Northshore Magazine

ne Business Jack Barouh, son of watchmaker Maurice Barouh, and his wife Rita derived inspiration for the luxury women's watch company from their daughter, Michele. Originally a colorful children's wristwatch line, the market's positive response to the high-quality, innovative designs inspired the team to expand Michele watches to include luxurious timepieces for adults. With degrees from American Gemological Society and the American Gem Society, Rottenberg is no stranger to trends, brands, recognizing quality, and making the right selection. He agrees with the trend towards larger women's watches. "Women are liking larger faces, [like those made by] TAG Heuer, David Yurman, and Rolex." "TAG Heuer," he adds, "offers an extraordinary sporty, classic product that is also durable and tough. Breitling typically makes larger watches in very fashion-forward vibrant colors, like blues and reds—it's a very cool watch." Finding the best watch can Royal Jewelers involve researching brands 58 Main St., Andover with values and history that 978-475-3330 are consistent with one's own. royaljewelers.com "People like watches. They like Long's Jewelers to wear them to show off suc35 Cross St., Peabody cess. We have customers that 978-531-6900 buy five, ten, twenty watches. longsjewelers.com We wantto attach [them] to DeScenza Diamonds a lifestyle....Watches are still a 161 Andover St., Peabody very important piece of Ameri978-977-0090 n can culture." ● descenza.com History Lesson TAG Heuer was founded by Edouard Heuer in 1860 in St. Imier in the Swiss Jura region. The brand has the distinction of having designed one of the first wrist-worn chronographs, or integrated stopwatch and display watch, in 1914. It has since advanced to become one of today's most elegant brands. Established in 1884, Breitling has a long history designing for the world of aviation. Founder Leon Breitling focused on innovating within the world of timers and chronographs for sports, industrial uses, and science; the brand also developed a variety of high-tech aviation instruments. Founded in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf, Rolex was created to represent timepieces that would be both elegant and reliable. In 1926, the company pioneered one of the world's first waterproof and dustproof wristwatches, calling it "Oyster." A year later, the claims were proven true by a swimmer who swam across the English Channel wearing the watch. Then, in 1931, Rolex pioneered the first-ever self-winding mechanism with a perpetual rotor— the automatic watch. The addition of the Datejust in 1945, which indicated the date in a window on the dial, is just one of the many innovations over the years that have made Rolex one of the world's most legendary brands in watchmaking. 138 KJ NBDec13 Watches.indd 138 10/25/13 2:19 PM

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