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Fake watches, real diamonds, fairytale film scenery

Monday 

Here are the top stories we’re following the week of November 9:

Keystone

In 2013, 29 million genuine Swiss watches were produced – as well as 33 million fake ones. The illegal trade in counterfeit products is booming, hitting export-oriented countries such as Switzerland particularly hard. Legal sanctions against producers and importers of fake brand-name goods have not stopped the lucrative business.


Keystone

Tuesday

The largest “cushion-shaped fancy vivid pink diamond” ever auctioned is appearing at Christie’s in Geneva. The 16.08-carat stone is estimated at CHF23-28 million. The diamond is set as a ring with a double row of pavé-set white diamonds which surround and highlight the main stone, with a third row of small pink diamonds underneath.


Keystone

Wednesday

If blue is more your colour, wait until Wednesday, when Sotheby’s Geneva is auctioning the “Blue Moon”, a 12.03-carat fancy vivid blue internally flawless blue diamond estimated at CHF34-53 million. It is the largest cushion-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond to come to auction. Only one in 100,000 diamonds possesses a colour deep enough to qualify as “fancy”.


Keystone

Friday

Every year millions of animals are killed in the name of science. In Switzerland there is no shortage of alternatives to animal experimentation, but these methods, also used by the pharmaceutical industry, are struggling to establish themselves.

Keystone

Sunday

Snowy mountains and picturesque villages have made Switzerland the preferred destination for Indian film makers in search of the perfect backdrop for their song-and-dance sequences. Swiss businesses such as catering, production companies and helicopter rentals get a slice of the Bollywood action too. But collaboration with Indian film units does not always have a fairytale ending.


What you may have missed last week:

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Cultivating the culture of the past

This content was published on How successful are the Swiss at handing down their traditions? Are Swiss customs timeless, or at risk of extinction? swissinfo’s Jeannie Wurz spends the day at a federal folk music festival to see and hear firsthand how customs are brought to life by the people who practise them. 

Read more: Cultivating the culture of the past


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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR