Italian fashion house Versace will launch its first luxury mobile phone, entering a blooming sector for designer brands.

The wealthy are likely to splash out on pricey timepieces this year, bolstering sales at independent Swiss watchmakers Girard-Perregaux and Parmigiani Fleurier.

Bras that pump up or down with body temperature and smooth out ageing cleavages are among hot new undies to be unveiled at this month's Paris lingerie show.

Thieves bored a hole in the concrete wall of a jewellery shop on Tokyo's fashionable Ginza street and made off with watches worth about 300 million yen (3.2 million dollars), police said.

Demand for Swiss watches rose in November from the previous month and data pointed to an end to the sharpest drop in appetite from buyers abroad in some 20 years.

French luxury goods maker LVMH expects strong growth for its watches and jewellery in China next year, as it seeks a stronger foothold in the country's third-tier cities, the North Asia head of the company's watch and jewellery unit said.

Swatch Group plans to stop selling watch parts to other watchmakers, the group's chairman said in a newspaper interview, a move that be a blow to an industry already grappling with a sharp drop in demand.

"Austerity chic" will make way for mood-enhancing make-up in 2010 alongside "naturally sourced" cosmetics and those enhanced by biochemistry and nano-technology advances, a report said.

New York authorities are cracking down on the sale of counterfeit luxury items, shutting down 31 stalls in raids and seizing $1 million (614,000 pounds) of fake bags and watches.

When Latvia's economy blossomed, Lotte Tisenkopfa was skeptical. "I saw very well that the bubble's going to burst," Tisenkopfa said, and as she kept watch on the looming crisis, she and her three friends founded Madana, a cosmetics company.

A return to lavish bonuses for Wall Street's top earners could be just the tonic that the Swiss watch industry needs this Christmas after months of austerity depressed sales.

Consumer appetite for Swiss watches picked up slightly in October as the pace of decline in exports slowed, adding to signs the beleaguered watch industry may be on the road to recovery.

Cartier, maker of fine jewelry and watches for the wealthy, has expanded its range of more affordable products ahead of Christmas, meaning more than just a select few may find its red boxes in their stockings this year.

Richemont Executive Chairman Johann Rupert is taking on the chief executive job at the luxury group, tightening his grip as sales suggested the watch industry could be set for recovery.

Russian officials regularly flaunt designer watches worth up to one million dollars, a newspaper revealed, in a rare investigation of the extravagance of the political elite.