The world’s third largest cut diamond, otherwise known as the “Incomparable Diamond,” went on display this weekend at the Royal Ontario Museum. It weighs in at 407.08 carats, has been graded ‘flawless’ by the Gemological Institute of America, is kite shaped and has a beautiful golden yellow color, all of which combine to create its very unique and individual beauty.

It was found as an 890-carat rough diamond by a young girl in the Mbuji-Maya district of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the early 1980s as she played in a pile of rubble from a nearby diamond mine.

The diamond was bought and sold numerous times prior to being acquired by Mr. Samuels and Mr. Glick. Mr. Samuels, a master cutter charged with cutting the diamond, initially hoped to break the record for the largest cut diamond in the world. It was determined, however, that size would be sacrificed for perfect clarity. Following four years of study and cutting, the 407- carat Incomparable Diamond emerged along with fourteen other “satellite” diamonds cut from the one 890-carat rough diamond. Five of these “satellites” are to be exhibited alongside the Incomparable Diamond.

The diamond will be on display until March 22nd of next year as part of the museum’s The Nature of Diamonds engagement. “The Nature of Diamonds,” running from Oct. 25 to March 22, is billed as “the most wide-ranging exhibition ever developed on the allure of diamonds.” It looks at the geologic origins of diamonds, how they are mined, their cultural significance and uses in science and technology.

Best known for his unique frozen sculpture portrait, ‘Self’, British contemporary artist, Marc Quinn, rose to the challenge of producing sculpture on a wearable scale. This project was intended for a niche gallery market.

His strawberry jewel piece was studded with 600 diamonds representing a textured iced, diamond pip surface, and was worked in 18K white gold. The design was made in a limited edition of 10 strawberries, each priced at £28,200 ($56,400 - approx).

The Ponahalo Diamonds, the two rectangular stones cut from a 316.15-carat piece of rough mined in South Africa, sold for more than $6 million at a Christie’s auction held on Wednesday in New York City.

The buyer, Amer Radwan of Radwan Diamond and Jewelry Trading in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, paid $4.11 million for the 102.11-carat Ponahalo diamond, while the smaller stone, weighing in at 70.87 carats, sold for $2.15 million.

The Ponahalo diamonds are the world’s largest Forevermark stones. Forevermark is the diamond brand recently launched by De Beers.

The stones were the highlight of Christie’s “Jewels: The New York Sale” and “Superb 20th Century Jewels from an American Collection” sales, held on Wednesday in New York City. The sales totaled $29.4 million.

Ultra-luxury Swiss watchmaking house Audemars Piguet has launched two new stunning watch and necklace sets.

There are two sets of matching 18K white gold and diamond watches and necklaces for women, the Coup de Theatre and Carnet de Bal. Both watches use the AP calibre 2046 movement with manual winding (18 jewels) that beats at a frequency of 21 600 vph and provides 42 hours power reserve.

The “Carnet de Bal” series (above) was inspired by flower arrangements, creating a glittering floral spray of diamonds along the wrist and around the neck. The 18-carat white gold timepiece includes 481 gems of varying cuts totaling 59.53 carats. The matching necklace has 1,039 round, brilliant, marquise, pear, and baguette-cut diamonds.

“Coup de Theatre” is a more modern design with 853 brilliant cut diamonds for an astounding 123 carats in the watch. The gorgeous choker is dripping with 1,673 gems weighing in at 204 carats.

Words cannot describe how glamorous the effect is !

Victor F. Scharstein has given shape to his dream of 30 years in the form of this bejeweled Art Of War which is a truly stunning piece of beauty, like none you have seen before.

This one-of-a-kind set features rhodium and gold chess pieces that move over a jeweled ebony board. To raise the bar of luxury, the designer has ornamented every piece with precious rocks like diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

The board stands on two yellow gold feet encrusted with diamonds and two white gold feet with rubies. Even the “Art Of War” words on the Chinese version on the board are etched out of 14 carat gold. The case that is supposed to house this uber-exclusive chess set is pimped with gold samurai characters and stands on 8 solid gold balls.

The estimated cost to create this luxury chess set is $50,000 but if you are interested, you will have to contact the maker, as the price will be disclosed only on request.

Via Bornrich

A £1m ($1.83 million) clock called the “time eater” has been unveiled at Cambridge University by Professor Stephen Hawking. Unlike conventional clocks, the Corpus Clock does not use hands or digital numbers.

This gold-encrusted timepiece took seven years to completely construct, and the initiative was led by inventor John Taylor who designed it in tribute to English clockmaker John Harrison who solved the problem of longitude in the 18th century.

The grasshopper or “chronophage”, meaning “time eater”, advances around the 4ft-wide face, each step marking a second. Its movement triggers blue flashing lights which travel across the face eventually stopping at the correct hour and minute. But the clock is only accurate once every five minutes - the rest of the time the lights are simply for decoration.

Oh, and every hour, on the hour, the sound of a “chain dropping into a wooden coffin” is played to really pound home the “time is a destroyer” concept.