Posing for her official White House portrait, Michelle Obama wears the Cartier Steel Tank Francaise that is tasteful and luxurious without being showy.

The White House portrait of the first lady does not make the model of the watch clear, but the trained eye is easily able to pick up the recognizable timepiece (The watch comes in both male and female models with various levels of gilding).

According to Frederic de Narp, CEO of Cartier North America Mrs. Obama wearing the watch was a “most positive surprise” and he also stated that “maybe it was a gift from her husband.”

Luxury goods company Cartier on Thursday braved the deepening global recession to launch its biggest boutique so far in the Middle East.

The 700 square-meter showroom in the upscale Dubai Mall testifies to the Cartier’s confidence that chilly economic winds will not deter well-heeled residents and visitors to Dubai from buying its jewelry, watches, handbags and other high-end merchandise.

The opening event was attended by actress Monica Bellucci and Bollywood stars including Anil Kapoor.

Place Vendôme is a jewelry case for all the jewels of the world.

What is more symbolic to a tourist in search of French expertise than this Parisian square, where high-end jewelry brands intermingle?

For travelers, we present Le monde de Vendôme (The World of Vendôme), a documentary film with the “actors” of Place Vendôme, that will be broadcasted on all AirFrance long-haul flights beginning the 1st of April 2009.

Here is, exclusively for LUXUO readers, the preview to this superb film:

[vimeo 3294946 468 350]

One of the most interesting Cartier watches presented at this year’s Salon International de Haute Horlogerie, was the Rotonde Central Chronograph, which uses Cartier’s new in-house manually-wound 9907 MC caliber movement built in La Chaux de Fonds.

Crafted from 18-karat pink gold, the round case of the Rotonde Central Chronograph timepiece measures 42mm in diameter; the grandeur of this form is enhanced by such distinguished Cartier signatures as the beaded crown with its blue sapphire cabochon.

The timepiece is completed by an alligator leather strap, and an adjustable folding buckle in 18-karat pink gold.

At SIHH 2009, Cartier will present an exceptional haute horlogerie complication within the iconic form of its Tank Americaine watch.

The Cartier Tank Americaine Tourbillon Volant watch is animated by the hand-wound Calibre 9452 MC, Cartier’s first in-house tourbillon caliber.

The movement comprises 19 jewels and 142 spinning, moving and rotating parts beeping at 21,600 bph and providing a 50 hours power reserve.

Motorola has teamed up with renowned French jeweler and watch maker Cartier to roll out the Motorola MING A1600 Luxury Edition.

The luxury edition handset has a gold plated body decorated with faux crocodile skin and comes bundled with a Cartier business card holder.

Other than the new, shiny looks, everything else is same as of the original phone (the Motorola Ming A1600 is a touchscreen phone with a 2.4 inch display).

The Motorola A1600 also packs a 3 megapixel shooter, a microSD card slot (up to 4GB), stereo Bluetooth (A2DP), a microUSB port, and a stereo FM radio. Its final noteworthy feature is the built-in GPS receiver which allows both real-time GPS navigation and geotagging of the photos taken with the built-in camera.

The Motorola MING A1600 Luxury Edition sells for TWD $28,000 in Taiwan (approximately US $867).