"If you don't believe in yourself, nobody else will". So says Kobe. Bryant's like that. He's not only one of the best basketball players of all time, he also embodies a perfect balance of determination, ego and pragmatism. After all, he was already special even before he was born.

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As a teenager he worked hard, he proved everyone wrong and beat record after record. Legend has it that he would deliberately let the other team run up a score, only to win the game single-handedly in the last quarter. What is true, however, is that he won everything he could win, so he decided to pass on college and join the professionals. He was 13th overall pick in the 1996 draft: he went to the Charlotte Hornets, which, however, traded him to the L.A. Lakers in exchange for Serbian pivot Vlade Divac.

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Bryant was the youngest-ever NBA starter (at 18 years, 2 months and 11 days) but he often warmed the bench, watching the others play. In 1999 Phil Jackson came to sit on the same bench, as a coach. It was a turning point for him. The "Zen Master" - the man behind the triumphs of Michael Jordan's and Scottie Pippen's Chicago Bulls - was ready for an encore. He took Kobe, added Shaquille O'Neal and created basketball's new winning duo. The rest is history. Three NBA championship titles in three years, from 2000 to 2002. Then came a break in the winning series.

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When the chips are down, Bryant lives up to his nickname, "Black mamba", the African snake which is the fastest, most aggressive snake in the world. Black Mamba is also the name of the new wristwatch collection Kobe has launched in partnership with Swiss manufacturer Nubeo, of Basel. Limited-edition pieces whose prices range from $20,000 for the basic version to up to $500,000 for the super-luxury models, set with yellow and black sapphires.

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A new adventure for the Lakers guard: he is not just the endorser, he was also involved in the whole creative cycle. "We worked closely with Nubeo to ensure that each tiny detail, from the design to the materials used, reflected my taste and the basketball spirit." Even the names of the watches reflect his basketball triumphs: "81", for example, evokes his record of points scored in a single match, against the Toronto Raptors on January 22nd, 2006. The undertaking captured his interest and he may repeat it. "Perhaps with Nike, for a new pair of shoes."

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THE GEMS OF ROYALTY. Sapphires with their extraordinary reflective qualities and intense colours, are one of mankind’s most revered precious stones, adorned historically by Kings and Popes.  For this reason, along with their remarkable strength (at 9 grades, they are comparable to rubies) that guarantees an accurate setting, Nubeo selected sapphires for its Black Mamba collection.  The unparalleled purity of black sapphires also renders them three times more valuable than black diamonds

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