel in the world and the second largest in the U.S. behind The Venetian. MGM Grand is owned and operated by MGM Mirage, a publicly traded company.

The main building is 30 floors and 239 feet high and features five large outdoor pools, waterfalls and rivers, all covering 6.6 acres. It also has a 380,000 square foot convention center; the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Grand Spa, and CBS Television City are all housed on location. And if that’s not enough for you to take in, MGM also has 16 restaurants, two food courts, and one of the largest casinos in Vegas.

Kirk Kerkorian purchased the Marina Hotel in 1990 to obtain the site that would eventually become the home of MGM Grand. During that time, the Marina was commonly known as the MGM-Marina, and the site was closed on November 30, 1991, and the ground was broken on October 7 the same year.

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Behind the gears of Patek Philippe

As one of the most sought after watches in the world, Patek Philippe SA has literally stood the test of time. This company’s luxurious, ultra-elegant timepieces have been dazzling some very lucky people for over 140 years.

Patek Philippe was founded by Count Antoine Norbert de Patek in 1845, and in the years to come, Patek would make crucial innovations to set his watches apart from the world’s competitors. The first years were the most crucial, as in any new venture, and it would be a time marred by mundane accomplishments.

After opening his own watch company to a relatively uninterested public, Patek feared that his passion wouldn’t be enough to lure in the customers. However, he had strong ties with Poland, and the Polish people took a liking to his watches, becoming some of the first owners.

These years predate the Patek-Philippe partnership. They speak more of meager beginnings – a start that almost thwarted one of the world’s finest watches before it had a chance. In 1844, after sporadic partnerships, Patek met Adrien Philippe, a young French inventor of keyless winding mechanisms. Patek’s previous partnerships and solo efforts were all but over, and the two formed a reluctant partnership.

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