Walking the downtown streets of my neighborhood, I am always impressed by how many old school European bicycle, scooters and cars there are still left around NYC. These are just a few funky ones I captured this past couple of months: Solex, Motobecane, Peugeot, Puch, Fiat 500, Citroen 2CV, Alfa R, BMW, Batavus… more to come. All pics powered by BlackBerry phone cam.

From a small grinding shop in 1929 to one of the finest names in accessories today, G. Lorenzi has come a long way. Housed on Via Montenapoleone in Milano, the Lorenzi’s scan the world for the best materials, craftsmen and designs – always incorporating their love for artisanship in everything. The shop is a testosterone hub, with men’s accessories being the focus and a clearly masculine decor.

G. Lorenzi specializes in all the things you really don’t need but always had the desire to own – from the classy range of accessories like pocket knives, money clips, nail clippers, scissors, shaving instruments, walking sticks, lighters, pipes, smoking accessories and many more exquisite gears all wrought of the finest materials…

In case you can’t make it to Milan, a well-edited selection of their goods is available in New York at the Bergdorf Goodman men’s store. You can also check out this documentary on menstyle.com…

Building on the extremely successful launch of Chapter One in 2008, Maîtres du Temps now presents a sensational new limited edition, featuring a jet-black dial and rollers set in a high-contrast white gold case. The inspirational theme was the black and white “Tuxedo Look”.

 Watch out for “Chapter Two” to be released in 2009/10…

Picture the world’s most exclusive atelier with Swiss watchmaking’s finest artisans working together to concoct unprecedented horological alchemy. The answer is “Maîtres du Temps” and their creation is called “Chapter One”.

The level of technical and design sophistication achieved by Maîtres du Temps has rarely been seen in watch making and is the result of the right combination of 3 virtuosos sharing a common and bold vision: Roger Dubuis, Peter Speake-Marin and Christophe Claret.

The ease of both reading and adjusting Chapter One’s many indications disguises the fact that this is a world-first combination of complications crafted from 558 components. The first piece to ever feature a tourbillon with mono-pusher column wheel chronograph, retrograde date, and retrograde GMT, as well as moon phase and day of the week on their own rolling bars.

It is not so much a new watch company as an entirely new horological concept. A conscious effort to promote the people who actually craft the timepieces by providing them the opportunity to collaborate and harness their incredible talent.

Krug, the celebrated Champagne house, partnered with Pinel & Pinel, the prestigious artisan trunk maker, to create an object of true exception: The Krug Picnic Trunk. Modern, elegant and extremely functional – this cult creation holds all the essentials for your next picnic escapades: champagne flutes, truffle shaver, handcrafted mother of pearl caviar spoons… and of course 3 bottles of Krug Grande Cuvee to complete the set. A total of 30 exclusive samples were made each one requiring 700 hours of tedious craftsmanship. That’s called “Ultra Luxury”.