The Top Luxuries In The World.

The top luxuries in the world.

1. Martell

Main product: Drink. Score: 33.1

Martell is a manufacturer of cognac, founded by Jean Martell in 1715. It was sold in 1988 by the Firino-Martell family to Seagram and again in 2002 to the Pernod Ricard Group, which also owned the Cognac brands Biscuit and Renault, sold to Altia in 2010.

The cellar master was, up to the 1980s, from the Chapeau family (in the way that the cellar masters of Hennessy are from the Fillioux family ).

Much of Martell Cognac is produced from wine from the Borderies region, in contrast to other companies, which mainly sell fine Champagne Cognac. Borderies Cognac has a more nutty taste.

2. Audi

Main product: car. Score: 32.9

AUDI Aktiengesellschaft designs, engineers, manufactures and distributes automobiles and motorcycles. Audi oversees worldwide operations from its headquarters in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. Audi-branded vehicles are produced in seven production facilities worldwide.

AUDI AG has been a majority owned (99.55%) subsidiary of Volkswagen AG since 1966, following a phased purchase of AUDI AG’s predecessor, Auto Union, from Daimler-Benz. Volkswagen relaunched the Audi brand with the 1965 introduction of the Audi F103 series.

The company name is based on the surname of the founder, August Horch. “Horch”, meaning “listen”, becomes “Audi” when translated into Latin. The four rings of the Audi logo each represent one of four car companies that banded together to create the company. Audi’s slogan is Vorsprung durch Technik, meaning “Advancement through Technology”. Recently in the United States, Audi has updated the slogan to “Truth in Engineering”.

3. Ritz-Carlton

Main product: Hotel. Score: 32.7

The Ritz-Carlton is a brand of luxury hotels and resorts with 80 properties located in major cities and resorts in 26 countries worldwide. It also has major service training operations in its Ritz-Carlton Learning Institute and Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, created by Ritz-Carlton executive (emeritus) Leonardo Inghilleri, where nearly 50,000 executives from other companies worldwide have been trained in the Ritz-Carlton principles of service.

The name Ritz-Carlton dates back to three hotels operated by the legendary hotelier César Ritz, the Hôtel Ritz Paris and the Carlton and Ritz hotels in London. Loosely related hotels bearing the Ritz name began to appear in North America, including the Ritz-Carlton Montreal in 1912 and the Ritz-Carlton Boston in 1927. The Ritz-Carlton Boston was an immediate success, and became an enduring paragon of high society. In 1983, after two ownership transitions, the expansion of the Boston operation into a worldwide chain of Ritz-Carlton hotels began, headed by hotelier Horst Schulze and developer William B. Johnson. November 2006, Ritz Carlton Boston was bought by Legendary Tata Group, India for $170 million.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company LLC is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Marriott International. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company currently has 38,000 employees. The Ritz-Carlton headquarters are found in Chevy Chase, Maryland, a community along the border of Washington, D.C. President and COO of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company is Herve Humler.

4. Piaget

Main product: watch. Score: 32.3

Piaget SA is a Swiss luxury watchmakers and jewellers, founded in 1874 by Georges Piaget in the village of La Côte-aux-Fées. The company belongs to the Swiss Richemont group, specialists in the luxury goods industry.

The company was founded as a manufacturer of watch movements but began marketing its own line of prestigious watches in the 20th century.

In 2008, The Luxury Institute jewellery brand study ranked Piaget as the 6th most prestigious jewellery brand.

5. Ermenegildo Zegna

Main product: fashion clothes. Score: 32.1

Ermenegildo Zegna is an Italian luxury fashion house, specialized in men’s clothing. Founded in 1910, it is now managed by the fourth generation of the Zegna family and remains in family ownership. As well as producing suits for its own labels, it manufactures suits for labels such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Tom Ford. Effective July 1, 2011 Ermenegildo Zegna has signed an agreement with Estée Lauder Companies Inc. The new license provides Estée Lauder Companies Inc. exclusive global rights to market fragrances and develop new cosmetics under the Ermenegildo Zegna Group’s brands, thereby replacing the previous partnership with YSL Beauté. As one of the biggest global producers of fine fabrics (2.3 million metres per year), Zegna has been active in promoting improvements in wool production around the world.

6. Parker

Main product: luxury pens. Score: 31

The Parker Pen Company is a manufacturer of pens, founded in 1888 by George Safford Parker in Janesville, Wisconsin, United States. It is currently owned by Newell Rubbermaid, and headquartered in Newhaven, East Sussex, England.

7. Audemars Piguet

Main product: Watch. Score: 30.3

The roots of Audemars Piguet date back to 1874, when the 23-year-old Jules Louis Audemars met Edward Auguste Piguet, then only 21, at Vallée de Joux, they were both born in Le Brassus. When they graduated from school, they went to Vallée de Joux to start working together in watch manufacturing.

Thus Audemars started producing component parts for movements and Piguet got the job of a repasseur, maker the final regulation of the timepiece. In 1875, they founded a firm later known as Audemars, Piguet et Cie.

Since 1882, members of the Audemars and Piguet families have always been on the board of directors and have, therefore, directly or indirectly run the company.

8. Bulgari

Main product: jewels. Score: 29.6

Bulgari is an Italian luxury Company, which has been owned by the French firm LVMH since October 2011. The trademark is usually written BVLGARI in the classical Latin alphabet (where V = English U), and is derived from the surname of the company’s Greek founder, Sotirios Voulgaris, Greek pronunciation: [soˈtirjos ˈvulɣaris], Italian: Sotirio Bulgari, 1857–1932). Although the company made a name for itself with jewelry, today it is a diversified luxury brand that produces and markets several product lines including watches, fragrances, accessories, and hotels.

9. Fendi Biga

Main product: Handbag. Score: 29.5

Founded in 1925, the high Italian fashion house of Fendi is renowned for their quality, glamour, and uniquely-creative designs. Each piece of the collection is produced with the finest materials and craftsmanship, true to its heritage of fur and leather making. Under the creative leadership of Karl Lagerfeld, Fendi continues its innovative and cutting-edge legacy. CONDITION: This handbag has a clean exterior and is in good condition. The interior is clean and in great condition. It ships with a designer dust bag.

10. Vacheron Constantin

Main product: Watch. Score: 28.7

Vacheron Constantin is a Swiss manufacture of prestige watches and a brand of the Richemont group. It employs around 400 people worldwide, most of whom are based in the manufacturing plants in Geneva and Vallée de Joux.

Previous Vacheron Constantin owners include Napoleon Bonaparte, Pope Pius XI, the Duke of Windsor and Harry Truman.