Robb Report - September 2013 USA

S E P T E M B E R 201 3

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1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s1880s

DISCOVER THE TIMES OF CARL F. BUCHERER

1888

Bucherer Incabloc

1948

The 1930s were a critical decade for the development of the

wristwatch, which, for the f rst time, began to be produced in greater

numbers than pocket watches. The introduction of the temperature-

resistant Nivarox alloy and the novel Incabloc shock protection

system made wristwatches more accurate and durable than ever

before. From a handful of small workshops in western Switzerland,

Bucherer’s new models for men—still produced in small numbers—

soon incorporated both inventions. Like most watches of the day,

watches bearing the Bucherer brand were assembled by hand using

ebauches from the top Swiss movement manufacturers. The cases,

which incorporated many of the most memorable design elements

of the period including unusually shaped and faceted cases, kept

the brand at the height of desirability.

So much so that by the end of World War II, Bucherer stores reported

numerous cases of allied servicemen offering to trade their bomber

jackets to get their hands on one of the watches. These years also

saw collaboration between Bucherer and Rolex, stemming from

the long-term friendship Carl-Friedrich Bucherer established with

Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf in the 1920s. The Bucherer collection

1940s1930s 1950s

Bucherer Incabloc

1950s

THE MEN’S WRISTWATCH MATURES

1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

In the century and a quarter since 1888 when Carl-Friedrich

Bucherer f rst opened his store in Lucerne, Switzerland, many

people have come to know the Bucherer name as a luxury retailer

of the f rst rank, whose business includes watches. Relatively

few, however, know that their roots making watches go back in

an uninterrupted line to 1919. Their time as a company bears

exploring, as they are inextricably linked with the history of our

shared passion: the wristwatch.

contains a jumping hour Rolex Prince, one of the few examples of such

a co-branded piece.

Collectors today fondly recall the post-war years as one of the most

memorable periods for watch designs. Larger, sportier men’s watches, in

particular chronographs, were made in ever-increasing numbers. Bucherer

chronographs of the 1940s and 50s incorporate many of the signature

elements of the period, including the characteristic bi-compax counters

and tachymetric and telemetric scales. Some examples also include the

“big date” feature created by two large rotating discs. Bucherer was one

of the very f rst makers to incorporate this feature in wristwatches.

Bucherer’s growth continued into the 1960s, a decade in which the company

applied itself to another watchmaking specialty: the f eld of high-precision

chronometers. The 1960s were a competitive period for the watch industry

at large as many companies sought to prove the accuracy of their timepieces

through chronometry competitions. Bucherer had relied on a specialty company,

Credos SA, to assist it in this f eld, and eventually purchased the company

renaming it Bucherer Montres SA. Using the latest production methods and

equipment of the time, Bucherer increased the output of this facility to nearly

30,000 pieces per year. By the end of the 1960s Bucherer was one of the

top three producers of certif ed chronometers in Switzerland. The company’s

research in accuracy also involved it in an interesting new project—quartz.

That, however, is another story.

A CONTINUOUS THREAD

TO THE CONTEMPORARY

The near century’s worth of experience in making watches

is ref ected in every watch that leaves the Carl F. Bucherer

factory today. So too are the major design inf uences of their

history. If you look at the Manero CentralChrono, you will see

generations of chronographs from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s

imbued in its bi-compax counters, sweep seconds hand and

classical dial. But like every Carl F. Bucherer watch before

it, the Manero takes advantage of the very best modern

innovation has to offer. The modern self-winding

Caliber CFB 1967 beats at 4 hz, providing an

advantage in accuracy the classic watches

of the 1950s would envy.

Likewise, Bucherer’s famous big date lives

on in watches like the Patravi Calendar. But

underneath the dial is the most modern of

engines, the Manufacture Caliber CFB A1004

with its peripheral rotor, which Carl F. Bucherer

has designed and built to carry its tradition into

the 21st century.

1960s

Rolex Prince

1930

Manero CentralChrono

2011

Patravi Calendar

Chronograph

2011

125 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE

798 Madison Avenue New York

cesareattolini.com

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sePtembeR 2013, volume xxxv i i , numbeR 9

102

90 Executive PrivilegesPorsche expands upon the Panamera’s

success with two new stretched-out

and souped-up editions that are sure

to satisfy drivers and passengers alike.

by ronald ahrens

102 Orient ExpressionsSilk embroidery, chinoiserie-style patterns,

and other intricate details lend an Asian

feel to fall’s finest men’s fashions.

Featuring Tom Ford, Brunello Cucinelli,

Isaia, Ermenegildo Zegna, Versace, and more.

photography by david roemer;

styling by christopher campbell

125 Spirit in the Material World

The latest fashions from five top

designers highlight the varied

and vibrant materials making

appearances this fall. by jill newman

fEaturES

c o n t e n t s

september 2013 robb report 25

71 Robb Gallery Boating 71, Sport 74,

Dining 76, Spirits 78,

Watches 80, Jewelry 82,

Collectibles 84, Home

Electronics 86

61 FrontRunnersPatek Philippe reaches for

the Sky, Spyker speeds back

to the States, Bally celebrates

a Himalaya high point, From

the Robb Cellar, and more.

depaRtments

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32 From the editors

150 Register of advertisers

151 Classifieds

On the Cover Porsche Panamera Turbo Executivefashion PhotograPhy by DaviD roemer

47

40 Robb design portfolioA doomed BMW that commands top dollar,

and a groundbreaking bar from Linley.

elements of styleHead to the Highlands with these

tweed coats, monk-strap shoes, and other

distinguished designs from Ascot Chang,

Ralph Lauren, Brunello Cucinelli,

John Lobb, and more.

Grand OpeningsAn old-town hotel puts history on display

in Barcelona, Amanresorts celebrates the arts

in Venice, and Wilderness Safaris goes back to

the future in Kenya.

53

adventure of a LifetimeAbercrombie & Kent’s Geoffrey Kent celebrates more

than 50 years in the safari business with what may be

his most extravagant expeditions yet. by jack smith

modern sound, midcentury VibeHepcat hi-fi enthusiasts can recapture the glory days

of tube amps and Eames chairs with these impressive

audio systems that pair cutting-edge performance

with enduring design. by robert ross

the Robb ReaderWhen not performing with the world’s top ballet

companies, the primo ballerino Roberto Bolle finds

time for everything from fashion shoots to open-

water dives. by michalene busico

131

152

143

61 78 40

c o n t e n t s


Grande Seconde Quantième, ref. J007030245

Côtes de Genève dial and blue opaline flange. Stainless steel case.

Self-winding mechanical movement. Power reserve of 68 hours.

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Lincoln MonumentalWith new models such as the high-tech MKZ Hybrid, Lincoln aims to

reestablish itself as a force in the luxury-car market.b yr onaa ldhesdfipe

RobbReport.com/Lincoln

a Colorful taleVan Cleef & Arpels celebrates its heritage with a new collection of large,

vibrant gemstones in fanciful designs. yr tghh fidvonfi

RobbReport.com/Vancleef

the double StandardPreview the season’s i nest double-breasted suits, a classic fashion that is

returning this fall in new, trimmer variations.

RobbReport.com/Suits

SEPtEMBEr iPad BOnuS fEaturE

Robb Report is available as an interactive edition for the iPad at the iTunes App Store and through Zinio.

Download either version today to access enhanced content, including photos, videos, and more.

Beautiful BeastTesting BMW’s handsome and high-po wered

M6 Gran Coupé on the road and track in

Texas. yr onaa ldhesdfipe

dIGItaL EXCLuSIVESGet more of Robb Report with these

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c o n t e n t s

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sartorial styles, for better or worse, connect cultures—

bridge east and west, link north and south—through the

common bond of taste (see “Orient Expressions,” page

102). Throughout Europe’s history, shared standards of dress

and deportment contributed in their small way to the com-

mingling of royal bloodlines that resulted in the continent’s

elaborate network of pedigrees. Today, however, the noble

ranks serve the couture industry as often as it serves them:

Most of the European haut monde

pays court at fashion galas to the

designers, who preside like sovereigns

over their guests. As The New York Times

observed in its account of a 1986 bash

thrown for Karl Lagerfeld at the Palace

of Versailles, “kings and queens of fash-

ion such as Kenzo Takada, Dior’s Marc

Bohan and the Italian designers Anna,

Federica and Maria Teresa Fendi” were

present, surrounded by an entourage

of “working and unemployed counts

and countesses” as well as “a clutch of princesses” that

comprised, among others, Ghislaine de Polignac, Laure de

Beauvau-Craon, and Gloria von Thurn und Taxis. Yet the

latter of these ladies—who, only six years before, at the age

of 20, had married her Fürst, Prince Johannes von Thurn

und Taxis—did not remain a silent member of the clutch

for long. “On this same floor, the great-great-great grand-

father of my husband was dancing like crazy,” she remarked

to the Times correspondent. “But the fact that there were

no bathrooms still bothers me.”

Dubbed the punk princess—thanks to her spiked hair

and affinity for Harley-Davidsons—Gloria (pictured with

Johannes) was well versed on the subject of castles: Her

husband’s overstuffed real-estate portfolio included numer-

ous regal properties, the grandest being the 500-room

Schloss St. Emmeram in Regensburg, Germany, which was

originally constructed as an abbey in the eighth century.

Johannes’s family traced its own history to the mountains

of northern Italy, where an ancestor by the name of de

Tassis established a private postal service in the 15th cen-

tury that later became the courier of record for the Holy

Roman Empire. Though this enterprise was absorbed by

the Prussian government in 1867, the family received a

hefty sum in exchange, and in 1982, when Johannes

assumed his place as head of the dynasty, he controlled a

fortune valued at several billion dollars, making it one of

the largest in Germany.

Armed with these resources, the prince and his bride,

who was 34 years his junior, embarked on a decade of rev-

elry that shocked some of the more conventional members

of their social circle and delighted the international press.

The prince, who was openly bisexual, frequented disco-

theques that were infamous points of assignation, and he

habitually engaged in spiteful pranks. He was reputed, for

example, to have introduced a piranha into an acquain-

tance’s aquarium of rare fish, and sup-

posedly he once sprayed a guest’s sable

coat with hair remover. For her part,

Gloria, who regularly rocked the house

at Studio 54, was on one occasion

arrested for possession of hashish at the

Munich airport, and while a guest on

David Letterman’s late-night talk show,

she famously barked like a dog. These

antics made her steady fodder for

gossip columns, where she was often

referred to as “Princess TNT” and “the

dynamite socialite.” Her most explosive stunt, however,

occurred during her husband’s 60th birthday celebration,

which was held at St. Emmeram. Attended by such lumi-

naries as Malcolm Forbes Jr. and Mick Jagger, this opulently

orchestrated affair culminated with the presentation of cake

adorned with 60 phallus-shaped candles and a performance

from the hostess, who, costumed as Marie Antoinette,

descended on a golden cloud to sing “Happy Birthday.”

All fashions change, however, and the reign of the punk

princess ended abruptly with the heady hedonism of the

1980s. After two heart-transplant surgeries, the prince died

in December 1990, leaving his wife and three young chil-

dren an estate saddled with staggering financial liabilities,

including a monumental tax bill. The notoriety in which

Princess Gloria had exulted only a few years before quickly

became a burden, as headlines proclaimed “Treasures of a

Punk Princess on the Block” and “Princess Tightens Her

High-Fashion Belt.” To meet her obligations, she was forced

to open St. Emmeram to the public and hire out its gilded

spaces for corporate events. More distressing still, at several

much-publicized sales, Princess Debt und Taxes, as she

came to be called, auctioned off not only priceless silver,

jewelry, and paintings but also—in a fatal blow to her erst-

while punk image—the royal Harley-Davidsons.

brett anderson

senior vice president, editor in chief

Unruly Style

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32 robb report september 2013

Editorial Senior Vice President/Editor in Chief Brett Anderson [email protected]

Editorial Director Bruce Wallin [email protected] Executive Editor Larry Bean [email protected]

Managing Editor Lori Bryan [email protected]

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Associate Editor, Digital Jeff Anderson [email protected] Executive Editor, Web/Senior Editor, Style (New York) Jill Newman [email protected]

Research Editor, Digital Christina Garofalo [email protected] Research Editor John Lyon [email protected]

Research Editor Amanda Millin [email protected] Automotive Consultant Robert Ross [email protected] Senior Correspondents Paul Dean, Jack Smith Contributing Editors Christopher Campbell, Richard Carleton Hacker, James D. Malcolmson

Contributing Writers

Ronald Ahrens, Sheila Gibson Stoodley, Scott Goetz, Andrew Myers, Tim Neville, Regina Winkle-Bryan

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Rohde III (Aviation Management Systems), Keith G. Swirsky (GKG Law)

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Lisa Charles Watson, Randall Cordero, David Roemer, Scott Williamson

Circulation Senior Director, Consumer Marketing Amy Duca Newsstand Consultant Kristy Buescher

Marketing Vice President, Associate Publisher Jamie Rhind 212.201.1138, [email protected] Corporate Marketing Manager Monica Lengkong Marketing Intern Jessaca Brandt

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Natural Diamond

Not Synthetic

Color Grade

E

Clarity Grade

VS1

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Registry Number

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Carat Weight

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Start with an evaluation from GIA and your

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Look for GIA-graded diamonds and jewelers

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Know your

diamond.

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The Virginian, an acclaimed 538-acre private country club community in the rolling hills of Southwestern

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The name is apt because each homesite provides spectacular view corridors of meadows, forests, fairways and

the faraway Appalachian Mountains. This mature, successful community, named as one of the fi nest and best

planned in America, is already home to more than 100 families residing in charming estate homes. Talented

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Classic Blue Blazer1957 BMW 507

d e s i g n p o r t f o l i o


The 507 roadster was one of the most beautiful cars of the post-

war era and, from a business perspective, a disaster for BMW. the

German automaker created the 507 at the urging of american importer

Max hofman, who envisioned the car as a lower-priced alternative to the

Mercedes-Benz 300sL.

Penned by the industrial designer albrecht Goertz,

the 507 embodies perfect proportions in a seductive yet

understated design. hofman anticipated that the 507

would sell for $5,000 (about $42,000 in today’s dollars).

Instead, costs ran so high that BMW had to price it at $9,000 when production

began in 1956 and eventually at nearly $11,000—and the company still lost

money on each car. on the edge of fnancial ruin, BMW ceased production in

1959 after building only 251 examples. today about 200 of those

cars remain, and their values can reach $1 million. —robert ross

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Earth ShakenThe Tectonic Bar sets the cocktail hour in motion.

‘‘When I was a small boy, my grandmother challenged me to find a secret

drawer in a bureau that she treasured,” says David Linley, the renowned

British designer and a grandson of the Queen Mother. “I couldn’t under-

stand how it was possible to conceal something so cleverly, so I resolved to find out how.” The

Tectonic Bar (www.davidlinley.com) is the latest manifestation of Linley’s fascination with mechanical

furniture, a design genre that was the vogue of the 18th century. This contemporary interpretation

by Linley’s eponymous furniture-making firm appears to be simply an elegant cabinet of ebonized

walnut incised in gold leaf with an abstract map of the world. But at the press of a concealed

button, the doors open to reveal an interior lined in gold leaf and housing a cocktail bar outfitted

with Linley accessories. Internal columns rotate; a refrigerator appears in the base of one column,

and the press of an interior button summons a cigar humidor. should prospective owners of the

Tectonic Bar (approximately $130,000) require secret drawers of their own, Linley—which allows

any number of variations—will enthusiastically oblige. —andrew myers

d E S i g n p o r t f o l i o


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THE ALL-NEW QUATTROPORTE. A CELEBRATION OF ELEGANCE, TECHNOLOGY AND POWER.

The Quattroporte was born in 1963, when Maserati put a racing engine in a Grand Touring automobile. Today, the sixth-generation

Quattroporte is simply the world’s f nest luxury sports sedan, with a choice of two new engines: a 523 hp V8 capable of 191 mph

or a 404 hp V6 with intelligent Q4 all-wheel drive. Both engines are matched to an 8-speed automatic transmission for maximum

acceleration and fuel eff ciency. Quattroporte blends unmistakable Italian design and one of the most spacious interiors in its

category with engineering precision for a combination of performance, luxury and driving pleasure that only Maserati can offer.

GET THE MASERATI PASSION APPSTAY IN TOUCH

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A N E L E G A N T P E R F O R M A N C E

this year’s classic tweed

sport coat is a distant cousin of

the bulky old favorite popularized

by 19th-century aristocrats, who

commissioned custom tweed tartans to

mark their estates. The new jackets retain

the traditional tailored details—flap

pockets, buttonhole collars, and soft

shoulders—but are constructed with

wools woven from finer, plush yarns

flecked with color. Some of the best

examples include, from left, windowpane

plaid by Brooks Brothers ($498), teal

herringbone by Paul Stuart ($1,487), and

olive check by Ralph Lauren Purple

Label ($2,995). Each jacket is supple,

lightweight, and bears its own mark of

distinction. Brooks Brothers, 800.274.1815,

www.brooksbrothers.com; Paul Stuart,

800.678.8278, www.paulstuart.com; Ralph

Lauren, 888.475.7674, www.ralphlauren.com

—christina garofalo

Subtle tweeds, bold textures, and appealing earth tones breathe

the breezy spirit of the Highlands into this fall’s wardrobes.

Photography by LiSa ChaRLES WaTSon | Styling by ChaRLES W. BumgaRdnER

E l E m E n t s o f s t y l E


thisyh the monk-strap shoe has

existed for centuries,

this time-tested style

has recently received

a double-buckle

retooling. Fall’s wide

range of colors and

materials includes,

from top, Scarpe di

Bianco’s amber

leather ($950 per

pair), Fratelli

Rossetti’s distressed

anish ($990 per pair),

Scarpe di Bianco’s

cognac with wingtip

detailing ($950 per

pair), Fratelli

Rossetti’s pebbled

green leather ($650

per pair), and John

Lobb’s hand-dyed

perforated leather

($1,350 per pair).

any model of this

adaptable style shows

as well with a great

pair of jeans as with

a wool sport coat

and trousers.

Scarpe di Bianco,

646.415.8925,

www.scarpedibianco.com;

Fratelli Rossetti,

212.888.5107, www

.fratellirossetti.com; John

Lobb, 212.888.9797,

www.johnlobb.com

—r.y.

E l E m E n t s o f s t y l E

48 �� e��t �e�te��e� �o�p

slim neckties crafted from various fabrics put a personal accent on autumn suiting and also

offer a touch of rich texture and pattern. Shown from left are Isaia’s silk-and-wool tie ($225, available

at Saks Fifth Avenue), Brooks Brothers’ blue wool oxford tie ($80), Paul Stuart’s olive cashmere tie and

wool-and-cashmere zigzag tie ($179 and $140, respectively), Brunello Cucinelli’s cashmere tie ($275),

and Ascot Chang’s wool tie ($275). Saks Fifth Avenue, 877.551.7257, www.saksfifthavenue.com; Brooks Brothers,

800.274.1815, www.brooksbrothers.com; Paul Stuart, 800.678.8278, www.paulstuart.com; Brunello Cucinelli,

212.813.0900, www.brunellocucinelli.com; Ascot Chang, 212.759.3333, www.ascotchang.com —c.g.

e l e m e n t s o f s t y l e


F o r a c a t a l o g , c a l l 5 6 1 9 8 8 8 6 0 0 ,

e m a i l : u s a 2 @ u l y s s e - n a r d i n . c o mW W W. U LY S S E - N A R D I N . C O M

RM 037

In-house designed caliber CRMA1

Power reserve: circa 50 hours

Baseplate and bridges made of grade 5 titanium

New rotor with variable geometry

Free sprung balance with variable inertia

Newly developed gear teeth profile

Oversize date display

Function selector

New patented stem-crown construction

Balance: CuBe, 4 arms, 4 setting screws

Inertia moment 7.5 mg.cm2, angle of lift 50°

Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 hz)

Newly designed flat head movement screws in grade 5 titanium

Anglage hand polished

Satin finished surfaces

Titalyt® treatment for the baseplate and the bridges

KENYAN CONNECTION

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the paddock house lounge at Kenya’s new Segera

Retreat brims with artifacts—vintage hats and boots, time-

worn leather trunks, unpublished letters from Ernest

Hemingway and David Livingstone—of safaris past. But this

resort-style lodge, which opened in March on the Laikipia

Plateau, is setting a new standard for the modern-day safari.

The German entrepreneur and conservationist Jochen

Zeitz purchased the 50,000-acre Segera estate in 2006 and

partnered with the South Africa–based Wilderness Safaris to

open its f rst camp in Kenya. The latest addition to the com-

pany’s top-tier Wilderness Collection (joining North Island in

the Seychelles, Abu Camp in Botswana, and Odzala Camp

in the Republic of the Congo), Segera comprises eight

thatch-roofed villas, each with an observation deck and hot tub,

nestled within an oasis of f owers, cacti, and manicured lawns.

Segera—which also includes a spa, a swimming pool, and a

2,500-bottle wine cellar—is decorated with more than 150

contemporary African artworks from Zeitz’s personal collec-

tion. The prime viewing, however, is found on the surround-

ing savanna, which is home to such endemic species as the

reticulated giraf e and beisa oryx. Safari drives and game walks

aside, some of the best sightings can be had on the Paddock

House lawn, where herds of giraf es and elephants often con-

gregate while gues ts enjoy sundowners on the deck. Segera

Retreat, +27.11.807.1800, www.segera.com; available through Alluring

Africa, 800.510.0059, www.alluringafrica.com —jackie caradonio

G R A N D O P E N I N G S


BET-SABERIBAS

barcelona’s ciutat vella, or old town, has for centuries

been the seedy and grimy neighbor to the grand and fashion-

able Eixample district. But the ancient Roman walls of Barcino,

as the Romans referred to the Catalan city, once housed the

local elite. “Many palaces were built along the Roman wall

for noblemen in medieval times,” says Pedro Molina, owner

of the new Mercer Hotel Barcelona—a stylish 28-room retreat

at the heart of the neighborhood’s recent renewal.

One of three boutique hotels to open in the old town’s

Gothic Quarter since last year (the Hotel DO Plaça Reial

and the Aparthotel Arai are the others), the Mercer is set

within a former palace along the ancient wall. Molina

enlisted the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo to fuse 21

centuries’ worth of construction into one harmonious patch-

work where yesteryear is subtly on display. Visit the spot

where Roman guards kept watch from defense tower No. 28,

or peek through the restaurant’s glass f oor to see the Roman

wall’s base, from about the f rst century AD, below. The past is

also present in the guest rooms, where 18th-century wooden

ceiling beams and original stonework blend with contempo-

rary decor by Carl Hansen, Santa & Cole, and Tom Dixon.

The Mercer’s location of ers a convenient base for explor-

ing Barcelona landmarks, including the Gothic cathedral and

La Rambla, while shopping on Eixample’s Passeig de Gràcia

is just 10 minutes away. Mercer Hotel Barcelona, +34.93.310.74.80,

www.mercerbarcelona.com —regina winkle-bryan

ON THE WALL



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the aman canal Grande Venice opened in June in the

city’s San Polo district, in a 16th-century palazzo owned

by Italy’s Count Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga and his wife,

Countess Bianca di Savoia Aosta. The couple resides in the

top-f oor penthouse of the building, whose classic European

ambience marks a striking departure for Amanresorts.

Known for its Zen-like contemporary hotels, Amanresorts

has embraced the neo-Renaissance and rococo styles of its

f rst property in Italy. Intricately restored frescoed ceilings,

golden cornices, and ornate tapestries f ll the waterfront

palazzo, which is adorned throughout with paintings by the

Italian masters Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and Michelangelo

Guggenheim. The hotel’s Sansovino Suite features an original

f replace designed by the 16th-century Venetian architect

Jacopo d’Antonio Sansovino. But Amanresorts’ modern

ethos is not entirely absent in the 24 guest rooms and suites,

where interiors by the designer Jean-Michel Gathy incor-

porate minimalist bathrooms and wenge-wood furnishings

from B&B Italia.

Rare in Venice are the Aman’s two gardens: one a hidden

treelined courtyard, the other a dining terrace with views

of the Grand Canal. A f tness center af ords vistas over the

city, while two boats, which can be used for private cruises

alon g the canals or trips to Venice’s lagoon islands, of er

regal means for exploration. Aman Canal Grande Venice,

+39.041.270.7333, www.amanresorts.com —scott goetz

ROYAL PALAZZO



B A R N E YS.CO M N E w YO R k B E v ER lY H i ll S B O S tO N C H i C Ag O l A S v EgA S S A N FR A N C i S CO S COt tSdA l E SE At t l E

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d i s c o v e r t h e n e w a n d e v o l v e d m e n ’ s s t o r e a t o u r m a d i s o n a v e n u e f l a g s h i p

Current print subscribers get

FREE access to the iPad edition.

*Available through Zinio * * Interactive content not available in this edition † Current print subscribers have FREE

access to the Nook Tablet or Nook Color edition. Go to BN.com and search Robb Report for more details.

WHETHER YOU’RE VACATIONING in Los Cabos or

relaxing at home, you can unwind with the

latest issue of Robb Report. Every digital issue

includes unique content, videos, slideshows,

interviews, and other interactive features.

Download the latest issue on your preferred

device and experience the quintessential

guide to the luxury lifestyle.

Download & Unwind

C e n t r a l C h r o n o g r a p h

collection: Hydroscaph..................................................................................................................................

created by: Gerald Clerc.................................................................................................................................

limited//edition

case//dlc steel 103 elements/

locking rotating bezel/water resistant 500m/

movement//automatic chronograph/

hand-crafted in switzerland/

please call 609-750-8802

or visit clercwatches.com

Patek Philippe shoots for the moon once more. . . .

Production has begun on the second genera-

tion of the Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon (www.patek

.com), the company’s most complicated production

wristwatch. Like the first-generation Sky Moon (Reference

5002), which was introduced in 2001, this version features

12 complications. The price of the new watch, Reference

6002G, is available upon request and will likely be seven

figures, as was the price of the original. Patek Philippe will

not say how many examples of the watch it plans to make,

but plan on production being extremely limited.

The new watch features a slightly updated version of the

original movement and three wholly new windows that

display the perpetual calendar. The tourbillon escapement,

cathedral-gong minute repeater, and celestial complication

(displayed on the back of the watch) remain unchanged. The

most noticeable upgrades are the high-relief engraving on

the case and the cloisonné and champlevé enamel on the

dial. The decorations demonstrate Patek Philippe’s growing

in-house artisanal capabilities, and for a timepiece of this

caliber, such flourishes seem appropriate. . . .

The new Patek Philippe Sky

Moon Tourbillon is as compli-

cated as the original version and

more elaborately decorated.

■ FrontRunners ■


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A Spyker in America’s future market, and boots made for climbing. . . .

going dutch � With the Spyker

B6 Venator (www.spykercars.com), the

Dutch automaker plans to return to

the American market in 2014. The new

design is created in the tradition of the

limited-production, hand-built sports

cars for which the brand is known.

Unlike Spyker’s previous model, the C8

series—which was made of aluminum

and powered by an Audi V-8 engine—

the B6 Venator has a carbon-flber body

and a transverse-mounted V-6 engine

that develops at least 375 hp.

The B6 Venator also features a cur-

vaceous body and luxurious interior,

which are hallmarks of Spyker cars, and

exquisite aluminum details that exploit

the beauty of the material and chal-

lenge the machinist’s art. . . .

high climbers � The Swiss-made,

reindeer-fur-covered Bally Everest Col-

lection Himalaya boots (www.bally.com)

commemorate the 60th anniversary of

Sir Edmund Hillary’s ascent of Mount

Everest. The boots are a cashmere-

lined version of the Bally footwear

that Tenzing Norgay, Hillary’s lead

guide, wore when he and Hillary

reached the mountain’s peak in 1953.

They are made-to-order and available

at Bally’s Madison Avenue store in

Manhattan for $2,095. The boots fea-

ture an elastic update of the original

lace-up system, which allows for easy

adjustments even in extreme weather.

The lightweight sole is new, but it has

the original nonslip grip. . . .

sports Writer � The Visconti Pinin-

farina Carbongrafte pen (www.visconti.it)

is the product of a two-year collabo-

ration between the Italian pen maker

and the design flrm that has created

bodywork for Ferrari, Maserati, and

other Italian automobile marques.

The pen’s carbon-composite barrel

displays the graceful lines of a flne

sports car. Production is limited to

930 fountain pens ($1,895 each) and

930 roller balls ($1,695 each). . . .

Spyker B6 Venator; Bally Everest

Collection Himalaya boot;

Visconti Pininfarina Carbongrafte pen.

■ FrontRunners ■

62 ropp remort semtebper 13�a

Ferretti 960; Valgrine S.T. Dupont putter;

McLellan Jacobs Kayak 1.

planing and simple ✵ The flrst

Ferretti 960 (www.ferretti-yachts.com),

a production yacht that launched in

June, is the largest planing-hull ves-

sel the Italian company has ever pro-

duced. The 96-footer can reach a

speed of 27.5 knots with the standard

engines, and it sleeps as many as 10

guests. (The price is available upon

request.) Accommodations can include

a master suite forward on the main

deck and four lower-deck cabins. The

960 has quarters for flve crew mem-

bers, but it does not require a profes-

sional captain for operation. The yacht’s

highlights include a large �ybridge, a

main saloon that is well lit thanks to

the yacht’s low gunwales, and a padded

lounging area at the stern. . . .

artistic stroke ✵ The limited-

edition Valgrine S.T. Dupont putter (www

.valgrine.com) features an alligator-

scale pattern carved into the club’s

face and is accentuated with Chinese

enamel work and palladium-flnished

rings and screws. The golf-club

manufacturer Valgrine, which was

founded two years ago in Saint Eti-

enne, France, specializes in bespoke

putters rendered in a range of materi-

als, styles, and flnishes. S.T. Dupont is

a 141-year-old Parisian design house

known for its flne lighters and writing

instruments. The blade-style putter is

priced at $25,000. . . .

the river styled ✵ The New

Zealand designers Jamie McLellan

and Andy Jacobs have turned their

focus from furniture and lighting

to their mutual passion for boating.

The result is the McLellan Jacobs Kayak 1

(www.mclellanjacobs.com). Nearly

11 feet long, the single-person kayak

is made of carbon flber, so it weighs

less than 40 pounds, making it easy to

transport and maneuver in the water.

The seat back, carrying handles, and

deck hatch are made of teak. Priced

at $15,000, the vessel can be ordered

with a paddle made of teak and carbon

flber. Each kayak requires eight to 10

weeks for completion. . . .

Ferretti’s biggest wave rider, and a light and luxurious kayak. . . .

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�The american Whiskey boom of recent years has

prompted a good deal of experimentation. Lincoln

Henderson, who spent 40 years as Brown-Forman’s

master distiller, placed himself at the forefront of this move-

ment with the 2011 introduction of his Angel’s Envy label,

whose inaugural release was a bourbon flnished in port

barrels. With Angel’s Envy Rye, Henderson has again ventured

into new territory. Distilled from 95 percent rye grain, the

whiskey ages for at least six years in new, charred American

oak barrels before flnishing for 18 months in Caribbean

rum casks that previously held Cognac. Bottled at 100 proof,

Angel’s Envy Rye initially presents strong vapors on the nose,

followed by a rich bouquet of orange zest, clove, hazelnut,

and buttery brown sugar. The palate is smooth, showing

�avors of cinnamon, vanilla, candied apple, and cherry—as

well as a delicate tobacco-like spiciness—that leave the taste

buds yearning for more. ($70) www.angelsenvy.com

the family that owns David Family Wines is not

named David. This boutique producer of Pinot Noir based

in Santa Rosa, Calif., was founded in 2006 by Michelle

Reeves, an entrepreneur from Australia who developed a

fascination for wine, particularly Pinot Noir, while living

in San Francisco. Enlisting the expertise of master somme-

lier Emmanuel Kemiji and winemakers Byron Kosuge and

Pat Knittel, Reeves traded a career in sports-and-fashion

marketing for one in viticulture. Because her maiden name,

Turnbull, was already taken by another producer, she named

the new venture for her father and set about developing a

style of Pinot that appealed to her palate. The David Family 2011

Pinot Noir Anderson Valley embodies

Reeves’s concept of vinous per-

fection: reflned yet subtle com-

plexity. Its aromas of black plum

and wild strawberry draw the

nose in deeper to reveal loamy

scents of mushroom and piñon.

In the mouth, earthy notes of

cocoa and caramel coat the

wine’s mineral core, which

is as precisely rendered

as the bottle’s removable

tooled-leather label. ($90)

www.davidfamily.com

Fron tue Ross Ceppmr ✵ Fine wines & spirits worthy of a place in your private collection.

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Cartier’s hometown homage, and an unmatched chess set.

seeing the city of light ✵ The

designs in the Cartier Paris Nouvelle Vague

jewelry collection (www.cartier.com)

either obviously or subtly reference

the jewelry house’s home city. One of

the collection’s motifs features curva-

ceous diamond-studded wave patterns

intended to evoke the ripples of the

Seine. Another references the city’s

1930s architecture with graphic shapes

and subdued gemstones. The ring

shown here is adorned with strands of

gold beads that appear to burst from the

band like flreworks launched into the

night sky. The collection ranges from

gold designs to pieces featuring striking

layers of onyx, lapis, and

diamonds. Prices start at

$2,740. . . .

chess mastered ✵

The board for the Purling

London Art Chess set (www

.purlinglondon.com) is

crafted from black ani-

gre wood and bird’s-eye

maple, and each of the

game pieces is hand-

painted by a contempo-

rary British artist. The set is priced from

$2,300 to $3,830. Custom artist com-

missions and colors are available for an

additional fee.

�o�tr�s�tor�: Brett Anderson,

Bailey S. Barnard, Christina Garofalo,

John Lyon, James D. Malcolmson,

Amanda Millin, Jill Newman, Robert Ross

Cartier Paris Nouvelle Vague ring;

Purling London Art Chess set.

■ Fro0tR300er� ■

66 ross reyort �eytenser hl�

Download the FREE App

Featuring

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Jewelers Unblocked Patek Philippe Ulysse Nardin Vacheron Constantin

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Deep ConnectionCRN’s 197-foot J’ade links guests to the sea—and the Italian yard to the future.

The launch of the 197-foot J’ade marks a new direction for CRN, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

one of the latest launches from Italy’s CRN Yachts includes

all of the amenities—lavish sleeping accommodations for

10 guests, an expansive saloon with floor-to-ceiling win-

dows, iPad-controlled lighting and entertainment systems, a

sundeck with a hot tub and gym—one would expect of a

200-foot custom megayacht. But of all the vessels in its rar-

efied class, J’ade, which was delivered to its billionaire owner

in April, offers perhaps the closest connection to the sea.

J’ade is the 125th yacht from CRN, an Ancona-based

builder that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The

launch marks something of a new era for the shipyard and

its parent company, the Ferretti Group, which a Chinese

firm acquired a controlling interest in early last year. The

investment helped to reduce some of the Italian company’s

debt and is now supporting new research and development

at the eight yards—including Riva, Pershing, and Custom

Line—under the Ferretti umbrella. CRN, the group’s only

builder specializing in custom megayachts, appears to be

■ b o at i n g

■


taking full advantage of this creative opportunity.

Standout features aboard J’ade include a water-level

beach club, a striking owner’s suite with a balcony, and an

aquarium topped with a bar. The boat also ooers something

never before seen on a yacht of its size: a noodable tender

garage. Located on the lower deck, the garage allows J’ade’s

27-foot Riva Iseo tender to dock directly into the yacht’s

hull, just as it would at a marina.

A push of a button opens the garage’s 10-foot-wide

water-level door, located in the port side of the aluminum hull.

Seawater then ells the recessed dock in the noor of the aft

beach club. A pair of small door naps protects the tender from

waves while it is docked in the nearly 5,000-gallon tender bay.

The Riva can be refueled in the garage, which can be drained

of its seawater in a few minutes with the nip of a switch.

Guests boarding J’ade from the tender bay simply step

from the Riva to the almost 1,100-square-foot teak-clad

beach club. They can then either walk up a short night of

stairs to the main saloon or stay at the club

to enjoy another of the yacht’s novel water-

front features: The stern door of the club

drops down to become a large terrace over

the water, and ladderlike stairs lower from

either side of the platform into the sea.

The innovative features found aboard

J’ade point to a bright future for CRN.

With seven yachts ranging in length from

about 140 feet to 260 feet currently under

construction, and with several more con-

cepts on the drawing board, the company

promises to push the boundaries of yacht

design for another 50 years.

—fthflfiff �. fts�ts�

CRN, www.crn-yacht.com Ma

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J’ade’s 27-foot Riva Iseo tender can dock directly into the 5,000-gallon tender bay built into the yacht’s 1,100-square-foot beach club.

■ b o at i n g

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Why just be precise When you can be the most precise?

master tourbillon Dualtime.jaeger-lecoultre calibre 978b with patented jumping date.Winner of the first International Timing Competition of the 21st century, held under the auspices of the Geneva observatory, jaeger-lecoultre calibre 978 boasts peerless precision in a new 41.5 mm-diameter pink gold case. its 71-part tourbillon regulator features an ultra-light grade 5 titanium carriage and a large variable-inertia balance beating at a cadence of 28,800 vibrations per hour. yo u De s e rv e a re a l Watc h.

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Eleven Experience debuted its first European ski lodge, Chalet Pelerin (bottom), last February in the French Alps’ Tarentaise Valley.

i am standing in the shadows of the 11,000-foot-high

Tête du Ruitor, staring down a spectacular powder ribbon

along the French Alps’ Invernet Glacier. No one has skied

this slope—a whopping 9-mile-long descent that drops

7,800 vertical feet to a quiet mountain village—all winter,

and Jean-Noël Gaidet, a guide for Eleven Experience, has

elected me to go first. Normally, passing the leader is strictly

verboten in heli-skiing, so I check with Gaidet to confirm

I have his blessing.

“We are told so much in life—don’t do this, don’t do

that,” Gaidet says. “But in the mountains we have freedom.”

After three days with Gaidet and his fellow guides, I have

become accustomed to the freedom—and exhilaration—

that comes with an Eleven Experience journey.

Launched in 2011, the Colorado-based bespoke

adventure company is opening a handful of

intimate luxury lodges and chalets in remote

destinations where its founder, entrepreneur

Chad Pike, has skied and fished for years. From

fly-fishing and mountain biking at the recently

opened Scarp Ridge Lodge in Crested Butte,

Colo., to scuba diving and kitesurfing at the

soon-to-open Bahamas House Inn on Harbour

Island, each of the company’s trips strives to go

a notch beyond other high-end outdoor expe-

riences. Even Eleven’s name—a cheeky refer-

ence to the famous amplifier scene in the cult

movie This is Spinal Tap—emphasizes pushing

the boundaries of adventure travel.

“We want to show people our mountain

lifestyle while embracing their lifestyle,” says

Alan Bernholtz, Eleven’s head of global opera-

tions. “We take them right up to their comfort

level doing the things they love to do, but never

quite like this.”

Comfort is a priority at Chalet Pelerin, a

6,000-square-foot wood-and-stone cottage that

Eleven opened last February in the French

Alps. Located some two hours south of Geneva,

Pelerin sits in the hamlet of Sainte-Foy-

Tarentaise, population 800 or so, surrounded

by three ski resorts and some of Europe’s best

heli-skiing. The chalet includes a private chef, a

heated saltwater pool, a media room, and five

guest rooms stocked with new ski jackets.

(Helmets, custom Wagner skis, and other gear also are avail-

able to guests.) In addition to downhill excursions at nearby

resorts and off-piste slopes, guests can snowshoe, dogsled, or

even take a B3 helicopter for an afternoon of skiing in Italy.

Back on Invernet Glacier, Gaidet assures me I am free to

christen the fresh slope before me. Pushing off, I bounce

through some of the best snow I will find all winter—maybe

ever. Hours later, when I finally collapse beside the chalet’s

fireplace with ice in my nostrils and a glass of bourbon in

my hand, I am convinced Eleven’s volume goes to 12.

—tim neville

Eleven Experience, 970.349.7761, www.elevenexperience.com

Going to ElevenA new adventure outfitter takes thrill-seekers to the next level.

■ s p o r t

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MAJOR SIX APPEAL.The stunning lines. The mysterious presence. The interior fi lled with exquisite Merino leather.

But the package is not complete until you launch from 0 to 60 in 4.1 seconds* with the BMW M

TwinPower Turbo V-8 engine. To experience unparalleled design and the power of 560 horses,

fi nd your nearest BMW center at bmwusa.com.

THE ALL-NEW BMW M6 GRAN COUPE.

1 Whichever comes fi rst. For complete details on BMW Ultimate Service,® visit bmwusa.com/ultimateservice. *0–60 time based on BMW AG test results. ©2013 BMW of North America, LLC. The BMW name, model names and logo are registered trademarks. 36USC220506

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Goats and sheep graze alongside cattle at Belcampo’s Northern California ranch. The “mob grazing” technique can improve pastureland.

in 2009, anya fernald was presented with 10,000 acres

of dry land below Northern California’s Mount Shasta and

issued a challenge by the owner: Make it productive and

profitable. The soil was too poor to cultivate, but Fernald—

at the time a business consultant who had worked with the

Slow Food organization and artisanal-food producers

around the world—had a big, beefy vision. Three years later,

the result was the Belcampo Meat Co., an unprecedented

effort dedicated to organic, naturally raised meat.

Belcampo essentially raises an entire butcher shop on its

property. In addition to cattle, there are sheep, pigs, goats,

rabbits, chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, quail, and more.

Then the company controls every step after that. It pro-

cesses the animals as humanely as possible in its own abattoir,

designed by the livestock activist Temple Grandin, and sells

the meat, bacon, and charcuterie exclusively on its website

and in its shiny butcher shop and restaurant in Larkspur,

Calif. The meat-centric restaurant—which offers dishes

such as the Meat Board, a plank of wood with a changing

selection of grilled steaks, chops, and sausages—is ambitious

enough to have garnered a two-star review from the San

Francisco Chronicle in March.

The ranch raises both conventional breeds and hardy,

heritage animals that are suited to foraging; the pigs, for

example, are a cross between Berkshires and Ossabaws, “a

breed that hunts rattlers,” says Fernald. But more significant

to the quality of the meat, she says, is the careful stewardship

of the land and the animals. “Grass-fed beef is a long capital

turnaround,” says Fernald, now the CEO of Belcampo,

which is owned by Todd Robinson, a founder of LPL

Financial. “Most producers are butchering at 18 months to

survive financially, but the animals are not ready. We’re

slaughtering at 24 to 28 months, and we use extremely sen-

sitive animal-handling techniques.”

After giving cattle more time to fatten in the pasture,

Belcampo dry-ages its beef for 21 days. Both practices make

a remarkable difference. The beef is lean and complex, with

none of the dry toughness of most grass-fed meat. Offerings

on the website include extra-thick rib-eye steaks ($125 for

two steaks that together weigh about 4 pounds) and a full

rack of wagyu beef ($2,000 for 28 pounds).

Fernald seems to have exceeded the initial challenge. The

ranch is more than just sustainable; it is growing. In July,

Belcampo purchased 12,000 acres of nearby pastureland,

and it plans to open five more locations in California this

fall—markets in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Palo Alto,

and markets with restaurants in San Francisco and Santa

Monica. —michalene busico

Belcampo Meat Co., 415.448.5810, www.belcampomeatco.com

From the Ground Up For the Belcampo Meat Co., the artisanal-food movement is a ranch-to-retail proposition.

■ d i n i n G

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GIRARD-PERREGAUX BOUTIQUE

701 Madison Avenue, New York

Tel. 646-495-9915 | www.girard-perregaux.com

CHRONO HAWKGirard-Perregaux automatic mechanical movement.

Ceramic case, sapphire case back.

Legacy by Angostura showcases the blending talents and extensive cellars of the 189-year-old distillery.

with the lowering of the Union

Jack and the raising of its own red-white-

and-black flag on August 31, 1962, the

twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago

signaled its independence from the United

Kingdom and officially became a republic.

Fifty years later, the golden anniversary of this

momentous occasion has been appropriately

recognized with the release of a gold-hued

rum that far surpasses anything previously dis-

tilled in this young yet tradition-steeped Caribbean country.

The elegantly packaged Legacy by Angostura presents sub-

tle reminders of the islands’ past. The sterling-silver neckband

and butterfly stopper that cap this limited release’s lead-free

decanter, for instance, are handcrafted by the Royal Warrant

holder Asprey of London, recalling Trinidad and Tobago’s links

with the monarchy. Angostura, for that matter, is also a Royal

Warrant holder, having for more than a century supplied the

royal household with the aromatic bitters for which the

brand is famous. The company’s meticulously delineated

spirits, on the other hand, are for the most part unknown,

despite the fact that the firm has been distilling premium

rum on Trinidad since 1945. However, with the introduction

of Legacy, Angostura is certain to receive the recognition it

deserves as a long-standing producer of fine rum.

This exceedingly rare blend consists of at least seven dif-

ferent column-distilled rums (the distillery refuses to divulge

exactly how many), all aged in ex-bourbon barrels within

Angostura’s warehouses. The youngest of the components is

17 years old, but some of the others are

very much older—and scarcer. As a result,

the distillery blended a quantity sufficient

to fill only 20 decanters, three of which are

reserved for the United States. Each is

priced at $25,000, making Legacy the most

expensive rum in the world. “It is us showing

off a bit,” says Angostura’s master distiller,

John Georges, “that we have, first of all, a true

sense of style, and secondly, that we’re a very old

and reliable company that has survived 189 years.”

Though Angostura’s style of rum is typically slightly dry

and subdued, Legacy’s flavor profile is anything but subtle.

Initially, marmalade, citrus, and licorice flavors flood the palate,

followed by a cherry-infused nuttiness that becomes slightly

smoky as the spirit lingers in the glass. Part of this muscular

rum’s complexity derives from Angostura’s proprietary yeast;

however, Trinidadian sugarcane, which ceased to be grown on

the island in 2003, also contributes to the spirit’s character.

“When the sugarcane was ripe, the butterflies would fly

into the cane fields,” says Georges, revealing the inspiration

for the sculpted butterfly that surmounts the stopper. “That

was nature saying everything is ready, everything is at its

peak. And we’ve adopted that for the Legacy rum, with a

butterfly alighting on the decanter, thereby signifying that

this rum is at its zenith of perfection. The blend, the age,

everything about it is perfect.” —richard carleton hacker

Angostura, www.legacybyangostura.com

Liberating Elixir Angostura commemorates the independence of its homeland with a revolutionary rum.

■ s P I R I T s

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For more information please contact:

866 675 2079

P I L O T M O N T R E D ’A E R O N E F T Y P E 2 0 G M T

The Manufacture has consistently accompanied aviation pioneers by offering

them onboard instruments and timepieces on a par with their achievements.

Boasting generous white superluminova-enhanced Arabic numerals, the

Type 20 GMT exalts visibility and ensures precision thanks to a Zenith Elite 693

movement, while a dual-time display sets the crowning touch.

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Proceeds from the sale of each example of the Inversion Principle will be used to fund the destruction of 1,000 assault rifles.

“from the very beginning, we wanted to create a watch

on our own, without relying on another brand,” says Peter

Thum, a socially concerned entrepreneur whose 4-year-

old enterprise, Fonderie 47, creates fine jewelry—and now

timepieces—to fund a reduction in the number of assault

rifles present and used in conflicts throughout Africa. “The

hard part was biting the bullet to make a new invention.”

Like many neophytes in watchmaking, Thum found the

industry at once fascinating and exasperating; moreover, he

faced the added challenge of being an outsider with an

unusual philanthropic mission. “The industry is sheltered

and cloistered, in that everyone knows each other,” he says.

“We met with most of the small, independent watchmak-

ers, who all understood how difficult it is to do what we are

trying to do.”

Thum, however, had more luck than many parvenus

who, in their efforts to gain entrée to horology’s inner cir-

cles, frequently confront the industry’s tightly closed ranks.

In 2009, many of the potential partners he approached

were coping with diminishing orders as a result of the

global economic downturn; one of them, David Candaux—

who was among the chief talents behind Jaeger-LeCoultre’s

Hybris Mechanica series of super watches—had recently

set up shop on his own. In collaboration with the designer

Adrian Glessing, Candaux agreed to work with Fonderie

47 in realizing its ambition of engineering a watch that

related to the humanitarian mission of the brand.

Equipped with a central three-minute flying tourbillon,

jumping hours, and retrograde minutes, the $350,000

Inversion Principle can easily hold its own with other com-

plicated watches in its class. However, in the context of its

higher purpose—each watch in the 20-piece edition will

fund the destruction of 1,000 assault rifles—the model

assumes a nobler stature. The development team made a

conscious decision to forgo any overt visual references to

firearms, save for a single dot of forged gunmetal fused to

the movement’s baseplate. “The design needed to contra-

vene most people’s idea of a gun-related watch,” says Thum,

who is quite familiar with the technical ingenuity that

informs this timepiece’s mechanical nemeses, the AK-47

and other assault rifles. “The AK-47 is an industrial

weapon intended to span the globe,” he notes. “We wanted

to take that very clever, elegant, but awful device and turn

it into something akin to a Stradivarius—completely the

opposite type of human achievement.”

—james d. malcolmson

Fonderie 47, 347.770.2241, www.fonderie47.com

Opposition MovementFonderie 47’s first complicated timepiece takes aim at an abiding global concern.

■ wat c h e s

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Silvia Furmanovich’s designs include a turquoise cuff (top, $57,575), opal ring (left, $18,225), and aquamarine bracelet ($35,350).

a woman must be confident to wear jewelry by Silvia

Furmanovich, whose audacious concepts seldom fail to

attract attention. This daring designer might adorn a dia-

mond bracelet with a bright-blue, walnut-size Paraíba tour-

maline or carve a 119-carat aquamarine into a scarab and set

it amid sapphires and diamonds. But then, confidence is pre-

cisely the quality that Furmanovich’s jewels are intended to

conjure: Many of them are modeled on ancient symbols

believed to empower the wearer. “In the past, jewelry served

as amulets that represented strength and power,” she says. “I

like to communicate that in my jewelry designs as well.”

Furmanovich was born to a long line of goldsmiths who

emigrated from Italy to Brazil; her great-grandfather made

sacred adornments for the Vatican, and her father had a

goldsmithing workshop in the family home in São Paulo.

Furmanovich embraced this artistic tradition, establishing

an appointment-only jewelry business in 1997 and opening

her first store in her hometown in 2009. Her extravagant

designs soon began to flash on red carpets the world over,

and in the spring, her collection debuted in the United

States at Bergdorf Goodman, where, from within their glass

cases, her creations continue to spellbind passersby.

Her work is heavily influenced by ancient Egyptian and

Native American iconography. The Egyptian scarab, for

instance, “is a strong symbol of rebirth and death,” says the

designer, who sets large, colorful stones cut to resemble this

hallowed insect into rings, pendants, and bracelets. She also

uses Native American beading techniques to create flexible

cuffs, weaving together porcelain beads coated in 22-karat

gold to form patterns as intricate as those of a tapestry. She

further embellishes these bracelets with precious and semi-

precious stones, including turquoise, which represents the

sky, and coral, which signifies the earth.

Furmanovich’s art is also informed by her travels. She

scouts antiques markets in New York City, Paris, and London,

as well as cities in Asia, to uncover unusual components,

such as netsuke, the miniature sculptures from the Japanese

Edo period, which lasted from the early 17th century to the

mid-19th century. She displays these small figures—whose

facial expressions and garments are intricately articulated—

on simple pendants, bracelets, and rings.

Combining such diverse elements and influences to

develop a single, dramatic, and seamless personal aesthetic

requires as much self-assurance from the designer as from

the wearer. “Jewelry should not only make a statement,”

Furmanovich says, “but it should also make someone feel

confident, expressive, and happy.” —jill newman

Silvia Furmanovich, available at Bergdorf Goodman, 212.872.2578,

www.bergdorfgoodman.com

Bold GoldSilvia Furmanovich refashions ancient symbols into standout jewels.

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20 Time Zone GMT

Black PVD Stainless Steel, Interchangeable Cage

The Super Bowl XXV ring awarded to Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor sold for an apparent NFL-memorabilia record of $230,401 last year.

though neither ever won a championship at the pro

level, baseball’s Ted Williams and football’s Dan Marino

played brilliantly enough during their careers to become

legendary figures in their respective sports. However, in the

collectibles market they do not enjoy equal status. Williams’s

game-worn jerseys in good condition can fetch six-figure

sums. The helmet that Marino wore while quarterbacking

the Miami Dolphins in their loss to the San Francisco 49ers

in Super Bowl XIX garnered only $33,460 at a Heritage

Auctions sale in 2007.

The gulf between prices for top Williams and Marino

memorabilia exemplifies a curiosity of the sports-collectibles

world: Though the National Football League, as measured by

television ratings and other barometers, is far more popular

than Major League Baseball, its memorabilia apparently is

not nearly as coveted. The list of the top 10 most expensive

sports collectibles sold at auction is dominated by MLB relics;

NFL items are wholly absent. “Football certainly has a broad

fan base, but it doesn’t always translate into the collectibles

market,” says Dan Imler, managing director of SCP Auctions.

Dave Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions—which handles

both baseball and football memorabilia—says a collectibles

market depends more on fans’ passion than a sport’s popu-

larity. “The World Series ratings are a tenth of the Super

Bowl’s, but people are not watching to see the commer-

cials,” he says. “They’re watching to see the game, and see

the team they bleed for.”

Another factor affecting prices for NFL and MLB col-

lectibles is the difference in the sports’ ages, says Chris Ivy,

director of sports auctions at Heritage. The first World

Series was held in 1903. The NFL formed in 1920, but the

first Super Bowl was not played until 1967, after the NFL

agreed to merge with the AFL, the expansion league that

was established seven years earlier. “There’s more history

with baseball. It’s woven into the fabric of society,” says Ivy.

“Ruth, Cobb, and Gehrig are icons, but you can’t name a

football player from that era. That’s not to say that Joe

Namath and Johnny Unitas [stars of the early Super Bowls]

won’t be that way in the future. They’re just not there yet.”

Items associated with football’s elite players can garner

high prices, but nothing like what a comparable baseball

article may command. The apparent auction-price record

for an NFL item belongs to a 1991 Super Bowl XXV ring

awarded to New York Giants Hall of Fame linebacker

Lawrence Taylor. Offered by SCP in May 2012, the well-

worn size-12 ring sold for $230,401. “It’s very rare [to have

a Super Bowl ring] for a player of his caliber,” says Imler. The

same month as that sale, SCP set the current auction-price

record for any piece of sports memorabilia when it sold a

circa-1920 Babe Ruth Yankees road jersey for $4.4 million.

Ivy, Hunt, and Imler agree that the best NFL memorabilia

is undervalued. Bob Swick, editor of the football history and

memorabilia magazine Gridiron Greats and a collector of foot-

ball cards since he was a 7-year-old in 1965, sees opportunities

at all levels. “A program from Super Bowl I sells for $250 to

$600, depending on condition. It’s one of the most important

programs from football history, and it’s a steal,” he says. “I don’t

know how many were printed, or how many were saved, but

let’s say there were 10,000. That’s not a lot, but there are more

than 10,000 collectors who would like to own it. That’s the

perspective for looking at it.” —sheila gibson stoodley

Gridiron Greats, 203.269.8224, www.gridirongreatsmagazine.com;

Heritage Auctions, 214.528.3500, www.ha.com; Hunt Auctions,

610.524.0822, www.huntauctions.com; SCP Auctions,

949.831.3700, www.scpauctions.com

Betting Against the SpreadThe price gap relative to baseball memorabilia could mean NFL items are undervalued.

■ c o l l e c t i B l e S

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GMT

5N red gold case

Bellusso ∙ Las Vegas

Casino Level • Palazzo® Resort-Hotel-Casino

+1 702 650-2988 • www.bellussojewelers.com

Cellini ∙ New York

Hotel Waldorf-Astoria • 301 Park Avenue

+1 212 751-9824 • www.cellinijewelers.com

Picciones’ ∙ Lyndhurst

Legacy Village • 24659 Cedar Road

+1 216 382-7011 • www.picciones.com

deBoulle Diamond & Jewelry ∙ Dallas

6821 Preston Road • Texas 75205

+1 800 454-GEMS • www.deboulle.com

Users can access the Kaleidescape Store from an iPhone or iPad to purchase digital versions of Blu-ray Disc–quality movies.

late last year, after signing a landmark licensing agree-

ment with Warner Bros., the Sunnyvale, Calif.–based

Kaleidescape announced that it would sell the film studio’s

content through a new online service. Fully launched this

May, the Kaleidescape Store offers users the ability to pur-

chase and download the nearly 3,000 movies and more than

8,000 TV shows in the Warner Bros. collection. Such a service

is nothing new—Apple and other companies have been sell-

ing downloadable video content for years—but Kaleidescape’s

version is the first to allow users to download Blu-ray Disc–

quality content without having to purchase a physical disc.

Kaleidescape, which is working on similar agreements

with other providers, is the leading manufacturer of media-

server-based entertainment systems. The company’s largest-

capacity server can hold as much as 48 terabytes of content,

the equivalent of about 1,300 Blu-ray Discs, which can be

played on multiple screens throughout a home. In July the

company introduced its first off-the-shelf product, the $3,995

Cinema One, which is a server and disc player in a single box

that can store up to 100 Blu-ray-quality movies.

Blu-ray movies available through the Kaleidescape Store

can be as large as 60 gigabytes each, whereas movies from

Apple’s iTunes and similar services are usually just a few giga-

bytes. The result is a crisper picture, with more detail, less

motion blur, and higher-quality sound. Movies downloaded

from the store also benefit from Kaleidescape’s coding, which

integrates the video content into the company’s easy-to-use

library and on-screen interface. Through the interface, users

can implement proprietary features that include the ability to

mark favorite scenes and jump to the beginning of a movie

(rather than waiting the often painfully long startup time of

Blu-ray Discs played in a traditional system).

The considerable size of Blu-ray-quality movies, which

cost anywhere from $7 to $26 through the Kaleidescape

Store, translates to download times that are often as long as

an hour. Kaleidescape alleviates some of this burden by

allowing users to queue up multiple movies so that when

one download is complete, the next begins automatically.

(Through the store, users can also upgrade the DVD-quality

content in their libraries to Blu-ray quality.)

Once purchased, the movies can be downloaded to as

many as five of the user’s Kaleidescape systems, whether in

a primary residence or vacation home, a yacht or private jet.

Most downloads come with a cloud-based UltraViolet ver-

sion of the content so that, through a third-party app such

as Flixster, users can also watch videos purchased from the

Kaleidescape Store on mobile devices—including Apple

iPhones and iPads. —bailey s. barnard

Kaleidescape, www.kaleidescape.com

Skipping the DiscKaleidescape’s new online store offers a direct connection to high-quality movie content.

■ h o m e e l e c t r o n i c S

■


Aaron Basha Boutique • 685 Madison Avenue • New York • 212.644.1970 • www.aaronbasha.com

Athens • Dubai • Hong Kong • Italy • Kiev • London • Moscow • Qatar • Tokyo • Toronto

Of Note

P R O M O T I O N

From David Arnold, Senior Vice President/Group Publisher of Robb Report

FIpA GROup

www.fipagroup.com | +39 0584.38191

The Fipa Group consists of: Maiora, AB Yachts and CBI Navi.

Today, the Fipa Group can offer a complete range of products

including: fiberglass motoryachts by Maiora, fast open yachts

with waterjet propulsion by AB Yachts, to steel/light alloy cus-

tom motoryachts by CBI Navi. The Aifos by CBI Navi was among

Robb Report’s 2012 Best of the Best – Custom Megayachts.

The Fipa Group also offers complete after-sales service,

refitting and assistance.

Do not miss the opportunity to discover our innovations at: Festival de la Plaisance de

Cannes, September 10th-15th; Monaco Yacht Show, September 25th - 28th; Fort Lauderdale

International Boat Show, October 31st - November 4th

pAul & ShARk

www.paulshark.it | 212.452.9868

The fall/winter 2013 collection by Paul & Shark features apparel and accessories rich

in research and innovation. Technical fabrics and precious yarns are combined with

contemporary silhouettes to create highly performing garments with refined details.

kAlAMAZOO GOuRMET

www.kalamazoogourmet.com I 800.868.1699

Recently named “the best gas grill in the world,” the legendary

Kalamazoo is a hand-built masterpiece in outdoor cooking.

Unrivaled in its performance and versatility, it is truly in a

class all its own. Kalamazoo is the only grill that gives you

the freedom to seamlessly combine gas, charcoal, and wood

cooking techniques. Each Hybrid Fire Grill is built to order

and signed by our skilled team of Michigan artisans. Call

800-868-1699 to learn more.

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Executive

The Porsche Panamera Turbo Executive

adds about 6 inches of rear-seat legroom

compared to the standard Panamera.

A new pair of stretched-out Panameras may be the fi rst Porsches that are as

appealing to backseat passengers as they are to drivers. BY RONALD AHRENS


Privileges


he folklore and religious fgures depicted in the

Lüftlmalerei, the murals that decorate the facades of houses throughout

Bavaria, seemed to enviously scrutinize the Porsche Panamera Turbo

Executive as it passed by them. Yes, the fsherman balancing on the gun-

wales of his rowboat while holding up a large trout for all to see appeared to

have his eyes on the Porsche as it crept through one village at the speed limit

(of about 25 mph). It was tempting to excite the Turbo Executive’s 4.8-liter

520 hp twin-turbo V-8, exercise manual control of the 7-speed dual-clutchT92 robb report september 2013

Executive Privileges

automatic transmission, and disrupt the frescoed tranquility

enough to send the fsherman into the drink.

Porsche’s revision of the Panamera sedan for the 2014 model

year includes the addition of the $161,000 Turbo Executive

and the $125,600 4S Executive, two tafy-pulled variants.

Media members had the chance to drive both, plus the much

improved $99,000 S E-Hybrid model that now features plug-

in capability, earlier this summer in southern Bavaria, between

the pyramidal peak of Zugspitze and the shimmering waters

of Lake Kochel and then back north to Munich.

Stretched to nearly 17 feet long—about 6 inches longer

than the standard-length Panamera—the Executives provide

the “optimal experience for those customers who want

[the] Porsche driving experience from the second row,” says

the chief of the Panamera product line, Gernot Döllner. Just

how many people want to experience Porsche driving from

anywhere but behind the steering wheel remains to be seen,

but it certainly is pleasant in the Turbo Executive’s rear com-

partment. The seats are electronically adjustable and heated

and cooled, and the four-zone climate-control system allows

each of the car’s occupants to choose a separate setting.

Power-operated sunshades rise with a second upward tug

on the window switch after the window is sealed, shielding

passengers from prying eyes. With those features plus foot-

well lighting, reading spotlights, and adjustable overhead

lamps, the rear is nearly habitable.

Although the Turbo Executive is long, wide (6.3 feet), and

heavy (4,564 pounds), it still was fun to prod the car along

Bavaria’s undulant byways and occasional twisty roads. The

Turbo Executive appears no taller than a 911, and it seemed

no larger when it was finging through corners and barreling

across the intensely green landscape of open felds and dense

copses. The quick variable-rate steering became tauter during

the turns, and the exhaust gabbled especially bountifully

when the driving mode was set to Sport Plus. The Turbo

Executive may be suitable for limo service, but it is still a

driver’s car, willing and responsive, compliant and composed.

On fast stretches of autobahn during the drive to Munich

from Schloss Elmau, the century-old hotel at the foot of the

Wetterstein mountains that hosted the drivers, the 4S

Executive serenaded travelers with the hum of its V-6. It is a

remarkable car, and if the Turbo Executive did not exist, this

one would satisfy.

Porsche now ofers eight Panamera models in the United

States. For the 2014 version, the company made a number

of key changes to the car in addition to stretching it into

the two Executive models. Foremost among the alterations

was equipping the Panamera S, 4S, and 4S Executive with a

new engine, a smooth-running twin-turbocharged 3-liter

V-6 that produces 420 hp. (A 3.6-liter V-6 still powers the

base Panamera and Panamera 4.) Compared with the natu-

rally aspirated 4.8-liter V-8 that it replaces, the new V-6 is

marginally more powerful and delivers a fuel economy as

Porsche altered the look of the front

end and gave the liftgate a longer fy

line and fatter and wider glass.



The Executive models’ rear seats are electronically adjustable and heated and cooled, and the cars have a four-zone climate-control system.

much as 18 percent better. The engine enables the 4S to

bolt from zero to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds; top speed is 178

mph. The heavier 4S Executive has the same top speed and

reaches 60 mph in 4.8 seconds. The Turbo Executive has a

zero-to-60-mph time of 4 seconds and a top speed of 190

mph. The optional Sport Chrono package improves the

sprint time of each model. Among the standard equipment

for all 2014 Panameras is an engine stop-start feature, which

saves fuel by automatically shutting down and then refring

the engine at intersections, in lines, or in heavy trafc.

Porsche has restyled the car’s front and rear, giving the

swooping liftgate a longer fy line and fatter and wider

glass. With their 121-inch-long wheelbase, the Executives

look distinguished but retain the menacing sportiness that

characterizes all Porsches.

For some drivers, the revamped S E-Hybrid may be the

most impressive Panamera model. It has a more powerful

electric motor compared to the previous version, and a

rechargeable battery pack, with lithium-ion cells replacing

nickel-metal hydride ones. The electric drive works in tan-

dem with the new 3-liter V-6, but the engine’s forced

induction comes from a supercharger instead of turbos. The

engine system’s total output peaks at 416 hp, and in Sport

mode the car can display a wicked side.

The Turbo Executive may be suit-able for limo service, but it is still a driver’s car, willing and responsive,

compliant and composed.

94 eptt esmpe2 0sm2s1tse 3��

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The latest version of the S E-Hybrid has a plug-in feature. Its electric motor and new V-6 engine together produce 416 hp.

During a nearly 44-mile lap through the Bavarian coun-

tryside, traveling in electric mode, the S E-Hybrid’s 8-speed

automatic transmission modulated all output. Instead of

evoking a concrete saw, which is typical of single-ratio

electric mobility, the car ofered a refned experience, glid-

ing along in near silence. It covered the frst 17 miles or so

exclusively on battery power. When the battery was

depleted, the V-6 propelled the car and expedited the

recharging through an E-Charge mode.

The route included the lakeside village of Kochel am See,

home of the Franz Marc Museum. Born just up the road in

Munich, Marc was a leader of the expressionist movement.

“He painted pictures of horses in vivid colors to express his

own spirituality,” says the art historian Lynne Pauls Baron.

Marc volunteered to serve in World War I and at age 36

became one of the hundreds of thousands of casualties of

the fve-month-long Battle of Verdun when he was killed

by artillery shrapnel.

The drive also passed through the village of

Oberammergau, which is associated with another artist:

Franz Seraph Zwinck, the most renowned painter of

Lüftlmalerei. Indeed, the name of the craft apparently comes

from his nickname. Zwinck lived in Oberammergau in the

late 1700s in a house named Zum Lüftl, and so he became

known as der Lüftlmaler, “the Lüftl painter.” Most of his

paintings depict fgures from Christian history, thus serving

as billboards of a sort for the fve-hour-long passion-play

performances that the residents of Oberammergau famously

stage every 10 years.

Villagers frst performed the passion play, which recounts

the fnal days of Jesus Christ’s life, in 1634, believing that the

production would impress their god enough to spare them

96 bepp btsebm 2tsmt0ptb 13��

WWW.CVSTOS.COM

212.463.8898


The Turbo Executive is powered by a 4.8-liter, 520 hp twin-turbo V-8, which gives the car a zero-to-60-mph time of 4 seconds.

from the bubonic plague that had struck the region a year

earlier. Now, once a decade, about half of the village’s 5,300

residents participate in the 100 or so performances that are

staged from May through October. Together, the perfor-

mances draw more than 500,000 visitors to Oberammergau

from all over the world.

The passion play may not be responsible for keeping the

village plague free, and it has been labeled anti-Semitic, but

it has helped balance the municipal budget. The locals have

an expression: “Die Passion zahlt,” which means, “The pas-

sion [play] will pay for it.” And indeed, the production’s

proceeds (said to be $20 million from the last production)

have paid for numerous civic improvements, including a

community center and a community swimming pool.

The next performances are in 2020. The last production

was in 2010, a year after the Panamera debuted. As Porsche’s

sales and marketing chief, Bernhard Maier, recalled in Bavaria,

the introduction of the original Panamera was greeted with

“very intense discussion” in the press, which is to say that

the media was skeptical, even critical. The car’s shape was

compared to that of an unleavened loaf, and like the

Cayenne SUV before it, the Panamera prompted questions

about Porsche’s compromising the integrity of its brand, in

this case by producing a sedan. The reception from customers

has been warmer. Porsche produced the 100,000th Panamera

in May, and last year it sold more than 27,000 of the cars

worldwide, making the vehicle the company’s second-

best-selling model in 2012, behind the Cayenne—and

ahead of the 911. So like Oberammergau’s passion play, the

Panamera may have its doubters and detractors, but over

the years the car has proved so successful that its production

is not only enduring, it is expanding.

Porsche, www.porscheusa.com

With their 121-inch-long wheelbase, the Executives look distinguished but retain the menacing sportiness that characterizes all Porsches.


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photography

by

david

roemer

styling

by

christopher

campbell

ORIENT

EXPRESSIONS

Striking shades,

sumptuous silk

embroidery,

and intricate

chinoiserie-

style patterns

introduce

elements of

intrigue and

urbanity to

the men’s

collections

this fall.

Versace wool

jacquard coat,

$2,795; Ralph

Lauren cash-

mere turtle-

neck, $1,095;

Kiton wool

pants, $1,170;

Ermenegildo

Zegna leather

boots, $725;

Falke socks,

$24; Cartier

Tank Anglaise

18-karat-rose-

gold watch,

$33,900.


Orient Expressions


seespt�� e��:

Miharayasuhiro

cotton jacket, $2,000,

and wool pants, $610;

Bottega Veneta

cotton-and-wool shirt,

$1,100; Bruno Magli

patent leather

shoes, $545.

��tp e��: Ralph

Lauren leather trench

coat, $6,995, cashmere

turtleneck, $1,095,

and wool pants, $695;

David Yurman mala-

chite beaded bracelet,

$495, black onyx

beaded bracelet, $395,

and woven tile beaded

bracelet, $650.

Orient Expressions


seespt�� e��:

Brunello Cucinelli

wool suit, $4,375;

Bottega Veneta wool

sweater vest, $530;

Corneliani silk pocket

square, $125; David

Yurman onyx beaded

bracelet, $375.

��tp e��: Lanvin

calfskin jacket, $4,800,

cotton shirt, $635,

wool-and-polyester

pants, $995, and

silk tie, $395.

Corneliani velvet

blazer, $1,495, and

velvet pants, $345;

Dries Van Noten

silk-and-cotton

shirt, $1,063;

Cartier Ballon

Bleu 18-karat-rose-

gold-and-sapphire

watch, $32,200.

Orient Expressions


�o�e pts�:

Burberry leopard-

print calfskin

topcoat, $8,750, and

silk polo shirt, $795;

Prada kid mohair

jacket, $2,390, and

pants, $735; Berluti

leather belt, $650;

Cartier Ballon Bleu

18-karat-rose-gold-

and-sapphire watch

with leather strap,

$20,700.

�pp�e�� pts�:

Gucci cotton shirt,

$545, and wool

pants, $1,595;

Brunello Cucinelli

silk bow tie, $245;

John Lobb patent

leather shoes with

satin band, $980;

Cartier diamond-

and-jade-nephrite

18-karat-gold cuff

links, $3,900.

Orient Expressions


�o�e pts�:

Isaia velvet din-

ner jacket, price

upon request, and

wool pants, $225;

Brunello Cucinelli

cotton tuxedo shirt,

$950, satin cummer-

bund, $315, and wool

pocket square, $165;

Cartier Ballon Bleu

18-karat-rose-gold-

and-sapphire watch,

$32,200; David

Yurman rubber

bracelet, $250.


Etro velvet blazer,

$2,214; Hermès

wool-and-mohair

pants, $7,150;

Berluti cashmere

scarf, $1,170; Louis

Vuitton velvet loaf-

ers, $1,410; Cartier

Ballon Bleu 18-karat-

rose-gold-and-

sapphire watch,

$32,200.

Orient Expressions


Orient Expressions

Tom Ford

wool-and-silk

dinner jacket,

$4,390, cotton-

and-silk vest,

$1,390, wool

pants, $1,390,

grosgrain bow tie,

$245, and silk

pocket square,

$180; Belvest

cotton shirt,

$220.


�o�e pts�:

Louis Vuitton

silk-and-polyester

embroidered

dinner jacket,

$6,175, wool pants,

$1,175, cotton

shirt, $1,175, and

silk bow tie, $625;

Cartier Ballon

Bleu 18-karat-rose-

gold-and-sapphire

watch, $32,200.


Giorgio Armani

cotton shirt,

$845; Bottega

Veneta wool suit,

$4,100; Brunello

Cucinelli wool

pocket square,

$165.

Orient Expressions


Tom Ford beaver

fur coat, price upon

request; Ermenegildo

Zegna wool jacket,

$3,495, wool pants,

$1,250, cotton shirt

with tie pin, $435, silk

tie, $195, and silk

cummerbund, $195;

Falke socks, $24; Di

Bianco patent leather

shoes with grosgrain

band, $950.

Orient Expressions

Belvest camel

hair jacket, $2,595,

and cotton-and-wool

tie, $150; Corneliani

cotton shirt, $285, and

silk pocket square,

$125; Angelo Galasso

wool pants, $755;

Falke socks, $24;

Louis Vuitton silk

shoes, $1,350; The

Tie Bar tie clip, $15;

Luxuriator by Franco

sunglasses, $895


Stefano Ricci wool

jacket, wool-and-cashmere

pants, cotton shirt, silk

tie, and silk pocket

square, all prices upon

request; Falke socks,

$24; Burberry calfskin

shoes, $750; Cartier

Santos Dumont 18-karat-

rose-gold watch with

leather strap,

$17,300.

Orient Expressions


Dolce & Gabbana

embroidered jacket,

$8,345, wool vest, $595,

wool pants, $725, and

cotton shirt, $545;

Ralph Lauren silk tie,

$155; Cartier Santos

Dumont 18-karat-rose-

gold watch with leather

strap, $17,300.

RESOURCES

Alexander McQueen 877.220.4587, www.alexandermcqueen.com

Angelo Galasso 212.371.4400, www.angelogalasso.com

Belvest 212.317.0460, www.belvest.com

Berluti 212.439.6400, www.berluti.com

Bottega Veneta 800.845.6790, www.bottegaveneta.com

Brunello Cucinelli 212.813.0900, www.brunellocucinelli.com

Bruno Magli Special Services 800.624.5430, www.brunomagli.com

Burberry 877.217.4085, www.burberry.com

Cartier 800.227.8437, www.cartier.us

Corneliani 800.222.9477, www.corneliani.com

David Yurman 212.752.4255, www.davidyurman.com

Di Bianco 646.415.8925, www.scarpedibianco.com

Dolce & Gabbana 877.703.4872, www.dolcegabbana.it

Dries Van Noten +32.3221.9090, www.driesvannoten.be

Ermenegildo Zegna 212.421.4488, www.zegna.com

Etro 212.247.1200, www.etro.com

Falke, available at Neiman Marcus, 310.550.5900, www.neimanmarcus.com

Giorgio Armani 877.361.1176, www.armani.com

Gucci 877.482.2430, www.gucci.com

Hermès 800.441.4488, www.hermes.com

Isaia 212.245.3733, www.isaia.it

John Lobb 212.888.9797, www.johnlobb.com

Kiton 212.813.0272, www.kiton.it

Lanvin 646.439.0380, www.lanvin.com

Louis Vuitton 866.884.8866, www.louisvuitton.com

Luxuriator by Franco 800.448.2411, www.luxuriatorcollection.com

Miharayasuhiro +81.3.5775.7143, www.miharayasuhiro.jp

Prada 212.664.0010, www.prada.com

Ralph Lauren 888.475.7674, www.ralphlauren.com

Stefano Ricci 212.371.3901, www.stefanoricci.com

The Tie Bar 877.888.8437, www.thetiebar.com

Tom Ford 212.359.0300

Versace 888.721.7219, www.versace.com

location: Dawnridge, the Beverly Hills home of designer

Tony Duquette ■ stylist’s assistant: John Donahue ■ photographer’s

assistants: Mario Sanchez and Hans Eric Olson ■ digital technician: Carl

Novick ■ model: Marios Lekkas, DNA Models ■ groomer: Giovanni Giuliano,

Atelier Management ■ captions: Christina Garofalo, Lauren Schumacher

monkey: Tara, Benay’s Bird and Animal Rentals, 818.881.0053

Alexander McQueen velvet blazer, $2,090,

wool pants, $635, and cotton shirt, price upon

request; Cartier Ballon Bleu 18-karat-rose-

gold-and-sapphire watch, $32,200.

Orient Expressions


A New Custom Diego Della Valle, president and

CEO of Tod’s leather goods, speaks

with boyish enthusiasm about the

brand’s new project, called JP Tod’s

Sartorial. It represents the first time

Tod’s has dedicated an entire floor to

custom shoes and bags, which are

designed, Della Valle says, to showcase

the brand’s artisanal “secrets,” such as its

distinctive hand-brushing and hand-

polishing. These techniques—and the

mingled scent of leather and dye that

accompanies them—make Della Valle

nostalgic for his many visits to the

workshop with his father, who built

the Italian brand in the 1940s.

The JP Tod’s Sartorial collection was

unveiled in June in a new lounge above

the firm’s Via della Spiga boutique in

Milan. “The Sartorial floor is to become

a meeting point for men of great taste

who come from all parts of the world,”

Della Valle says. Visitors can relax with

a cocktail while getting a shoeshine or

ordering Sartorial pieces, which

include wing-tip and monk-strap shoes

($1,300 to $1,600) and briefcases and

tote bags ($2,000 to $2,500). Custom

pieces can be delivered within a few

months. Tod’s plans to open similar

lounges at its New York and Los

Angeles boutiques next year—a

development that will enable Della

Valle to feel at home the world over.

Tod’s, 212.644.5945, www.tods.com

Spirit in the Material World

Fall’s top fashion finds come in an array of inventive materials. The well-dressed

man can choose from sleek suits of black wool, colorful shoes in handcrafted

leather, and vibrant jackets of velvet, vicuña, and waxed cotton. By Jill NewmaN



Vivid in VelvetFor this season’s jackets, peacoats, and topcoats, Canali has

forsaken the usual subdued shades of velvet in favor of more luminous

hues. Velvet becomes contemporary—even sporty—in saturated shades

of orange, red, violet, and blue. Canali’s smartly tailored velvet jackets

and coats (priced from $1,480) complement classic suits as well as

contemporary sportswear. “We transformed the velvet pieces into

something extremely modern, up-to-date, and wearable,” says

Elisabetta Canali, the brand’s communications director. “While velvet

gives the wearer a dandified look, it never loses its refinement and

elegance.” Canali, 212.752.3131, www.canali.com

the wilD Vicuña—a rare

breed from the high alpine

forests of the Andes, cloaked in

the world’s finest and softest

wool—is, figuratively speaking,

the rich cousin of the alpaca.

The rarity of this animal’s wool

is the result of the Peruvian

and Argentinean governments’

rigid control of their vicuña

populations and the fact that,

because its coat grows slowly, it

can only be shorn every two

years. To ensure a steady supply

of this prized material, the

Italian fashion house Loro

Piana staked an important

claim in the small market

by acquiring the

majority interest in

Sanin SA, a breeder

that owns the rights to

shear thousands of wild

vicuñas on its property in the

Catamarca province of

Argentina. This investment

pays a dividend in the form of

Loro Piana’s expanded vicuña

collection for fall, a line of

outerwear and sweaters

($10,000 to $25,000) that are

supple, lightweight, and

irresistibly plush. Loro Piana,

www.loropiana.com

A Vicuña Coup

126 �see �pts�m bptmprep� 2013

Regent Collection

WWW.BACKESANDSTRAUSS.COM

212.463.8898

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Full-Throttle Jacketwhile motorcycle-inspireD styles are in high gear for fall,

the best jackets and accessories come from a classic source. Belstafi,

which was established in 1924 as a maker of waxed-cotton

motorcycle jackets, delivered a range of leather and waxed jackets

($850 to $3,995) that recall those worn by the tough guys in

popular fllms of the 1950s and 1960s. The standout design is an

updated version of Belstafi ’s signature Trialmaster, a four-pocket

belted jacket with reinforcements on the shoulders and elbows as

well as an adjustable neck strap for protection from the wind. These

practical features, which make good defenses against the elements,

also make the wearer of this eye-catching outerwear something of a

bad boy on the street. Belstaf, 866.925.3563, www.belstaf.com

Super Power Suitthis season, Dior homme

�awlessly pared down the

black suit, producing a series

of slim silhouettes with

constructed shoulders, nipped

waists, and distinctly athletic

lines. The collection ($3,000

to $4,600), which is both

versatile and slightly futuristic,

includes suits with jackets that

zip up rather than button, as

well as ones that have belts at

the waist. “This is a confldent,

self-made man in a multiplicity

of ways,” says Dior Homme’s

creative director, Kris Van

Assche, of the collection’s

target customer. “He’s a

self-made superhero.”

Dior Homme, 212.421.6009,

www.diorhomme.com

128 eptt embper 2mbrm0tme 13o�

THE KALAMAZOO ARTISAN FIRE PIZZA OVEN

From eighteenth-century Naples, by way of Kalamazoo. The Artisan

Fire Pizza Oven replicates the heat patterns and airf ow of traditional

Old-World forni. Its ingenious design and gas-f red simplicity mean

that Neapolitan-style pizza is never more than a few minutes away.

Discover the f re within.

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Adventure of a Lifetime After a half century of elevating the safari experience, Geoffrey Kent

is planning what may be his most extravagant expeditions yet.

b y j a c k s m i t h

T he year was 1974, and a small party

of safari goers led by the flamboyant

Geoffrey Kent had just crossed the moon-

lit border from Kenya into what is now South

Sudan. Kent was the chairman and CEO of

Abercrombie & Kent, a young outfitter gaining

renown for its luxury safaris. His client was a

friend, Heath Manning, a polo player and devel-

oper from North Carolina, who was taking his

bride, Bootsie, on her first safari for their hon-

eymoon. Besides the Mannings and Kent, the

travelers included Kent’s then wife and business

partner, Jorie; Liam Lynn, a professional hunter;

and a support staff. The trip was intended to

relive old times and celebrate the traditions

of the safari. An ambush by some two dozen

Turkana warriors was not part of the plan.

The warriors—members of a nomadic peo-

ple who inhabit stretches of arid desert around

northwestern Kenya—were an eerie sight in

the glare of the headlights, naked but for arm-

lets, legs painted white from knee to thigh, and

armed with spears, machetes, and knives. Kent

ordered his three safari vehicles to stop and,

during a seemingly cordial moment, made small

talk with the Turkana chief in Swahili, the lingua

franca of the bush. When Kent indicated that

his party was lost, the chief told him to fol-

low his lead. To do otherwise would have been

an insult, so the drivers reluctantly lined up in

single file. For more than an hour the three

vehicles lumbered over the dark savanna until,

Abercrombie & Kent is offering two safaris by private jet in 2014, with stops including Zambia, Uganda, Namibia, and South Africa.

j o u r n e y s


The 14-tent Sanctuary Olonana is a popular stop for A&K clients in Kenya’s Maasai Mara reserve.

much to their passengers’ surprise, they

found themselves on the path they had

been looking for.

Kent thanked the chief and expressed

his gratitude with a tin of tobacco—

highly coveted in the bush—and with

that the Turkana moved o� into the

darkness. Their departure, however, was

a ruse; before the trucks could get up

to speed, the warriors had circled back,

beating on the vehicles’ windows and

swarming over the fenders and roofs in

an attempt to break in. The passengers

beat them back with riye butts while

the drivers mashed the gas pedals to

the yoor, sending the vehicles lurching

back and forth until they �nally plowed

through the Turkana’s scrum and accel-

erated far down the trail, a hail of spears

and war clubs following in their wake.

Four decades later, apparently

unscathed by the incident, the dapper

Kent remembers Bootsie’s words before

she and her husband, �nally a safe dis-

tance from their assailants, turned in for

the night. “She said, ‘Hot dog!’ ” he recalls.

“ ‘This sure is some honeymoon!’ ”

This gets a big laugh from his audience.

As they are all aware—that hair-raising

incident aside—no one has done more

to make the modern-day safari a worry-

free experience than Geo�rey Kent.

Since 1962, when Kent’s parents

founded Abercrombie & Kent, the

company has enjoyed a loyal following,

some �ve score of whom have gathered

here at Kenya’s posh Muthaiga Country

Club to join the charismatic tour opera-

tor for a celebratory 50th-anniversary

luncheon. The celebration will con-

tinue the next day with Kent and me,

along with two of his guests, taking the

hour-long yight from Nairobi to the

Laikipia Plateau, where we will search

for Big Five game and inspect the latest

in mobile safari accommodations. From

Laikipia we will head to Sanctuary

Olonana, a camp of 14 spacious tents

with wooden yoors, four-poster beds,

and private verandas overlooking

Kenya’s Mara River.

The ultimate Abercrombie & Kent

safaris, however, are scheduled for next

year, when two parties of 40 guests will

Sanctuary Olonana’s tents feature

wooden foors, four-poster beds, and private

verandas overlooking the Mara River.

j o u r n e y s

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Kent, who will personally lead an around-the-world trip by private jet next year, started A&K with his parents in Kenya in 1962.

explore the African continent by pri-

vate jet. From March 2 to March 20,

and March 20 to April 7, the groups

will visit seven countries, coming face-

to-face with rare mountain gorillas in

Uganda and marveling at the Great

Migration in Tanzania, where Kent will

personally host the travelers for three

days. They will explore the 700-foot

sand dunes along Namibia’s Skeleton

Coast and, in Zambia, witness the spec-

tacle of the Zambezi from a deck hang-

ing over the river and take the “�ight of

the angels” helicopter tour over Victoria

Falls. The two once-in-a-lifetime tours

will, respectively, commence and con-

clude with the epicurean delights of

the Cape Winelands in South Africa.

“Traveling by private jet brings an

entirely new level of comfort and

convenience to an African safari,”

says Kent, now 71, who is also host-

ing an around-the-world journey next

October (see “The Planet by Private

Jet,” page 136). “Roomy business-class

seats allow guests the opportunity to

stretch out and relax between destina-

tions, and a bar stocked with premium

brands, along with a well-chosen wine

list, provides the ynishing touch.”

A dedicated �ight crew will travel

along with the guests, learning their

preferences and helping to make the

journeys yrst-class a�airs from start

to ynish. One person who will not

be making the trips is Abercrombie.

“People always ask about Abercrombie,”

Kent says as we climb into a bush plane

for the �ight to Laikipia. “The truth is,

there is no Abercrombie. I thought the

company’s name sounded more upper-

crusty with two names instead of one.

I picked a yrst name that started with

A so prospective clients would spot us

right away in the phone book. Also, if

people complained about something I

could say, ‘That’s Abercrombie’s depart-

ment. He’s out right now.’ ”

It was not just the company’s name

that distinguished A&K from the com-

petition. From his earliest days as gen-

eral manager, Kent o�ered amenities

never before seen in the bush. “I’d tell

safari goers, ‘Why deprive yourself of

j o u r n e y s

134 �� sm�� tsm�s��s� er�

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the luxuries when I o�er ice cream,

caviar, and a bar with top-shelf liquor?’ ”

When A&K started in the safari busi-

ness, there was no way to preserve food

or keep ice cold in the bush. So Kent

commissioned an army pal to devise

one, based on the old Bedford trucks

he had used in the military. “For the

yrst time, safari clients could have ice

in their gin and tonic,” he says.

Despite his emphasis on luxury—he

also served Champagne and gourmet

cuisine in stemware and china he had

expropriated from his mother—Kent

never lost his focus on adventure.

Indeed, he was born to explore, the

son of landowners in Kenya who at

the time of his birth were on safari in

Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

He grew up on the family farm in the

Aberdare Highlands of Kenya, where

he was as much at home in the bush

as his Kikuyu and Maasai contempo-

raries were. He spoke Swahili before he

learned English, and at 16 he became

the yrst person to make a solo trek

from Nairobi to Cape Town—a two-

month-long journey by motorcycle

that covered 5,000 miles.

It seemed foreordained that Kent

would follow in his father’s footsteps,

serving with distinction in the British

military in far-off territories, then

returning to Kenya to captain the

country’s polo team and take over the

family estate. But following the Mau

Mau Uprising of the 1950s and Kenya’s

subsequent independence, the Kents’

property was repatriated to Kikuyu

ownership. Bereft of their estate, the

family founded a small safari agency

and made Kent—recently returned from

service as a tank commander in Malta,

Bahrain, and Kuwait—its chief guide.

In the early days of A&K, some of

the company’s safaris were of the shoot-

ing variety. “Americans are sometimes

shocked to hear that I went on shoot-

ing safaris, but we all did,” says Kent as

our plane touches down and comes to a

stop next to a waiting Land Cruiser. “It

was part of our culture, and the most

admired men of that time were the pro-

fessional hunters. Those were the great

white hunters of legend; Hollywood

stars idolized them, tycoons were in

awe of them, and poachers trespassed

on their hunting grounds at their peril.”

Indeed, a strict code of ethics pre-

vailed among the hunters, who trained

for four years under licensed profes-

sionals, then spent another three years

as interns before being subjected to a

rigid test. Once licensed, the hunters

were expected to maintain their con-

cessions, often building hospitals and

schools for the local peoples. They

knew every pride of lions, every herd

of zebras and elephants, and every

watering hole where they hunted.

“More than trophies, what the white

hunters o�ered was a taste of a life like

no other,” says Kent.

But with increasing numbers of ani-

mals populating endangered-species

lists, it was clear that the day of the

big-game hunt and the white hunters

was coming to an end. Even the ritual

lion hunts that had deyned indigenous

cultures for centuries were now being

legislated out of existence. “When I

led that safari into the Sudan, I knew

it probably would be my last shooting

hunt,” says Kent as our Land Cruiser

rolls into the company’s Lewa Wildlife

Conservancy camp on the Laikipia

Plateau, where we will spend the next

two nights. “By 1975 I had given up

the hunting end of the safari business

altogether, forsaking ri�es for cameras

and adopting the slogan, ‘Go hunting

with a camera, not with a ri�e.’ ”

in addition to its private-jet safaris through Africa in March and April, Abercrombie & Kent

has announced an around-the-world journey hosted by Geofrey Kent himself. Scheduled

for October 2014, the 26-day trip (reserved for 50 guests, priced from $105,000 per person)

begins on the Amazon, in the two most stylish cruisers on the river. A subsequent visit to

Easter Island includes a demonstration of haka pei (downhill sledding) and a walk among

the moai, the island’s famous statues. After a relaxing stop in Samoa comes an anthropo-

logical interlude with the Huli people in Papua New Guinea followed by three nights in

Bali, during which guests can see Komodo dragons and take in the kecak fre dance. In Sri

Lanka, a stay at the Amangalla resort includes shopping for some of the country’s famed

blue sapphires. Madagascar brings lemurs and a ylang-ylang distillery before the journey

heads for a mobile tented camp in Kenya’s Maasai Mara. A fnal fete in Monaco sends

guests back to their homes from Geofrey Kent’s adopted one. Travel throughout is via

a chartered Boeing 757 jet. Abercrombie & Kent, www.abercrombiekent.com —jeff anderson

Tac Pksmci th P�ersic Jci

“When I led that

safari into the

Sudan, I knew it

probably would be my

last shooting hunt.”

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A&K’s mobile camp at the Lewa

Wildlife Conservancy highlights another

of Kent’s in�uences on the modern-day

safari. For decades, traditional safari tents,

known as manyaras, were awkward ayairs,

with as many as 100 poles bristling like a

thicket for support and tarpaulins spread

on the ground to keep occupants dry.

Setting them up could take hours, and

the result was a rustic shelter with spin-

dly cots draped with mosquito netting

and para�n lamps for light.aIn the morn-

ing, safari goers made do with a basin of

hot water set on a table just outside the

tent’s entrance. Guests would share one

toilet—a seat mounted on a box over a

pit lined with lime—and a “shower tree,”

or a sturdy branch at just the right height

to hang a 3-gallon canvas bucket �lled

with water.

A&K’s modern “mobile camping” tents

bear little resemblance to those that once

dotted East Africa. The spacious, veranda-

fronted tents at the Lewa outpost are made

of heavy-duty canvas, with waterproof

�oors and large arched windows made

from netting.aEach tent is furnished with

two full-size single beds with side tables, a

dressing table with a mirror and washbasin,

and an en suite shower and toilet.

More extravagant are permanent camps

including Sanctuary Olonana, with its

canvas-walled apartments, spa, and spa-

cious restaurant and bar—where Kent

and I watch hippopotamuses splash and

bellow in the river below. Such luxuries

have become commonplace through-

out African game reserves, from Kenya’s

Maasai Mara to South Africa’s Kruger

National Park. Indeed, A&K today is cer-

tainly not alone in oyering an upscale

experience in the bush. But the company’s

leader, after more than a half century of

safaris, is still pioneering new frontiers.

Kent’s clients will see the majesty of

the modern-day safari reach new heights

during A&K’s private-jet trips through

Africa next year. Guests on the excur-

sions will undoubtedly enjoy hassle-free

journeys, but on the oy chance something

does go wrong, Kent has this advice: “The

only thing you can do is keep your wits

about you,” he says, “and act as if, what-

ever is happening, you saw it coming all

along.”

“The truth is, there is no

Abercrombie. I thought

the company’s name

sounded more

upper-crusty with two

names instead of one.”

—ksmiitsh ser

j o u r n e y s

Of Note

P R O M O T I O N


Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong constitute the

three major Chinese metropolises that likely lie at

the heart of our shared global future. This eight-

day tour not only features the most impressive cultural

treasures of these remarkable cosmopolitan cities but

also introduces the daily life of their inhabitants. In

Hong Kong the grandiose colonial history of Central

is contrasted with the everyday ambitions of ordinary

locals as expressed to the fortune-tellers at Wong Tai

Xin temple. Similarly, the communist and imperial

architectural splendors of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square

and Forbidden City are contrasted with a pedicab ride

through the residential districts of the lower-middle and

affluent classes in the traditional hutong or alleyways

of the city’s historic center. In Shanghai, you will spend

time in the three historic divisions of the city—wandering

along the charming mansion-lined streets of the famed

French Concession, investigating the handsome

early-20th-century institutions along the Bund in the

International Settlement, and finally pressing close

along the narrow lanes of the old Chinese quarter. These

remnants of a colonial past are in turn contrasted by

the proud futuristic sentinels of Shanghai’s riverside

business district, an ever-developing skyline boasting

some of the world’s most magnificent contemporary

architecture. Welcome to China.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

on Imperial Tours, please contact FROSCH at

888.682.1544 or [email protected]

Of Note

P R O M O T I O N


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Oceanco will be showcasing its latest yacht projects at the

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in a way few can.

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four cabins, all with bathrooms, including the owner’s cabin

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Modern Sound, Midcentury VibeTwo audio stalwarts deliver cutting-edge performance and enduring design.

b y r o b e r t r o s s p h o t o g r a p h y b y c o r d e r o s t u d i o s

Audiophiles can also be slaves to fash-

ion, and one seeking a music system to

complement a postwar modern interior

will find that most contemporary components are

jarringly out of sync with the classic furnishings of

Eames, Nelson, Noguchi, and other midcentury

designers. So what’s a hepcat hi-fi enthusiast to do?

JBL and Luxman may provide solutions.

The two audio-component companies share

the common goals of achieving excellence in

sound and creating timeless design. Combined,

they claim more than 150 years of experience

advancing the audio arts. JBL, an American

company, is renowned in the United States and

Japan, while Japan’s Luxman is almost unknown

in this country. The two brands may seem

The JBL Synthesis S4700 speaker (right)

is a perfect visual and aural match to the

Luxman electronics and turntable.

h o M e e n t e r t A i n M e n t


A window exposes the glowing valve—

a warm reminder of the time when vacuum

tubes ruled the audio world.

These Luxman components feature refned tube topology and a retro style that complements this 1955 painting by the artist Hans Laabs.

unlikely bedfellows, but the musical—

and visual—synergy realized by pairing

their components can be brilliant.

Luxman—which was founded in

1925 in Osaka as a radio-equipment

importer and is now a subsidiary of the

International Audio Group—designs,

assembles, and tests its products in Japan.

On a Higher Note, a company in San

Juan Capistrano, Calif., serves as the

Luxman distributor for North America.

Most current Luxman gear is solid

state, but the company tips its hat to

the vacuum tube by continuing to ofer

its longest-lived product, the SQ-38u

integrated amplifer ($6,000). Though

it has evolved through 11 iterations

since its debut in 1964, the amp retains

the classic look of the original with

an exquisitely machined aluminum

faceplate, velvet-smooth controls, and

a wood cabinet. The SQ-38u’s sound is

anything but retro. The 44-pound com-

ponent employs a quartet of EL-34 out-

put tubes and massive, custom-wound

transformers to deliver 30 watts per

channel into 6 ohms. This is potent

vacuum-tube power and, as the amp

demonstrated during a test session at

the Harman Luxury Audio Group

headquarters in Northridge, Calif., is

sufcient to drive a pair of JBL’s top-of-

the-line speakers to earsplitting levels.

Luxman makes exceptional digital

playback equipment, including the

D-38u CD player ($4,000). It com-

plements the look and sound of the

SQ-38u amp and features a unique

front-panel switch that allows the lis-

tener to select vacuum-tube or solid-state

output. Vocals and acoustic instruments

sound warmer and more open with

the tube circuit, but some listeners

may prefer the speed and bandwidth

of transistors for amplifed music with

wide dynamic range. A window on

the front panel exposes the glowing

valve—a warm reminder of the time

when vacuum tubes ruled the audio

world. A wood-tr immed remote

control enables Eames-lounge-chair


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Uncanny realism is achieved when analog tapes from the Tape Project are played on the Sonorus Audio ATR10 recorder.

potatoes to take command of the

D-38u without budging.

Responding to the resurgence of

vinyl, Luxman has returned to the

turntable market after a hiatus of nearly

three decades with an impressive deck

called the PD-171 ($6,400 with the

tonearm). The belt-drive turntable

weighs more than 50 pounds and

has a wood trim that matches that of

Luxman’s tube electronics. The massive

aluminum platter is speed-regulated

by a precision-controlled synchronous

a.c. motor and a novel strobe that can

be adjusted by silky plinth-mounted

knobs. The static-balance tonearm

is suitable for even the sumptuous

Ortofon SPU and other high-mass

phono cartridges, as long as they are

accompanied by a heavier counter-

weight. The SQ-38u amp is equipped

with a superb phono stage that accom-

modates moving-magnet and high- and

low-output moving-coil cartridges. The

Brinkmann Pi ($2,700, distributed by

On a Higher Note), a low-output

moving-coil cartridge, was the choice

for our listening test involving the

Luxman components and JBL speakers.

b�� oet stpe��ht�sa in 1946 in

Los Angeles by James B. Lansing, who

had been designing and producing

loudspeakers since the 1920s. Now

owned by Harman, JBL has been

bringing sound to professional studios,

concert halls, and living rooms since

its founding. JBL’s high-end compo-

nents, including its cagship $75,000,

630-pounds-a-pair Everest DD67000

loudspeakers, are sold under the JBL

Synthesis brand.

Like the Everest, the S4700 speaker

($20,000 a pair and 120 pounds apiece),

which the company introduced last

year, employs JBL’s most sophisticated

technology. With 94 dB efficiency

and 6-ohm impedance, the S4700 is

the perfect mate for the Luxman rig.

It achieves realistic volume on massed

orchestral passages, high-powered jazz,

and amplided rock music.

For the listening test, two S4700

speakers were placed about 8 feet apart

in a moderately damped, 500-square-

foot room. The playlist included CDs,

LPs, and analog tape with an emphasis

on unamplided classical, jazz, and vocals.

(The analog tape—from the Tape Project,

which produces and sells copies of studio

master tapes—was played on a $13,000

Sonorus Audio ATR10 recorder.)

Blue Note Records classics such

as Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil,

remastered on a 45 rpm LP, rendered

Shorter’s tenor sax with body, timbre,

and explosive dynamics that placed

the horn right in the room. Bach’s Art

of the Fugue, performed on organ by

Charles Krigbaum and pressed on a

rare 45 rpm Mark Levinson LP from

1976, plumbed the depths; one could

hoM e e n t e r t A i nM e n t

146 �� s ��p ts ps��s� ��m2

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Voices—the true measure of

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captured with dynamic

realism, corporeal sub-

stance, and plenty of air.

A JBL Synthesis S4700 speaker delivers high effciency and extreme accuracy and pairs well with this 1959 serigraph by Auguste Herbin.

feel the pipes moving the air in a large,

reverberant hall. A CD by the O-Zone

Percussion Group reproduced cymbals,

snare drums, and gut-wrenching kick

drums with frightening attack and no

overhang. Voices—the true measure

of a speaker’s mettle—were captured

with dynamic realism, corporeal sub-

stance, and plenty of air. From bawdy

Renaissance songs to Mose Allison’s

“If You Live” on master tape, the JBLs

placed the singer precisely, on stage or

in the jazz club. And with low-level,

near-beld listening, the speakers ren-

dered detail with electrostatic-like pre-

cision. The S4700 is suited to smaller

rooms as well as the expansive, open-

plan rooms favored by post-and-beam

and Case Study abcionados.

Key to the speaker’s sound is JBL’s

proprietary driver technology. Two

compression drivers firing through

a single-piece SonoGlass dual-horn

assembly reproduce mid and high

frequencies. A 2-inch driver with a

titanium diaphragm handles midrange

frequencies from 800 Hz on up. Atop

the 2-inch driver is a 0.75-inch driver

that crosses over at 12,000 Hz and goes

to an inaudible 40,000 Hz. Positioned

on the front ba�e, below both drivers,

is a cast-frame 15-inch woofer with a

dual 3-inch voice coil and a neodym-

ium motor structure porting through a

single rear opening. Dual binding posts

allow biwiring or biamping. The S4700

speaker’s furniture-grade cabinet is

veneered in cherry on all sides, so that

it will not display an unbnished back-

side regardless of where it is placed in a

room. The speaker’s color is an uncanny

match to the Luxman veneers.

While showcasing the JBL speakers,

our listening session also demonstrated

that the Luxman electronics deliver far

more than their modest power—and

price—suggests. Like the legendary

Marantz and McIntosh gear of the 1960s,

these are heirloom components. Likewise,

JBL speakers are worthy of being passed

down to the children’s children. With

their style, substance, and impeccable

sound, the Luxman and JBL components

form a system for the ages.

JBL Synthesis, www.jblsynthesis.com;

Luxman, www.luxman.com; On a Higher

Note, www.onahighernote.com; Sonorus

Audio, www.sonorusaudio.com; The Tape

Project, www.tapeproject.com


148 roee rtsorp �tspt�etr ��

This custom home inculdes a large great room, de-

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room, large indoor spa and therapy room, wine room

and breakfast nook. In addition, it features two laundry

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coming home easy and convenient, no matter which

outdoor pursuit may have caught your interest.

Located within Yellowstone Club, a private ski and gold

resort in Big Sky, Montana. Built on 2.10 acres of pris-

tine pine-treed land, this home freatures reclaimed logs

and trusses from an original homestead in Jackson,

Wyoming. The golden wood and log accents nicely

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home’s intuitive mountain layout. With classic alpine ar-

chitecture creating just the right ambiance, 310 Andes-

ite Ridge Road is the defi nition of a fi rst-class log home.

For a tour of this property visit robbreport.com/ychome or contact

Melody Larsen [email protected], (310) 589.7712.


Register of Advertisers

Robb Report© ISSN - 0279-1447 is published monthly by CurtCo Robb Media, LLC, 29160 Heathercliff Road, Malibu, CA 90265. Subscription rates $65 U.S. per year, Canada $75 U.S. per year, International $105 U.S. per year. Canadian GST 125220368. For change of address, send both old and new addresses to: ROBB REPORT SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT, P.O. Box 422554, Palm Coast, FL 32142-2555. Allow six weeks for changes. Periodicals postage paid at Malibu, Calif., and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ROBB REPORT SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT, P.O. Box 422554, Palm Coast, FL 32142-2555. Back issues are available for $14.99 each. Call (800) 947-7472 to order. Occasionally we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers, please advise us at P.O. Box 422554, Palm Coast, FL 32142-2555. Please include your exact name and address.

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Brunello Cucinelli, pages 14-15

Buben & Zorweg, page 44

BurgerFi, page 69

Carl F. Bucherer, pages 22-23, Cover 3

Cesare Attolini, page 24

Christopher Designs, page 31

Clerc, page 59

Corneliani, pages 12-13

Crystals at CityCenter, page 37

Cvstos, page 97

Dior, page 26

Domus Design Collection, page 145

Ermenegildo Zegna, pages 8-9

Fig Restaurant, Santa Monica, page 130

Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, page 141

Franck Muller, page 70

Frosch, page 139

GIA - Gemological Institute of America, page 34

Girard-Perregaux, page 77

Greubel Forsey, page 85

Harrison K-9 Security Services, page 147

Hermès, pages 4-5

HondaJet, page 67

Inspirato, pages 20-21

Isaia, page 35

Jacob & Co., page 83

Jaeger-LeCoultre, page 73

Jaquet Droz, page 28

Johnnie Walker Platinum, page 65

Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet, page 129

Kiton, pages 10-11

LG Electronics, page 95

Lugano Diamonds, pages 18-19

Maiora, page 138

Martin Katz, page 99

Maserati, page 46

Molina, page 39

NetJets, page 55

Oceanco, page 63

Patek Philippe, Cover 4

Poliform USA, page 124

PrivatSea, page 36

Ralph Lauren, Cover 2-page 3

Richard Mille, pages 16-17, 52

Scotch Malt Whisky Society, page 142

Silhouette, page 45

St. Regis New York, page 30

Stefano Ricci, page 49

Technogym, page 137

The Virginian Golf Club, page 38

Todd Reed, page 81

Tom Ford, pages 6-7

Ulysse Nardin, page 51

Wesco, page 135

Yellowstone Club, pages 100-101

Yellowstone Club Custom Home, page 149

Zenith Watches, page 79

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Roberto BolleA conversation with a primo ballerino given to spectacular leaps—on stage and off.

When did you become interested in fashion?

I became a principal dancer with La Scala when I was 21,

and Milano is a city of fashion. From the beginning, design-

ers would ask me to come to their shows, and I got to know

Mr. Armani, then Dolce and Gabbana, and actually became

friends with all of these fashion designers in Milano. It was

a very natural process, and it was the first time I had worn

designer clothes.

Are you particular about the details of your

wardrobe?

Yes. I don’t wear a lot of color; it’s too extravagant, in a way.

I like blue or gray and white. I don’t like when there is the

name [a logo] on the shirt—also too extravagant. I like

quality—in the material, how it drapes, how it’s cut, a nice

fit on the body. And I don’t like short trousers. I like them

quite long, actually. I have big feet, and if the trousers are

short my feet look even bigger.

Do you wear jewelry?

I don’t have much jewelry. I have to take it off before

training and after a while I lose it. So I decided not to put

it on anymore. Now, I just have watches. When I go out in

the evening, I have a Rolex that doesn’t look like a

Rolex—a Cellini—because Rolex, they are usually too

much. I also have a [Cartier] Santos 100; it’s a little bigger

and very masculine. And I have a few Longines watches,

because I have done advertisements for Longines.

How do you relax?

Being in water is really regenerating for me. Every year I

charter a boat for a week, and I think it’s the best way to

spend my free time. I have the boat, I have my friends, we

are free to choose where to go, and there are no crowds. We

go to different places in the Mediterranean, Greece, or

Turkey, or around Italy. Last year, we rented a catamarano and

went to Croatia. It’s a beautiful place with beautiful water.

We hear you got your advanced diving certificate

last year in the Maldives.

I love diving and swimming. First, for the feeling of the

water. Then, in diving, you’re actually entering another

world. You leave this world and go into another dimension.

You float, you’re down 20 or 30 meters, and everything is

so quiet, so calm, so different.

You have also skied sand dunes in Dubai and

jumped from a waterfall in the Philippines.

I’ve jumped from a lot of waterfalls. In the Philippines, it was

quite high—20 meters, maybe—and I would try many, many

more things like that if I weren’t dancing. But I understand it’s

risky and I cannot do it. If you even twist an ankle, you can be

off for weeks. In Hong Kong, when I was there with ABT on

tour, I went to the amusement park and there were a lot of—

how do you call it? Montagne russe?—roller coasters, where

you go very fast, upside down, things like that. So for now I

am doing roller coasters, not jumping from waterfalls.

D iscovered as a teenager in Italy by Rudolf Nureyev,

Roberto Bolle is a principal dancer at both La Scala in

Milan and the American Ballet Theatre in New York. His

athletic, 6-foot-2-inch frame has helped make him a powerful

presence on stage as well as in the fashion world—as a model for

Salvatore Ferragamo and other brands, and as the subject of a

book by photographer Bruce Weber. Robb Report caught up with

Bolle, 38, after a day of practice for Sylvia, the Sir Frederick

Ashton ballet that marked the end of the ABT’s season. The

dancer would then return home to Milan for two days before

beginning a tour of his dance showcase, Roberto Bolle and Friends,

through Korea, Italy, and New York, where the show will

have its American premiere on September 17. “I’m always with

suitcases,” he says. —michalene busico

Lu

cia

no

R

om

an

o

■ The Robb Reader

■


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10Show Business

A number of aircraft manufacturers introduced new models at this year’s European Business

Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Geneva, showing signs that the industry is looking up—and giving

customers a glimpse into aviation’s not-so-distant future. BY MARY GRADY

14 The Fathers of Modern Private Flight

When the world’s fi rst business jets took fl ight 50 years ago, the two geniuses behind these

revolutionary aircraft—Bill Lear in Wichita, Kan., and Marcel Dassault in France—paved the way for

private aviation as it is known today. BY MICHELLE D. SEATON

25 Above and Beyond

With its new super-midsize G280 and large-cabin, ultralong-range G650, Gulfstream shows

why it is an industry leader. BY BAILEY S. BARNARD

30Two Sides to the Story

Members of Robb Report’s Private Aviation Advisory Board discuss a possible downside of the economic

upturn and one benefi t of the recession. BY LARRY BEAN | ILLUSTRATION BY UMBERTO MISCHI

38High Wired Act

Wireless Internet access on a business aircraft is no longer an option; it is a necessity. But retrofi tting a plane with

this now-standard feature can be a costly endeavor. BY MICHELLE D. SEATON | ILLUSTRATION BY GREG BETZA

44Flight Plans

Leading fl ight-service providers have made multibillion-dollar investments in their fl eets and refi ned

their programs, giving customers new aircraft to look forward to and more options than

ever when fl ying privately. BY BAILEY S. BARNARD

50Pilot Delights

Owner-operators have waited a long time for personal jets from Honda, Eclipse, and Cirrus, and are continuing

to hold their positions in line as deliveries grow near. Meanwhile, Icon Aircraft prepares its amphibious sport plane,

as the world holds its breath for Terrafugia’s fl ying car. BY BAILEY S. BARNARD AND MARY GRADY

ON THE COVER // The Dassault Falcon 2000LXS; photograph by Katsuhiko Tokunaga

From the publishers of Robb Report (www.robbreport.com)

For advertising inquiries, please contact Daniel Curtis, [email protected], 212.230.0253.

44 14 10

contents

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KENN RICCI, a 30-year veteran of

the private-aviation industry who

founded Flight Options and is the

principal of its parent company,

Directional Aviation Capital,

agrees with the widely held view

that the industry’s recovery has

been modest but nevertheless

encouraging. “I think everybody

hoped f ve years ago that 2013

would be signif cantly better than

it is,” he says. “But it’s now the

new normal, and we’ve gotten

accustomed to it. And as new

normals go, we’re seeing very

good growth.”

Ricci has reason to be

conf dent about the future of

business aviation. In the last 18

months, service providers have

signed purchase deals with aircraft

manufacturers totaling tens of

billions of dollars. NetJets, Flexjet,

Flight Options, and Europe’s

VistaJet are among the companies

pumping enormous amounts of

investment capital into their f eets

(see “Flight Plans,” page 44).

These aircraft orders, along with

the strong demand for

Gulfstream’s new business jets (see

“Above and Beyond,” page 25),

should keep manufacturers’

assembly lines rolling for the

foreseeable future.

Though the Great Recession

has presumedly passed, it

continues to claim casualties. The

Wichita, Kan.–based aircraft

manufacturer Hawker Beechcraft

shuttered its jet business (and the

Hawker name with it); Cessna is

closing the doors on its

CitationAir fractional-share and

jet-card programs; and the future

of the fractional-share provider

Avantair appears uncertain.

The exits of these businesses

from the industry and the

imminent departures of

experienced pilots and other

essential aviation personnel—who,

thanks to the economic recovery,

now may be able to af ord to

retire—could present concerns for

f ight-service customers and

aircraft owners as they continue to

invest in private travel. (See “Two

Sides to the Story,” page 30.)

The f rst jet-powered private

aircraft, from Lear Jet and

Dassault, made their maiden

f ights 50 years ago (see “The

Fathers of Modern Private Flight,”

page 14), but the time may not be

right to uncork the Champagne

and celebrate the golden

anniversary. And instead of

rejoicing in a full-blown recovery,

in this—our fourth annual Private

Aviation Sourcebook—Robb

Report’s writers, editors, and Private

Aviation Advisory Board members

are keeping seat belts fastened

while the industry continues to

normalize. We can, however,

recline our seat backs, because the

cruising altitude may not be as

high as it once was, but the f ight

is smoother than it has been.

—the editors

The New Normal

K‘‘’’

AS NEW NORMALS

GO, WE’RE SEEING

VERY GOOD

GROWTH.

—KENN RICCI,FLIGHT OPTIONS’FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN

editors’ letter


THe NeXT JeT ✪ Nextant

Aerospace has introduced a major

upgrade to the 400XT, a remanu-

factured jet based on the Hawker

Beechjet 400A/XP airframe that

Cleveland-based Nextant has been

selling since 2011. The new

remanufactured jet, the Nextant

400XTi (216.261.9000, www

.nextantaerospace.com), is equipped

with the same powerful Williams

engines and Rockwell Collins Pro

Line avionics as its predecessor, and

the same updated engine nacelles

and pylons that extend the aircraft’s

range to about 2,300 miles.

The 400XTi features a new

composite cabin shell that leaves

additional headroom and shoulder

room, making the most of the

aircraft’s squared-oval cabin

design. This shell also provides

extra insulation for a quieter

fl ight. In the cockpit, a new

THE ANNUAL EUROPEAN

Business Aviation

Convention & Exhibition

(EBACE), held in May in

Geneva, served as the stage

for Bombardier to present

a new super-midsize jet

and for Pilatus, a company

that has been producing

planes for more than seven

decades, to announce that

it was building its fi rst jet.

Also during the three-day

event, which is Europe’s

largest business-aviation

trade show, Nextant

announced that it was

upgrading its remanufac-

tured jet, and Eurocopter

unveiled its new helicopter

and the premium interiors

that are available with it.

Show BusinessNew jets from Bombardier and Pilatus starred at this year’s EBACE. // By Mary Grady

TGeTTING ITs wINGLeTs

THE RAKED WINGLETS

OF NEXTANT’S NEW

400XTi ADD TO THE

JET’S EFFICIENCY.

◗

‘‘’’THe 400XTi

FeaTUres a New

COmpOsITe

CaBIN sHeLL

THaT maKes THe

mOsT OF THe

aIrCraFT’s

sQUared-OVaL

CaBIN desIGN.

show business

10 robb report private aviation sourcebook fall 2013

auto-throttle reduces pilot

workload while saving fuel. The

wings feature raked wingl ets that

add to the jet’s efl ciency.

Nextant will deliver the $4.95

million 400XTi as a new aircraft

with all of its major components

refurbished or replaced and a full

two-year warranty.fiFractional-share

and membership provider Flight

Options, which is owned by the

same investment group that owns

Nextant, plans to take delivery of

as many as two dozen of the jets

over the next three years.

meeTING THe CHaLLeNGe

✪ Recognizing that an aircraft’s

cabin amenities can be as big a

selling point as its performance,

the Canadian manufacturer

Bombardier gave the cabin of its

popular super-midsize Challenger

300 a thorough makeover for the

new Challenger 350 (514.861.9481,

www.businessaircraft.bombardier.com).

The 350’s cabin is more than 7

feet wide, and its windows are two

inches larger than the 300’s. It

features new in-� ight entertain-

ment and cabin-management

systems, a new modular galley,

leather seats, wood � nishes, and

metal trim.

Fractional-aircraft-share

provider NetJets has ordered 75

of the $25.9 million jets and will

take delivery of the � rst ones

produced. Bombardier expects

deliveries to begin toward the

middle of next year. The company

will continue to o� er the 300, so

the new model will expand the

Challenger line to four jets.

Two new Honeywell engines

boost the Challenger 350’s power

by about 15 percent compared to

the 300’s. Canted winglets increase

the wingspan, helping make the

350 the quickest climber in

Bombardier’s � eet; the aircraft takes

just 18 minutes to reach a cruise

altitude of 41,000 feet. It cruises at

speeds as fast as 541 mph and can

carry as many as eight passengers

for 3,682 miles.

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THE NEW $25.9 MILLION

CHALLENGER 350 OFFERS

NUMEROUS UPGRADES OVER

THE CHALLENGER 300.

◗

show business

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headquartered in Stans,

Switzerland. The aircraft, which

can be flown by a single pilot, has

a range of 2,200 miles, and it

cruises at 489 mph. That is more

than 150 mph faster than the

cruise speed of the company’s

popular PC-12 NG turboprop.

Deliveries of the PC-24 are on

track to begin in 2017. Pilatus

will start taking orders for the

$8.9 million jet early next year.

The 500-cubic-foot cabin of

the PC-24 is the roomiest in the

light-jet category and the only

one with a flat floor. It carries as

many as 10 passengers in seats that

can be added or removed in just a

few minutes. The cabin’s aft

partition is easy to move, so

travelers can choose how much

space to allocate for cargo, which

they can access during flights.

The jet is agile enough to land

on runways as short as 2,525 feet,

which gives it access to small

airports that may be closer to

travelers’ destinations.

Very ImpressIVe ✪

Available in VIP and executive

versions, the new medium-class

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.com) features a 434-cubic-foot

cabin, a cruise speed in excess of

170 mph, and a range just beyond

690 miles.

The VIP version, which seats six

to eight passengers, is ofiered with

a choice of three interior-design

motifs created by Pegasus Design,

the London-based completions

�rm that specializes in interiors

for yachts and private jets. The

look of the Rhapsody cabin is

inspired by modern sports cars;

the Symphony has a contempo-

rary French flair; and the Allegory

is intended to evoke a European

villa. The executive version of the

EC175 accommodates nine to 12

passengers. Both iterations of the

aircraft have big, square windows

that allow natural light to flood

the cabin. Both versions will be

priced at about $22.5 million.

Eurocopter began designing

this model from the ground up

eight years ago; the �rst prototype

flew in 2009. Certi�cation of the

EC175 in the United States and

Europe is expected in early 2014,

and the company plans to begin

initial deliveries soon thereafter.

The �rst VIP delivery is sched-

uled for 2015.

swIss made ✪ With twin-jet

performance and reliability, a

roomy cabin, a huge cargo door,

and the ability to take ofi from

and land on short runways or

even packed-dirt landing strips,

the new Pilatus PC-24 (877.578.

8583, www.pilatus-aircraft.com) is

the Swiss Army knife of aircraft.

This is the �rst jet from Pilatus,

the 74-year-old manufacturer

eLBOw rOOm

WITH A 500-CUBIC-

FOOT CABIN, THE PC-24

IS THE ROOMIEST JET

IN ITS CATEGORY.

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CHeery CHOpper

THE EC175 FEATURES

LARGE WINDOWS THAT

ALLOW NATURAL LIGHT

TO FLOOD THE CABIN.

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When the business jet was born 50 years ago, Bill Lear and Marcel Dassault—

two very disparate geniuses—both could claim paternity. // By Michelle D. Seaton

LEAR JET 23

THE FIRST LEAR JET BORROWED FROM THE P-16 JET FIGHTER (FRONT).

E

MYSTÈRE 20

THE FIRST FALCON INCLUDED ELEMENTS OF THE MYSTÈRE IV JET FIGHTER.

LEARJET 85

BOMBARDIER’S

NEW MIDSIZE JET

WILL REACH A SPEED

OF 541 MPH.

EVEN IF BILL LEAR’S name had not become synonymous with private

jets, he still would be an aviation-industry legend. Lear may have started out

as just another high-school dropout with a passion for making radio receiv-

ers, but he had an unusually high IQ and could be monomaniacal about his

tinkering, working so many hours that he often forgot to eat. In the 1920s,

Lear invented one of the f rst car radios. (He also invented the 8-track tape,

in 1964.) Then he fell in love with f ying. He built a biplane in his backyard

(but he could not get it to f y). Later he bought a plane and paid a commer-

cial pilot to teach him to f y it. He got lost on his f rst cross-country f ight,

which led him and his company, Lear Developments, to improve the signal

receivers inside airplanes so that it would be easier to f nd beacons at airports.

Then he created the Learoscope, a direction f nder that enabled pilots to

navigate using radio signals. He continued to invent instruments for f ying,

including the autopilot, which drew the interest of the U.S. military. ➞E

FALCON 2000LXS

DASSAULT’S LATEST

SUPER-MIDSIZE JET

HAS A RANGE OF

4,600 MILES.


In 1960, at age 58, Lear was very

wealthy and equally restless. Like

everyone else in the aviation indus-

try, Lear looked at Boeing’s 707, the

f rst successful passenger jet, and

saw the future of air travel. Already,

airports were building longer and

more durable runways to accom-

modate the airliners. Already, a new

generation of air traf c controllers

had to be trained to track them.

Lear should have been thinking

about how to build instruments for

these jets. Instead, he wanted to

build one of his own. He wondered

why a smaller jet would not sell to

businesses and private owners that

could af ord one. Weren’t they in a

hurry to get to their destinations?

Didn’t they want to f y above the

clouds on their own schedules?

There was only one problem: Lear

had never designed an aircraft.

He had loved tinkering with his

old Lockheed Lodestar, a World

War II–era troop transport that the

Air Force had given him so that he

could design new autopilot sys-

tems. But Lear wanted to see how

fast the plane could go, so during

the mid 1950s, he replaced the

engines to give it more power.

He also had his engineers remove

the door handles and f le down

the rivets to reduce drag. Then he

tore out the seats in the back and

‘‘’’I HAVE SPENT

MY WHOLE LIFE

DISCOVERING

NEEDS AND THEN

FINDING WAYS TO

FULFILL THEM.

—BILL LEAR

LEAR JET 23

THE AIRCRAFT MADE

ITS MAIDEN FLIGHT IN

OCTOBER OF 1963.

◗

The Fathers of Modern Private Flight


installed carpeting, a divan, and a

small bathroom. He added a bar

and lined the walls with paneling.

Lear sold the aircraft for $200,000

and bought two new Lodestars for a

fraction of that price. He had found

a new passion, and he was deter-

mined to modify the plane until he

could get its airspeed above 300

mph and its range to 3,800 miles.

He would rename it the Learstar

and sell it as a private plane. Lear

hoped to sell hundreds of Learstars,

at a price of about $650,000 each.

In the end he sold at least 60, but

the project required huge amounts

of capital, man-hours, and spare

parts. Lear Incorporated (Lear had

changed the company name from

Lear Developments) continued to

lose money on each aircraft it sold

until Lear gave in and sold the aero-

nautics division in the late 1950s.

But he remained convinced that a

market for fast and luxurious air-

craft existed.

LEARJET 85

THE 10-PASSENGER

CABIN IS THE

LARGEST IN THE

LEARJET FLEET.



So here was Lear at the end of

the decade, dreaming of making

another Learstar, but one with jet

engines.

Creating a jet that would appeal

to airlines, charter companies, and

corporate titans was a task on the

to-do list of every aircraft manufac-

turer. In the United States, Lockheed

was going forward with its JetStar.

In England, De Havilland had one

on the drawing board, called the

Jet Dragon (also known as the DH

125, which after many iterations

was renamed the Hawker 800).

And in France, a jet was conceived

by Dassault Aviation founder and

CEO Marcel Dassault, a genius

much like Lear but made from a

very dif erent mold.

DASSAULT WAS BORN in 1892

as Marcel Bloch. After World War

II, he changed his last name to

FALCON 2000LXS

THE JET CAN LAND

ON AND TAKE OFF

FROM RELATIVELY

SHORT RUNWAYS.



ONE OF THE

GOLDEN RULES

OF AVIATION

IS THAT HIGH

PERFORMANCE

ALWAYS PAYS OFF.

—MARCEL DASSAULT

‘‘’’Dassault, the nickname his brother, Paul, had earned during the war while f ghting for the French resistance. Paul had a preference for battle tanks, called char d’assault

in French. Not only did Marcel Dassault

f nish high school, he earned diplo-mas from engineering school and the prestigious École Supérieure de l’Aéronautique, where he was well schooled in the physics of f ight. After graduation, Dassault designed the Éclair propeller, which was used on numerous airplanes. From there he designed f ghter planes, and after World War I he created an aviation company that designed military and civil aircraft, including troop transports.

Although Dassault never learned to f y, he loved to be in the air. He loved the sensation of f ight and became renowned for his ability to create airplanes that were agile and easy to f y. By 1935 Dassault’s company was one of the largest aviation businesses in France. As war loomed, he joined the resis-tance, and in due time he was detained by the Vichy government and asked to design troop transport planes for Germany. When he refused, he was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, where he nearly died of diphtheria.

In 1945, within months of his release from Buchenwald, Dassault was working on a twin-engine commuter prop plane called the Flamant. It went into service in 1947 and became famous for its durability. Some were still in ser-vice 30 years later. Dassault also designed several f ghter jets, each one faster than the last.

In 1960, when Lear was still hoping to build a small private jet,

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Dassault signed a contract with the French government to help design the prototype for a supersonic jet. The goal was to create a passenger jet that could f y at Mach 2.2, have a range of 4,500 miles, and carry as many as 50 people. Dassault’s early design specs borrowed heavily from his own delta-wing f ghter jets, and they ultimately inspired the f nal design for the Concorde.

BY 1960, Lear had moved to Switzerland, formed the Swiss American Aviation Company (Lear Incorporated board members and investors had urged him not to put his name on the business because of the failed Learstar venture), opened a plant, and hired a raft of engineers to study various transport planes and f ghter jets in the hope of merging the two platforms into a successful 10-seat jet.

The company started with the FFA P-16, a Swiss-made jet f ghter with a thin, unswept wing design that aided its runway performance. The Swiss military had given up on the design after a couple of accidents, but Lear f ew the plane and loved it. He asked Hans Studer, an engineer who worked for him, to design an airplane around the P-16 wing design.

Lear planned to build the air-frame in Switzerland and then bring his own avionics and landing gear from the United States to complete the aircraft.

However, Lear did not care for the pace of the workday in Switzerland. He was used to boss-ing people around, bullying them into working 60-hour workweeks, if not 20-hour days. He had no patience for workers’ rights or holidays or breaks of any kind.

MYSTÈRE 20

THE JET IMPRESSED

THE PAN AM DELEGATES,

INCLUDING LINDBERGH.

◗



LEAR JET 23

ON ITS MAIDEN FLIGHT

THE JET CRUISED

AT A REMARKABLE

500 MPH.

engineer on the project but did so

from his of ce in Paris, while the

prototype was being built at the

Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport in

the South of France. Every night,

photographs of the prototype would

be sent by train from the airport to

Paris, where Dassault would make

notes on them with his red pen and

send them back by train the next

morning. He made adjustments to

everything from the height of the

tail f n to the design of the staircase

to the logo on the fuselage.

In 1962, Lear closed his plant in

Switzerland, f red everyone, and

moved his operation to Wichita,

Kan., where he boasted to the

CEOs of the city’s other aircraft

makers—which at the time included

Cessna, Beechcraft, and Boeing—

that he would build and certify a

business jet in record time. He

practically lived inside the hangar

and had engineers working a pun-

ishing schedule.

That summer Dassault’s son,

Serge, attended the annual meeting

of the National Business Aviation

Association in Pittsburgh, where

he showed a one-f ftieth scale

When progress stalled on the proto-

type throughout 1961, Lear became

increasingly frustrated.

Meanwhile, Dassault had turned

his attention to the idea of a busi-

ness jet. He closed a company meet-

ing in November of that year by

announcing that Dassault Aviation

would soon launch its f rst busi-

ness jet. He even had a name for it:

the Mystère 20. Two days later,

Dassault sketched a design of the

aircraft, which would hold as many

as eight passengers and be equipped

with twin jet engines positioned

at the rear of the aircraft, above

and slightly behind each wing. He

wanted the aircraft to have a range

of 2,000 miles and a speed approach-

ing Mach 0.9. Dassault used ele-

ments of his Mystère IV f ghter jet

and the fuselage from his Flamant.

It would be an elegant and power-

ful jet.

By this time Dassault was nearly

70 years old. He worked as an

model of the Mystère 20. It was a

huge hit: Nearly 150 business-

aircraft professionals signed up to

receive more information. One

regional carrier of ered to buy a

half dozen of the jets.

The Lear and Dassault proto-

types rolled out within months of

each other. The f rst-ever Mystère

20, equipped with two Pratt &

Whitney engines, left the hangar

in southern France on April 1,

1963. Dassault employees gathered

around it for a simple group photo.

A month later, on May 4, the jet

had its f rst f ight. In attendance

was a group of Pan American

World Airways executives, includ-

ing Charles Lindbergh, then a

technical advisor to the company’s

president. Lindbergh loved the

plane, calling the interior roomy.

Given that he was 6 foot 3, this

was quite a statement. Ten days

later, Pan Am ordered 40 of the

aircraft, the f rst of which was to

be delivered early in 1965.

The Lear Jet 23 also had its f rst

f ight in 1963, in early October,

from an airf eld in Wichita. Few

if any of Lear’s employees fully

LEARJET 70

THE NEW LIGHT

JET CAN REACH

535 MPH AND FLY

AT 51,000 FEET.



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MYSTÈRE 20

THE 6-FOOT-3

LINDBERGH WAS

IMPRESSED WITH THE

CABIN’S SPACIOUSNESS.

The plane featured a pusher con-

f guration in which the propeller

was positioned at the rear of the

aircraft, behind the two engines.

The f rst prototype of the Lear Fan

2100 made its maiden f ight on

Jan. 1, 1981, but the aircraft failed

to earn FAA certif cation and never

went into production.

In 1990, Bombardier acquired

the Learjet brand (the name is now

one word), which is still def ned by

luxury and speed. Within a year,

Bombardier plans to begin deliver-

ing the Learjet 85, a midsize jet

with a fuselage and wings con-

structed primarily of a carbon-

f ber composite. The 10-passenger,

$20 million aircraft will travel as

fast as 541 mph and have a range

beyond 3,400 miles.

The Mystère 20 had a fate dif-

ferent from that of the Lear Jet 23.

As planned, Pan Am took delivery

of the f rst examples in 1965;

in the United States, the aircraft

was known as the Fan Jet Falcon 20.

It became a ubiquitous regional

commuter airplane, used by corpo-

rations and small airlines in many

believed the plane would f y. When

it landed safely, many wept, includ-

ing the test pilot. But he and other

pilots would remark that the Lear

Jet 23 was faster on takeof than

any plane they had ever f own. It

cruised at 500 mph, an unheard of

speed, even for Dassault.

Only about 100 examples of the

Lear Jet 23 sold before production

ceased in 1966, but Lear had

achieved his goal of creating and

producing a business jet. He made

successive improvements to the

design before selling his share of

the company to Gates Rubber

Company in 1969. Lear then went

of on another venture, to invent a

steam-powered car. He died in

1978 at age 75.

At the time of his death, Lear

was developing the Lear Fan 2100,

a seven-passenger turboprop made

of lightweight composite materials

and designed to f y at 41,000 feet.

countries. The company built more

than 500 of them.

Dassault continued to have a

hand in the operation of Dassault

Aviation until his death, in 1986 at

age 94. Serge Dassault inherited

the business from his father and, at

88, remains the chairman and CEO

of the Dassault Group, the parent

company of Dassault Aviation.

The company’s latest jet is the

Falcon 2000LXS. Deliveries of the

aircraft are expected to begin next

year. With enough agility to land

on and take of from relatively short

runways and a 10-passenger cabin

spacious enough that it would

please Charles Lindbergh, the $32.9

million super-midsize jet is a true

descendent of the Mystère 20.

The Learjet 85 and the Falcon

2000LXS are the type of aircraft

that Bill Lear envisioned and Marcel

Dassault continued to pursue—

and which both men ultimately

made possible.

BOMBARDIER LEARJET, WWW

.LEARJET.COM; DASSAULT FALCON,

WWW.DASSAULTFALCON.COM

FALCON 2000LXS

CABIN AMENITIES INCLUDE

HIGH-DEFINITION VIDEO

SCREENS AS LARGE

AS 22 INCHES.



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The latest aircraft from Gulfstream should keep

the company at the top of the business-jet world.

// By Bailey S. Barnard

WHEN IT COMES to aircraft design, the crystal ball is not always

clear. Creating a business jet requires about 10 years from initial

concept to entry into service and tens—if not hundreds—of millions

of dollars to research, develop, build, and certify. So a misread fortune

can cost, well, a fortune. This is why manufacturers do not take the

development of new models lightly. They use every resource at their

disposal to ensure that their aircraft are well received by the market.

Perhaps no business-jet manufacturer is better at removing the

guesswork from the process than Gulfstream Aerospace, which is

based in Savannah, Ga., and has been in operation since 1958. (The

company was originally named Grumman Aerospace.) Gulfstream’s

fi rst business jet entered service in 1968. Its two newest business jets,

the super-midsize G280 and the large-cabin, ultralong-range G650,

both of which entered service late last year, demonstrate the

company’s ability to see the future clearly. ➞

Well CoNNeCted

WITh ITS G280 anD

G650 JeTS, GULFSTReaM

LaUncheD ITS caBIn

cOnTROL aPP, WhIch

enaBLeS iPhOne anD

iPaD cOnTROL OF

caBIn FUncTIOnS.

◗


G280 and G150 use smaller

Honeywell power plants.

At the G650’s service ceiling of

51,000 feet, passengers feel as

though they are fiying at less than

5,000 feet, which is considerably

lower than the cabin altitude of

most airliners and signi�cantly

reduces passenger fatigue.

Gulfstream claims that the

G650 and G280 have the quietest

cabins of any of its aircraft, and

that they are likely the quietest

Gulfstream currently has some

200 orders on the books for the

$64 million G650, and production

is backlogged until 2017. The

G650 will remain alone in its

market segment until Bombardier

delivers its two forthcoming

large-cabin, ultralong-range jets,

the Global 7000 and Global 8000,

which are expected to enter service

in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

According to Gulfstream, the

G650 has been the most successful

launch in the company’s 55-year

history and one of the entire

industry’s most successful.

Gulfstream worked to ensure this

result from the time it began

developing the aircraft, in 2003.

That year, as the company was

preparing deliveries of the G650’s

smaller sibling, the ultralong-range

G550—which replaced the GV, a

model that had come to represent

the pinnacle of private aviation—

Gulfstream’s R & D department,

consisting of some 1,300

engineers, began asking, “What’s

next?” And so began a several-

years-long dialogue with

customers, speci�cally members of

Gulfstream’s Advance Technology

Customer Advisory Team, or

ATCAT. This group, whose

members rotate out regularly to

keep the collective perspective

fresh, comprises Gulfstream jet

owners and operators and other

individuals active in the industry

who are familiar with Gulfstream’s

current lineup. (In addition to the

G280, G550, and G650, the

company also o�ers the midsize

G150 and the large-cabin G450.)

During the early development

of the G650, Gulfstream found

that its customers wanted a jet that

traveled even farther than the

G550’s globe-hopping range, and

they wanted the new jet to go

faster. The ATCAT members also

expressed a strong desire for a

larger cabin with more natural

light, lower noise levels, and

improved pressurization, so that

passengers would feel as though

they were fiying at lower altitudes.

When completed, the jet that

Gulfstream had begun developing

would address all of those requests.

✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

The G650 can travel more than

8,000 miles without refueling,

which is farther than any other

business aircraft, except for private

versions of jetliners from Boeing

and Airbus. With a top speed of

610 mph, the G650 is also the

world’s fastest business jet

currently in production. (The

G550 has a maximum cruise

speed of about 584 mph and a

range of 6,900 miles.) Like all

Gulfstream jets except the G280

and G150, the G650 is powered

by Rolls-Royce engines. The

approximate SpeCiFiCatioNS maximum raNge 8,050 miles maximum

CruiSe Speed 610 mph (Mach 0.925) ServiCe CeiliNg 51,000 feet

CabiN dimeNSioNS 6 ft. 5 in. (h), 8 ft. 6 in. (W), 46 ft. 10 in. (L)

maximum SeatiNg 18 passengers baggage CapaCity 195 cubic feet

StartiNg priCe $64.5 million

g650 ◗

above and beyond

26 �� r ��ober� eboero�p t�i�v��n fall 2013

cabins in the industry. The cabins

benefi t from the R & D

performed at Gulfstream’s

acoustics lab. The facility is run by

technicians who previously

developed submarines for

Gulfstream’s parent company,

General Dynamics, which, among

other interests, is the country’s

sixth largest defense contractor.

Lab workers can test the acoustic

properties of cabin insulation

materials in temperatures as low

as negative-60 degrees Celsius,

which is how cold it can be at the

jets’ operating altitudes.

The G650 and G550 are

certifi ed to seat the same number

of passengers, 18, but G650

passengers have more space. At

6 feet 5 inches tall, 8 feet 6 inches

wide, and 46 feet 10 inches long,

the cabin of the G650 is a few

inches taller, more than a foot

wider, and about 3 feet longer

than that of the G550. The G650

vieW From tHe top

The LaRGe-caBIn,

ULTRaLOnG-RanGe

G65O IS cURRenTLY The

OnLY JeT ITS caTeGORY.

➞


may choose to work with the

Gulfstream completions team and

design their own layout. Available

options include a private ofice and

bedroom, lavatories both forward

and aft, and a full shower.

Gulfstream will work with buyers

to accommodate more outlandish

requests, as long as they pass

muster with the FAA. At the

company’s sales-and-design centers

in Savannah, Dallas, and London,

customers can see and touch the

has slightly less room for baggage

than the G550—195 cubic feet

compared to 226 cubic feet—but

the newer jet has two more of

Gulfstream’s trademark round

windows than the G550 (the new

windows are also 16 percent

larger) and more options for

interior con�gurations.

Gulfstream completes all of its

interiors in-house. For the G650,

the company o�ers 12 di�erent

standard con�gurations. Buyers also

iN WitH tHe NeW

GULFSTReaM

DeVeLOPeD The G280

TO RePLace ITS

SUcceSSFUL G200.

◗

28 �� r ��ober� eboero�p t�i�v��n fall 2013

approximate SpeCiFiCatioNS maximum raNge 4,140 miles

maximum CruiSe Speed 561 mph (Mach 0.85)

ServiCe CeiliNg 45,000 feet CabiN dimeNSioNS 6 ft. 3 in. (h),

7 ft. 2 in. (W), 25 ft. 10 in. (L) maximum SeatiNg 10 passengers

baggage CapaCity 154 cubic feet StartiNg priCe $24 million

options for upholstery, carpeting,

and metal and wood trim.

The combination of ATCAT

members’ wanting more cabin

conveniences and the advents of

the smartphone and tablet

computer led Gulfstream to equip

the cabins of the G650 and G280

with touchscreen controls and

launch its Cabin Control app.

When installed on their iPhone or

iPad, passengers can use the app to

adjust the temperature at their seat,

open and close the nearest window

shade, and select what to watch on

the cabin’s video monitors.

✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

WhILe The G650 is a brand-new

aircraft, the G280 is an

evolutionary model, developed to

replace Gulfstream’s successful

G200. The new jet exceeds all of

its predecessor’s performance

capabilities. Indeed, with a range

beyond 4,000 miles, a top speed

of about 561 mph, and a

10-passenger cabin that is more

than 6 feet tall, more than 7 feet

wide, and nearly 26 feet long, the

G280 is among the best-

performing and most spacious

super-midsize jets on the market.

Gulfstream has not released sales

numbers for the G280, which has a

starting price of $24 million, but it

says demand for the jet is strong

and that the global interest for all

of its jets has increased in recent

years. For example, the number of

Gulfstream jets in China has grown

from about 10 to well over 70 in

the past six years. (Gulfstream used

the model designate G280 because

in Mandarin slang 250 is an insult

meaning fool or simpleton.)

The company continues to

service its customers around the

globe with more than 3,700

workers assigned to product

support. It also has over $1.4 billion

worth of parts located around the

world. For those reasons and

because of such services as Airborne

Product Support, through which

Gulfstream will send a G150 with

a technician and parts directly to

an aircraft in need of urgent repair,

Gulfstream is consistently named

the top manufacturer for service

and support by Aviation International

News and other publications.

Despite its industry-leading

aircraft and stellar service

programs, Gulfstream has been

absent from the multibillion-

dollar orders placed in recent

years by NetJets and other large

service providers. While NetJets

does operate a number of G200,

GIV, G450, GV, and G550 aircraft,

Gulfstream says that it prefers to

sell its jets directly to individual

customers. And why not? With a

four-year, $12.8 billion backlog

for the G650 alone, Gulfstream’s

sales numbers seem just f ne.

Now that Gulfstream’s two

newest jets have entered service,

the company says that it has

begun the lengthy process of

determining what new models to

put on the drawing board. In

other words, the folks in Savannah

are again asking, what’s next?

Maybe a G50 light jet or a G750

jumbo jet. Whatever it decides,

Gulfstream certainly will not have

relied on a crystal ball.

GULFSTReaM aeROSPace,

WWW.GULFSTReaM.cOM

◗

g280

above and beyond


to// Illustration By Umberto Mischi

According to members of the Robb Report Private Aviation Advisory Board, something good

came out of the recession, and some bad may come from the recovery. // By Larry Bean


Two Sidesthe Story

WELCOME AS THE

economic recovery has been by the

companies that supply private-

aviation products and services—

the aircraft makers, fractional-share

and jet-card providers, and charter

operators—the news may not be

all good for customers. It certainly

is not good for the clients of a pair

of fractional-share providers that

appear to have ultimately

succumbed to the recession. And,

needless to say, it is not good for

those two companies. But even

companies that have survived the

recession and now appear to be

thriving may be faced with labor

issues that concern at least one

member of Robb Report’s Private

Aviation Advisory Board and, he

believes, should concern travelers

who f y privately. At the same

time, other board members are

touting the potential benef ts to

clients of a relatively new private-

aviation option, one that sprung

from the recession. ➞

�� a� succ sk�us� �s��p�k p��p��u� �u�s�kcuu� 31

PETER AGUR

IS CONCERNED ABOUT

THE EXPERIENCE

LEVEL OF THE PRIVATE-

AVIATION WORKFORCE.

ILL

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AT

ION

BY

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IS

expensive to hire. Agur fears that

some charter operators will not be

able to cover the expense or be

unwilling to raise their fees for

fear of pricing themselves out of

the market. “The experienced

pilots will be hired by the major

airlines and the large private-

aviation businesses because they

can af ord the cost,” he says.

Or, in the case of large private-

aviation businesses at least, they can

af ord to pass on those costs to their

clients. “If you pay $50 million to

$60 million for your aviation assets,

the operating costs might be a

couple million per year,” says Agur.

“The labor cost is just a small

fraction of that annual cost. And

for high-net-worth individuals and

major corporations, that cost is

consistent with their objectives

and will f t within their budgets.”

THE LEASE YOU CAN DO

AS EXPERIENCED PILOTS become

more valuable, fractional-share

providers NetJets and Flexjet

should be among the private-

aviation companies able to af ord

them. NetJets is owned by Warren

Buf ett’s Berkshire Hathaway, and

Bombardier owns Flexjet. This

f nancial backing also enabled the

two companies to become the

f rst to of er fractional leasing, a

concept that emerged from the

recession, when fractional-share

providers and other private-

aviation companies were

introducing various new programs

in order to remain solvent.

“NetJets and Flexjet can af ord

not to have owners make the whole

PRODUCTION UP,

EXPERIENCE DOWN

ON THE POSITIVE side, aircraft

manufacturers seem to be

conf dent enough in the

economy to ramp up production

of existing models and roll out a

slew of new ones.

However, Peter Agur, the

chairman and founder of the

VanAllen Group aviation

consulting f rm and a member of

the Robb Report Private Aviation

Advisory Board (see page 36 for a

full list of the members and their

credentials) is worried that the

ramped-up production could lead

to inferior products—meaning jets.

“When manufacturers cut back

during the recession, they let go of

their most expensive workers, who

were their most experienced

workers,” says Agur. “When things

tune back up, when demand for

production increases, they hire at

the entry level of the labor pool.

Quality control suf ers dramatically

when the products are built by

neophytes and inspected by

people who are stretched.”

Agur is quick to add that he is

referring to reliability issues, not

safety issues—jet owners do not

have to worry about their aircraft

crashing because it was assembled

by inexperienced workers.

Rather, a jet may not be available

to f y when an owner wants it.

“You won’t be able to complete

your trip, and that will be

frustrating, because that’s not why

you bought an aircraft.”

THE PRICE OF PILOTS

ACCORDING TO AGUR, if the

economy continues to improve,

lack of experience also may

become an issue with pilots. “The

standards are going to have to go

down for pilots and crew in order

to draw from the available

workforce,” he says, referring to

the minimum number of f ight

hours pilots will be required to

accrue before they can be hired.

Agur says that depleted

retirement accounts and other

economic stresses have kept

people—including pilots—in the

workforce longer than they

intended. “But as the economy

makes a positive swing, you’ll see

a f urry of pilot retirements, and

there is a lack of incoming new

talent. There is not the type of

supply coming from the military

that you saw during and after the

Vietnam War. So as the economy

improves, and more people are

f ying privately and commercially,

the demand for pilots will go up,

but the supply will go down.”

Agur does not envision the

pilot shortages that some aviation-

industry observers have forecast,

but he does see experienced

pilots—those with 5,000 or more

f ight hours—becoming more

valuable and therefore more

◗

two sides to the story

32 ptii pvatpn apsucnv cuscnstk �t�p�vitt� 1�33 ��

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ILL

US

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S B

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AR

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laying out a large sum when you

buy the share.”

In terms of overall cost, leasing

fractional shares can be more

expensive than purchasing a f ight

card, but, as Butler notes, it of ers

other benef ts. “As with fractional-

share ownership, you may be able

to negotiate concessions into the

lease contract, which you can’t do

with f ight cards,” he says. Those

concessions may include short-leg

waivers or shorter call-in times to

arrange f ights.

Butler also points out that

annual cost increases are f xed in a

lease contract. “But when a card

runs out, it’s a new day,” he says.

“There are no limits on the cost

of a new card.”

Leasing also may be more

pleasing to a corporation’s

shareholders. “Some companies

don’t like showing a private-jet

asset on the books,” says Butler.

“With a lease, it’s easier to present

the jet as a travel expense, which

may be less controversial with

shareholders.”

FAIR SHARE

CITATIONAIR AND Avantair

apparently never recovered from

the recession or its lingering

ef ects. Last year, CitationAir,

which is owned by Cessna,

stopped selling fractional shares

and jet cards. It now of ers only

charter and aircraft-management

services. In June, Avantair

grounded its f eet of 56 twin-

engine Piaggio P.180 Avanti

turboprops and furloughed its

pilots and other employees. In July,

the company, which was founded

10 years ago in Clearwater, Fla.,

was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Rohde says that owners of

purchase and compensate the

companies up-front,” says Private

Aviation Advisory Board member

James Butler, the CEO of

Shaircraft Solutions, which, among

other services, negotiates fractional-

share contracts for its clients.

Leasing a fractional share is

similar to leasing a car: You make

f xed monthly payments but no

large up-front payment, and at the

end of the lease agreement—

which with NetJets can run from

two to f ve years—you do not own

anything and therefore do not have

to worry about residual values.

“Leasing started after clients had

taken signif cant hits on their

capital investments in fractional

shares,” says Private Aviation

Advisory Board member Lee

Rohde, president of the aviation-

consulting f rm Aviation

Management Systems. “The

benef t is that there is no capital

exposure. You don’t have to worry

about the buy-back rate when

you’re ready to sell your share or

CitationAir shares can expect to

see low residual values when they

sell back their shares at the

conclusion of their contracts, but

until then, they will not

experience any loss in f ight

service—though they may not

always be f ying on CitationAir

jets. “Citation has to retain enough

lift to support the program, but it

can’t continue to hemorrhage

money with its aircraft and

pilots,” says Rohde. “Look for the

company to make an arrangement

with a large charter provider. So

share owners and card holders

can expect to be f ying chartered

planes provided by a third party.

It will be the same plane model

they’ve been f ying, but it won’t

necessarily be outf tted the same.”

Rohde says clients opposed to

such an arrangement do not have

any real recourse, because the

fractional-share and f ight-card

contracts allow CitationAir to use

third-party chartered aircraft.

“The clients can execute their

option to have their share

repurchased, but they’re going to

lose money because of the loss of

the share’s residual value,” says

Rohde. “They’re better of just

f ying out the hours.”

CitationAir clients are in a

much better situation than

Avantair clients will be if the

company does f le for bankruptcy.

“Avantair contracts do not

include a guaranteed buy back, so

clients are not going to get their

capital back,” says Rohde. “If the

company goes into bankruptcy,

its assets will be sold of , and the

money will be divided among

debtors and owners. Owners

probably will be lucky to get f ve

cents on the dollar.”

JAMES BUTLER (TOP)

AND LEE ROHDE

BOTH TOUT THE

BENEFITS OF

FRACTIONAL-

SHARE LEASING.

◗

two sides to the story

34 ptii pvatpn apsucnv cuscnstk �t�p�vitt� 1�33 ��

Peter V. Agur Jr.

Chairman and Founder,

The VanAllen Group

770.507.5001

www.vanallen.com

Peter Agur has been a

management consultant

since 1985. His firm

provides consulting

services for large public

and private corporations,

high-net-worth

individuals, and royal

families. Agur began his

career as an army aviator

and went on to work for

several major airframe

manufacturers. He has a

bachelor’s degree in

aeronautical sciences

from the Metropolitan

State College of Denver

and a master of business

administration from

Georgia State University.

James D. Butler

CEO, Shaircraft Solutions

301.652.9885

www.shaircraft.com

James Butler is an

attorney and CEO. He

negotiates private-air-

travel investments for

individuals and

businesses, including

fractional ownership,

jet-card programs, and

charter. Butler also

specializes in fractional-

share valuation disputes.

His clients include the

professional golfers Scott

Verplank and Scott Hoch

and the NFL Hall of

Famer Howie Long. He

authors Inside Private Air

Travel, a blog devoted to

private air travel (blog

.shaircraft.com).

Edward H. Kammerer

Partner, Hinckley,

Allen & Snyder

401.274.2000

www.haslaw.com

Ed Kammerer advises the

business-aviation

community on a range of

transactions and issues.

He has more than 30

years of experience in

aircraft and equipment

acquisitions and finance.

Kammerer’s strategic

solutions enable his clients

to achieve their business-

aircraft ownership and

operating objectives.

Walter Kraujalis

President, AeronomX

727.233.3429

www.aeronomx.com

Walter Kraujalis is an

aviation consultant and

attorney, with expertise in

safety and flight-operation

audits, jet and helicopter

acquisitions, business

development, and due

diligence. He is an

airline-transport-rated

pilot with more than

10,000 hours of flight

time. Kraujalis is also a

speaker and instructor at

industry functions, and he

has published many

articles in aviation

publications.

Kevin O’Leary

President and CEO, Jet

Advisors

617.600.6868

www.jetadvisors.com

Kevin O’Leary heads Jet

Advisors, a full-service

private-jet acquisition

and brokerage firm that

has negotiated,

contracted, delivered,

exported, and placed into

service more than 600

aircraft. Its Private Jet

Index gives buyers an

advanced analytical tool

for selecting the optimum

private jet based on

nearly 50 parameters.

Prior to founding Jet

Advisors, O’Leary was a

sales manager at Hawker

Beechcraft. He holds an

MBA and is pursuing his

doctorate in aviation at

Embry-Riddle

Aeronautical University.

William J. Quinn Jr.

Managing Director,

Charleston Aviation

Partners

843.886.3313

www.charlestonaviation

.com

Bill Quinn has been

involved in aviation for

nearly 40 years. He has

served as a helicopter

crew chief in the United

States Navy, worked for

several aircraft

manufacturers, founded

successful aviation

businesses, and served as

the director of aviation

for a Fortune 500

company. He holds an

airline-transport pilot

license with type ratings

in both business jets and

helicopters and is a

certified aircraft appraiser.

H. Lee Rohde III

President, Aviation

Management Systems

603.431.3362

www.amsinc.aero

Lee Rohde is the president

of Aviation Management

Systems, a Portsmouth,

N.H., company that

provides management,

technical, operational, and

asset-based consulting

services to the aviation,

financial, insurance, and

legal communities. He

joined the firm in 2005.

Rohde is also a pilot and

holds a bachelor’s degree

in economics and an MBA

from the University of

New Hampshire’s

Whittemore School of

Business and Economics.

Keith G. Swirsky

President, GKG Law, P.C.;

Chairman, Business

Aircraft and Tax Groups

202.342.5200

www.aviationtaxlawyer

.com

Keith Swirsky is an

attorney and tax specialist

focusing on corporate

aircraft transactions and

aviation taxation. He has

practiced law for nearly 30

years and has planned and

structured more than

4,000 aircraft transactions.

His firm provides tax and

regulatory planning and

counseling services to

corporate-aircraft owners,

operators, and managers.

Swirsky counsels on an

array of aviation matters,

including tax-efficient

structures, business terms

and documentation

pertinent to purchases

and sales of both new and

preowned aircraft, and

external management

arrangements.

the Robb RepoRt pRivate aviation advisoRy boaRd


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ACT

// Illustration By Greg Betza

◗

Onboard Internet service is becoming a

necessity for charter and secondary-market jets.

// By Michelle D. Seaton

Wwhen tony hsIeh, the CEO of online retailer Zappos.com, joined the

board of directors for JetSuite in 2011, he wondered aloud why the Irvine,

Calif.–based private-aviation company’s fl eet of Phenom 100 entry-level jets had

no Wi-Fi service. He urged JetSuite CEO Alex Wilcox to spend the money to

upgrade the aircraft. Netjets had added Wi-Fi to its fl eet, and some airlines

were adding it to theirs. Hsieh argued that customers would love the service,

and that it would make JetSuite more competitive.

Wilcox was skeptical, and not just because the upgrade would cost about

$100,000 per airplane, not including the monthly service charges. He was

looking at a $2 million capital investment. And for what? Wilcox

aff ectionately refers to Hsieh as “an Internet maniac who processes a

thousand emails a day.” At the time, JetSuite specialized in discount-priced


fall 2013 tivv tanits ntuc�sa �cu�suik �i�t�avii� 39

the Portsmouth, N.H.–based

private-aviation consulting flrm

Aviation Management Systems

and a member of the Robb Report

Private Aviation Advisory Board,

tells of a client who owns a

Gulfstream GIV-SP. During a

recent conference call the client’s

charter-management company said

that not having Wi-Fi is a deal-

breaker, that corporations will not

lease a jet if it means having their

executives off-line for hours at a

time. Rohde’s client relented and

paid close to $200,000 to install a

system on his jet. “I wouldn’t say

that you are increasing the value of

the jet by doing that. It’s more that

you are bringing it up to the

standard of other jets that are

available,” says Rohde.

He says that for jet owners

seeking to sell their aircraft on the

secondary market, the need to

install Internet service is not yet

so urgent. “It’s a positive for the

airplane, but it doesn’t make or

break the airplane,” says Rohde.

Over time, however, Internet

service will become nearly as

common on secondary-market

jets as it is on new ones, and it

will be increasingly di�cult to sell

a plane that is not equipped with

such capabilities.

ViaSat, a satellite and wireless-

communication company based in

Carlsbad, Calif., provides Internet

service for JetBlue and other

airlines through its own network,

and it has equipped more than 200

large-cabin business jets, including

Gulfstreams and Bombardiers,

with voice and data connectivity.

“We also get requests from private

owners of Boeing 747s and the

Airbus 320,” says Steven Sivitz,

who heads business development

short-haul �ights for people who,

Wilcox believed, probably could

go an hour or two without

tweeting or checking their emails.

Finally, last fall Wilcox decided

to upgrade JetSuite’s Phenom

100s. The company expects that,

by September, all of the aircraft

will have Wi-Fi. Wilcox made the

decision at about the same time

JetSuite took delivery of its flrst

new Citation CJ3, a jet that is

larger and has a longer range than

the Phenom 100. The custom-

ordered Citation had Wi-Fi

installed. Then a strange thing

happened. The JetSuite clients

who �ew on the Citation raved

about the plane, but they raved

more about the speed of its

Internet service. Some requested

the Citation over the Phenom,

even if they did not need its

additional seats or extended

distance. A few customers paid

extra to have the Citation �own

to them in the Midwest because

they wanted the Wi-Fi.

Wilcox feels confldent that

having a �eet of Phenom 100s

wired for Internet service will

change the company’s position in

the market. “It sets us apart from

other providers in this category of

aircraft. Very few of them have it

now,” he says.

Wilcox’s deliberation about

whether and when to upgrade

cabin technologies is playing out

across the private-jet industry,

particularly in the charter and

secondary-sales markets. The

growing demand for in-�ight

connectivity is being driven by

the technology on the jets that

have rolled off the assembly line

in the past two years. Many of

those aircraft have top-of-the-line

‘‘’’In these larger-

cabIn aIrcraft,

... you mIght be

In the aIr for sIx

or eIght hours.

PeoPle have

anxIety attacks

If they are out

of touch for

that long.

—steven sivitz

of viasat

wireless capabilities, enabling

passengers to link seamlessly to

broadband networks, and in some

cases, to synch smartphones and

computer tablets for entertainment

and cabin-management purposes.

(See “Above and Beyond,” page

25.) Jets older than two years

were not produced with these

capabilities, so their owners have

to decide which upgrades are

prudent, given that any are likely

to be expensive.

For owners who rely on charter

revenues to offset some ownership

costs, experts advise that Internet

connectivity is no longer an

option—it is a necessity. This is

particularly true for larger jets that

would be chartered by corporate

clients. Lee Rohde, president of

high wired act

40 bepp btiebv ibansvt snasvaeu cekb�tpee� 2�00 13��

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$150,000. “In general, there is

some interior work [required for

the installation], but it tends to be

minimal—a few days only—and

it can easily be done alongside

other maintenance,” says Wade.

Monthly charges to connect to

the network range from a few

hundred dollars to about $2,000.

While no in-flight Internet

service is likely to be as fast as the

service available in an offce or

home, and while none of Aircell’s

systems yet support streaming

video or movies, the data transfer

speeds are fast enough for business

needs and browsing, says Wade.

“The service has been described as

completely addictive,” says Wade.

JetSuite installed the Aircell

system to upgrade its fleet of

Phenom 100s. (It also uses the

system for its Citation CJ3s.)

Wilcox says his company

scheduled the upgrades alongside

other work that included deep-

cleaning the headliner, re-dying

the seats, retouching some paint,

and installing new carpeting.

“They’re going to have that

new-plane smell,” says Wilcox.

The jets may indeed look, feel,

and even smell new, but the

question is whether any

passengers—addicted to the Wi-Fi

service—will look up from their

smartphones, tablets, or laptops

long enough to notice.

aIrcell, www.aircell.com;

avIatIon management system,

www.amsinc.aero;

JetsuIte, www.jetsuite.com;

vIasat, www.viasat.com

for the company’s business-

aviation branch.

Sivitz notes that the cabin of a

jet is becoming as complex as an

offce in terms of IT requirements,

because more and more passengers

want to be able to conduct video

conferences and use Skype and

other technologies that they use

at work. “In these larger-cabin

aircraft with transoceanic

capabilities, you might be in the

air for six or eight hours,” he says.

“People have anxiety attacks if

they are out of touch for that

long.” He notes that even on

shorter flights, the data usage is

constant. “With our service, you

get on, and you turn on. We have

global coverage, with a couple of

‘‘’’It sets us aPart

from other

ProvIders In thIs

category of

aIrcraft. very

few of them

have It now.

—jetsuite ceo

alex wilcox on

equipping his

company’s phenom

100s with wi-fi

exceptions, including China

and Russia, but we’re working

on those areas.”

With ViaSat’s network service

for business aviation, called

Yonder, passengers can browse,

call, and conference, usually

without worrying about losing

connectivity as they fly from

one country to another.

But installing this type of

system involves visiting a

completion center for a retro�t

that will have the jet out of

service for days or weeks,

and the cost can be nearly

$1 million. Often, owners will

wait and try to piggyback such

an upgrade onto regular

maintenance service or other

cabin upgrades.

Owners of smaller jets and

owners of larger jets who do not

need a global service can turn to

Aircell’s Gogo Biz, a domestic

Internet service for business jets.

The company also provides

Internet service for several

airlines, including American

Airlines, and it is the choice for

Cessna, Dassault, and other

business-jet manufacturers.

Aircell owns a network of

wireless ground stations that

provide coverage for the

continental United States, and

it plans to expand into Canada

next year. Aircell general

manager and executive vice

president John Wade notes that

the most common installation

for Gogo Biz is the company’s

ATG 5000 system, which

usually costs from $110,000 to

high wired act

42 obee optboi tovanip navnivbs ubcokpebb� l�22 013�

Private-aviation companies are investing in the future

of their fleets and refining the programs they offer. // By Bailey S. Barnard


FEW, IF ANY, fl ight-service

providers have come out of the

recession unscathed. Indeed, a

number of once-thriving

companies have shut down or

minimized their operations

(See “Two Sides to the Story,”

page 30). But the good news

for clients and prospective

clients is that the companies

that have survived are investing

heavily in new aircraft and

have added programs or

refi ned their existing programs

to make them more appealing.

Here we spotlight some of the

infl uential companies—

fractional-share, charter, and

other service providers—that

are updating, upgrading, or

right-sizing their aircraft fl eets

or programs to better serve

travelers now and in the years

to come. ➞

LeADING LeAR

europe’s vistajet

offers the learjet

60Xr for regional

Charter travel.

◗

WeLL APPOINteD

Custom global 6000

jets are among the

airCraft in vistajet’s

groWing fleet.

◗

NetJets ✪ If a willingness to

invest in the future is an indication

of financial stability, then Berkshire

Hathaway–owned NetJets is doing

just fine. Through a $17.6 billion

investment, the fractional-share

provider plans to add up to 670

new aircraft to its fleet over the

next 10 years.

In May, NetJets revealed that it

would be the launch partner for

Bombardier’s recently announced

Challenger 350 super-midsize jet

(see “Show Business,” page 10). In

June of last year, NetJets ordered as

many as 200 of the aircraft, which

is expected to enter service by mid

next year. The company also

placed an order for up to 75

Challenger 605 large-cabin jets

from Bombardier and as many as

150 of Cessna’s forthcoming

Citation Latitude midsize jets.

Those deals followed NetJets’ 2011

order for 120 of Bombardier’s

ultralong-range Global jets and its

2010 order for 125 of Embraer’s

Phenom 300 light jets, which have

begun entering NetJets’ fractional

fleet of Signature Series aircraft.

The manufacturers tailor the

Signature Series aircraft for NetJets

by including customized cabin

layouts and amenities, entertainment

systems, and avionics.

In addition to offering

fractional-ownership and

fractional-leasing options, NetJets

provides on-demand charter and

aircraft-management services

through its Executive Jet

Management subsidiary, and it

provides private air travel through

its 25-hour jet cards.

Last year, NetJets announced the

launch of NetJets China, which

recently began offering 25-hour

jet cards for Chinese clients

◗

JOIN tHe CLUB

embraer’s phenom 300

light jets have begun

entering netjets’ fleet.


RIG

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: P

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At press time, the company also

had plans to add an unspecifl ed

super-midsize jet to the program

in the near future.

Ricci notes that the new aircraft

are among several perks of the

program. “The document to enter

the program is one page,” he says.

“It’s so simple, especially when all

you want is the convenience of

private travel.” Ricci also notes

that pricing for membership takes

into account the up-front capital

that members would be spending

on an aircraft or fractional share

and the depreciating values of

those products, among other

considerations.

“I always tell people in our

industry to put your toe in the

water,” says Ricci. “Make a small

investment and see if it works for

you. A product like [the Jet

Membership Club] allows you to

put your toe in the water while still

getting all the benefl ts of owning

an aircraft or a fractional share.”

877.703.2348,

WWW.flightoptions.Com

traveling in the United States and

Europe, and is expected to begin

providing on-demand charter and

aircraft-management services

within China by early next year.

Here in the U.S., the company

planned to open a private FBO in

Palm Beach, Fla., in August, similar

to NetJets facilities at airports in

Atlanta and Van Nuys, Calif.

NetJets also has existing private

facilities in White Plains, N.Y., and

Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio.

866.538.6996, WWW.netjets.Com

FLIGHt OPtIONs � Flight

Options has remained viable by

giving its clients more choices,

according to company founder

and chairman Kenn Ricci. He

says that prior to the recession,

private � iers would make a sizable

investment in one product—a

whole aircraft, a fractional share, a

� ight card, or on-demand

charter—that suited most of their

needs. “But today’s buying public

has become smarter,” says Ricci.

“They might have a fractional

share, and they might charter. Or

they might charter and participate

in a card program.”

In addition to its longstanding

fractional-share and Jet Pass

� ight-card programs, the company

now has its Jet Membership Club,

which launched in June 2011 and

has more than 100 participants.

The program requires a one-time

up-front fee, ranging from

$70,000 to $270,000, depending

on aircraft type and hourly

commitment, which guarantees a

base hourly rate for the three-year

membership period. In 25- or

50-hour blocks, the program

gives members access to the

Embraer Phenom 300 and

Nextant 400XT light jets in the

company’s � eet. Both of these

aircraft o� er the comfort of larger

jets but with lower operational

costs. (Nextant is owned by the

same investment group that owns

Flight Options.)

Flight Options ordered 100

Phenom 300 jets in 2007 and has

received 19; it ordered 40 400XT

jets in 2010 and has received 12;

and it plans to add Nextant’s

recently announced 400XTi jets

(see “Show Business,” page 10) to

its � eet over the next three years.

GLOBe tROtteR

netjets’ signature

series fleet inCluDes

the ultralong-range

global 6000.

✪

eLIte ACCess

flight options’ jet

membership Club

offers aCCess to

the phenom 300.

✪

fl ight plans

fall 2013 ivaa insviu sickrun rkcrucv� �v�i�navv� 47

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vistaJet ✪ Like NetJets,

Europe’s leading charter provider

is making a sizeable investment in

its feet. Last fall, to help meet

higher-than-expected demand

from charter customers in Brazil,

India, China, Russia, and other

European countries, the Swiss

company placed a $7.8 billion

order with Bombardier, whose

aircraft make up the entirety of

VistaJet’s feet.

The deal includes frm orders

for 25 Global 5000 and 25 Global

6000 ultralong-range jets and six

Global 8000 jets. The order also

includes options for 86 additional

Global aircraft. The new Global

5000 and 6000 jets are expected

to enter the VistaJet feet next

year; Bombardier expects the

Global 8000 to enter service in

2017. The performance and

design goals for the Global 8000

include a range of approximately

9,000 miles, a top speed

approaching 600 mph, and a

capacity of 19 passengers. In June,

VistaJet placed another order with

Bombardier, worth roughly

$1 billion, for 20 of its forthcoming

Challenger 350 jets (with options

for 20 more). Bombardier expects

to begin delivering these jets by

the middle of next year. The new

Challenger and Global jets will

signifcantly increase the size and

capabilities of VistaJet’s current

feet of 50 aircraft, which includes

Bombardier’s Challenger 605 and

Challenger 850 large-cabin jets as

well as Global 6000s.

While VistaJet does not ofer

point-to-point charter fights

within the Unites States, it does

ofer on-demand charter to this

country from just about anywhere

in the world. VistaJet is also

Flexjet’s partner for when Flexjet

clients travel globally.

+44.207.0605.700,

www.vistajet.com

flexJet ✪ The Bombardier-

owned provider of fractional

shares, jet cards, whole aircraft

ownership and management, and

on-demand charter will be the

launch customer for the midsize

Learjet 85, which is expected to

enter service next summer. Flexjet

will also be the launch customer

for the light-midsize Learjet 75,

and it plans to add the light-

category Learjet 70 to its feet;

Learjet expects both of those

models to enter service this year.

Flexjet, which reported an 83

percent growth in business this

year, recently placed an order for

two Bombardier Challenger 350

super-midsize jets. The company

currently has nearly 80 aircraft in

its feet.

888.275.8204, www.flexjet.com

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flexjet will Be tHe

laUNcH cUstomeR

foR tHe miDsiZe

leaRjet 85.

◗

DoubliNg up

jetsUite’s fleet Now

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◗

48 tivv tanits ntucksa kcuksui� �i�t�avii� 3��

Last summer, the Kansas City, Mo.–based fractional-share and jet-card provider

executive Airshare (www.execairshare.com) added a fractional-leasing option

for its fl eet of Embraer Phenom 100 entry-level jets, Phenom 300 light jets, and

Beechcraft King Air twin-engine turboprops.…

sentient Jet (www.sentient.com)—the Braintree, Mass.–based charter

provider owned by Directional Aviation Capital, which also owns Flight

Options and Nextant Aerospace—updated its jet-card program late last year.

In 25-hour increments, the program o� ers pricing with hourly and fuel rates

that are fi xed for a one-year period.…

Last December, the charter provider and aircraft management fi rm excelAire

(www.excelaire.com), which operates FBOs in Chicago, New Orleans, and at its

headquarters in Long Island, N.Y., began o� ering a private-jet-transfer service

for commercial passengers traveling in the United States after landing at the

John F. Kennedy International and Newark Liberty International airports.…

Switzerland-based Jet Aviation (www.jetaviation.com) manages and

operates an international fl eet of more than 200 aircraft. In May, the company

announced that it had added three new aircraft that are available for charter: a

Europe-based Dassault Falcon 900EX large-cabin jet and United States–based

large-cabin, long-range Bombardier Challenger 604 and Global 5000 jets.…

Delta Private Jets (www.deltaprivatejets.com), a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines

that was founded in 1984, introduced a fractional jet card last year, adding to

the company’s traditional jet-card and charter services. For a minimum

up-front purchase price of $25,000 and a $2,500 annual surcharge, fractional-

card owners are guaranteed fi xed rates for one year with no fuel charges or

other fees, and they can use their cards’ funds for Delta commercial fl ights.…

This summer, Quincy, Mass.–based charter broker and jet-card provider

Magellan Jets (www.magellanjets.com) began o� ering helicopter fl ights to

and from New York and the Hamptons. Also, the company recently acquired

California-based broker SkyBridge Private Air, thus giving Magellan’s charter

clients access to an additional 2,000 aircraft.…

The Van Nuys, Calif.–based charter broker Jet edge International

(www.fl yjetedge.com) has added a handful of jets to the 70-plus aircraft that

its clients could already access, including Gulfstream GIV and GV ultralong-

range jets. In May of last year, the company entered XOJet’s Premier Partner

Network, and it has become the exclusive U.S. operator for the aircraft of

Hong Kong–based charter provider Asia Jet.…

Launched last summer, Clear Jet (www.clearjet.net) is an online network of

top-safety-rated charter operators, which allows travelers to view quotes

from multiple operators and book fl ights directly—and anonymously. Clear

Jet members pay a fl at fee of $499 per booking in addition to the cost of the

fl ight, which is paid to the aircraft operator.

altituDe

aDjustments

Irvine, Calif.–based jetsuite

(www.jetsuite.com), which launched

in 2009, o� ers on-demand charter

and a membership program. JetSuite

initially limited its service area to the

western United States and later added

Texas, an approach that helped keep

its prices competitive when coupled

with its fl eet of fuel-e� cient four-

passenger Embraer Phenom 100 jets.

Last November, JetSuite expanded its

services to the East Coast, o� ering

fl ights aboard its new six-passenger

Cessna Citation CJ3 light jets. JetSuite

provides complimentary wireless

Internet access aboard all 28 aircraft

in its fl eet.…

According to members of Robb

Report’s Private Aviation Advisory

Board, bias against single-engine

turboprops has diminished in recent

years. This shift has helped bolster

planesense (www.planesense.com), a

fractional-share provider operating a

fl eet of 30 Pilatus PC-12 single-

engine turboprops out of

Portsmouth, N.H. Last July, the

company began o� ering fractional

shares in 50- or 70-hour annual

blocks of time. Also, through its new

Residual Value Assurance program,

PlaneSense now gives its customers

a safety net on the share value after

fi ve, seven, or 10 years from the start

of the contract, should the owner

wish to sell at those times.…

Xojet (www.xojet.com), a San

Francisco–based provider of

on-demand and membership-based

charter, has partnered with Travel

Management Corporation (TMC). The

deal grants XOJet customers access

to the 36 Hawker 400XP light jets

and 31 Hawker 800XP midsize jets in

the TMC fl eet. XOJet, which owns

and operates its fl eet of 28 Cessna

Citation X and 16 Bombardier

Challenger 300 super-midsize jets, is

adding new programs, including

fi xed-price options for holiday and

summer travel.

aCross the airWaves

fl ight plans

fall 2013 eptt eivpea vens�ai �sn�anpu cpke�itpp� 49

ON THE APPROACH

THE LONG-AwAITED

$4.5 MILLION HONDAJET

IS EXPECTED TO ENTER

SERVICE IN LATE 2014.

◗

Three new personal jets, a prop plane that can

be towed by an SUV, and another that can be driven

like a car are nearing—or nearer to—arrival.

NUMBER OF HIGHLY anticipated personal aircraft appear

to have survived the recession and are moving through their

certi� cation processes and toward production. Two personal

jets (formerly known as very light jets), the HondaJet and the

Eclipse 550, are almost ready to enter service. A third, Cirrus’

Vision SF50, has been revived by the company’s new

Chinese owner. And as Southern California’s Icon Aircraft

readies its A5, a towable recreational airplane with folding

wings, across the country, in Massachusetts, another start-

up company prepares to produce what has long been

only a science-� ction fantasy: a fi ying car. ➞

�faa l201 �roo �ber�p e�ti�pb �it�ptrv nrs�uborrc 51

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

THE HONDA AIRCRAFT

COMPANY HAS BUILT

SIX FAA-CONFORMING

HONDAJETS TO DATE.

◗

pilot delights

HONdAJET ◗ The HondaJet is

the shining hope of the personal-

jet industry. It has been in the

works since 1997, and with the

backing of one of the world’s

largest carmakers, the $4.5 million

aircraft has steadily progressed

through development, prototype

production, and certifi cation.

The plane’s manufacturer,

Honda Aircraft Company, a

subsidiary of the Japanese

automotive giant, was founded in

2006—though Honda’s research

and development into aerospace

began as early as the mid 1980s.

The company is headquartered in

Greensboro, N.C., where it

employs more than 800 workers.

Honda has produced six FAA-

conforming examples of the

aircraft for the purpose of fl ight

and structural testing. In May, the

latest HondaJet, which is outfi tted

with the same cabin appointments

as future production aircraft,

completed its fi rst fl ight.

About this time last year, Honda

was expecting to begin deliveries

as early as this fall. However,

during recent 150-hour block

endurance testing of the GE

Honda HF120 turbofan engine

that powers the aircraft, an

unspecifi ed issue occurred with a

bolted joint within the engine’s

accessory gearbox. The engine’s

manufacturer, GE Honda Aero—

a partnership between Honda and

General Electric’s aviation

branch—modifi ed the engine

slightly and successfully completed

the 150-hour block endurance

test in April. GE Honda Aero

anticipates engine type certifi cation

by the end of this year. This

setback will delay the aircraft’s

FAA certifi cation until late next

year; deliveries are expected to

follow shortly thereafter.

The HondaJet is equipped with

two of the powerful GE Honda

HF120 engines, which are

mounted above the wings. (The jet

has a nearly 40-foot wingspan.)

Together, the engines produce

4,100 pounds of thrust that takes

the aircraft to its 43,000-foot fl ight

ceiling—2,000 feet higher than

that of the Cessna Citation

Mustang and Embraer Phenom

100 entry-level jets, and at a

considerably faster climb rate.

Honda says that the jet has 15 to

20 percent better fuel e� ciency

than other aircraft in the category.

It cruises at 483 mph and has a

range of approximately 1,350 miles.

In the standard confi guration, the

HondaJet seats four passengers in

a cabin that is 5 feet wide, 4.8 feet

tall, and 12.1 feet long; an

optional side-facing seat can be

added. The two-seat cockpit can

be operated by a single pilot,

thanks to the Garmin G3000

touchscreen avionics suite.

Perhaps the most notable amenity

of the jet’s interior is its standard

lavatory, which has a sink, a

vanity, and a solid pocket door,

and can be serviced from outside

the cabin.

While the jet’s certifi cation

process continues, Honda has

begun building a $20 million

customer-service facility at its

headquarters at North Carolina’s

Piedmont Triad International

Airport. The company has

received more than 100 orders for

the aircraft. —�al�� . �ar�arb

HONDA AIRCRAFT COMPANY,

336.662.0246, HONDAJET.HONDA.COM

COzy CABIN

THE HONDAJET SEATS

FOUR PASSENGERS IN A

CLUB CONFIGURATION.

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pilot delights

�a22 �� rs�� r�usrc ur�kac� ak�ac�so �s�r��ss� 53

TAKING CONTROL

THE FOUR-SEAT CABIN’S

ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM

CAN BE CONTROLLED

USING AN IPAD.

◗

UP THE JET STREAM

THE ECLIPSE 550 IS AN

ENHANCED VERSION

OF THE ORIGINAL

ECLIPSE 500 JET.

◗

pilot delights

‘‘’’THE ECLIPSE JET

FITS EXACTLY

WHAT I NEEd. [IT

LETS ME] BE IN

SOUTH FLORIdA,

NEW YORK, OR

CHICAGO VERY

RAPIdLY.

—MarK tate,eclipse 500 pilot

ECLIPSE 550 ◗ Eclipse

Aerospace plans to deliver the

fi rst Eclipse 550 this fall. The

Albuquerque, N.M.–based

manufacturer has spent the last

several years servicing the fl eet of

260 Eclipse 500 jets that were

delivered before the original

company, Eclipse Aviation,

declared bankruptcy in 2008.

The Eclipse 550 is an enhanced

version of the 500. It features

auto-throttle (which conserves

fuel and reduces pilot workload),

an iPad-compatible entertainment

system for the cabin, more choices

for avionics (including synthetic

vision), and an extended three-

year warranty. The 550 has a range

of 1,300 miles while cruising at

430 mph and burning less than 60

gallons of fuel per hour. It seats as

many as four passengers in the

cabin and has two seats in the

cockpit, including one for the pilot.

Eclipse Aerospace CEO Mason

Holland, who brought the original

company out of bankruptcy with

a group of investors in 2009, says

he expects to deliver 30 to 40 jets

by the end of 2014. According to

Holland, the Eclipse jets in service

have proven popular with business

owners, who use them for both

work-related and personal travel.

Mark Tate, who owns a law

fi rm in Savannah, Ga., fl ies an

Eclipse 500 jet from the original

fl eet and has placed an order for a

new 550, which has a starting

price of $2.9 million. “The

Eclipse jet really was the absolute

right jet for me and my law fi rm’s

needs,” says Tate. “This plane

makes it so I can be in south

Florida, Washington, D.C., New

York, or Chicago very rapidly.”

In addition to enjoying the

convenience of fl ying on their

own schedules, Tate and other

Eclipse jet owner-operators have

access to smaller airports that

often are closer to their destinations

than the larger airports that

accommodate commercial fl ights.

Tate says that wasting time on

travel is wasting money, especially

for a lawyer. “I think I’m far more

e� cient in terms of servicing our

clients,” he says. “The Eclipse jet

fi ts exactly what I need.” The 550’s

upgrades and new warranty

convinced Tate to trade up.

Holland says the Federal

Aviation Administration recently

upgraded the service life of the

Eclipse 500’s engine to 20,000

cycles (a takeo� and landing is one

cycle), giving it an average lifespan

of 50 years. “That shows a lot of

confi dence in the structure of the

aircraft,” notes Holland, whose

company is building the new jets

with a patented process called

“friction stir welding,” which

eliminates the use of rivets to fasten

the components of the airframe

and thus enhances the plane’s

structural strength.a —l�� r�

ECLIPSE AEROSPACE, 877.375.7978,

WWW.ECLIPSEAEROSPACE.NETOP

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UNIQUE VISION

THE VISION SF50

FEATURES A V-SHAPED

TAIL AND A SINGLE

REAR-FACING ENGINE.

◗

CIrrUS VISION SF50 ✪ For

pilots, the leap from propeller

airplanes to jets can be daunting.

The single-engine Vision SF50,

the debut jet from Cirrus Aircraft,

is designed to make that move

more manageable. “We designed

the airplane to be a step up for

our SR22 owners,” says Dale

Klapmeier, Cirrus’ cofounder and

CEO. “It goes faster, flies higher,

flies farther, and carries more than

our current airplane.”

The Vision SF50 seats five

people including a pilot (two

additional seats are available for

children or small adults) and will

cruise at about 345 mph for as far

as 1,150 miles. The placement of

the engine aft on top of the

fuselage creates space for a large

luggage compartment and a

roomy cabin. The design also

allows for engine noise to be

carried back and away from the

passenger area, making for a very

quiet jet.

“We didn’t try to compete with

all the other jets out there,” says

Klapmeier. “We wanted to create

what will be the next airplane

that our customers want.” The

company has received more than

550 orders for the $2 million

A FAMILY AFFAIr

THE JET’S CABIN CAN

BE EQUIPPED WITH

TWO ADDITIONAL

SEATS FOR CHILDREN.

◗

pilot delights


aircraft. Many of the orders have

come from current Cirrus

owners, and the � rst were

received as early as 2006. “So

they’ve [Cirrus owners] been

patiently holding on to the

dream,” says Klapmeier.

The aircraft’s progress stalled

during the recession and did not

resume in earnest until April,

when CAIGA, the Chinese

aviation company that acquired

Cirrus in 2011, agreed to cover all

the costs for the Vision jet

through certi� cation and initial

production. Since then, Cirrus,

which is based in Duluth, Minn.,

has been moving forward at a

steady pace, setting up the

production line and developing a

training program for pilots.

Klapmeier says he now expects to

deliver the � rst Vision jets to

customers by the end of 2015.fi

One of those in line is Michael

Marto, a business owner based in

Atlanta who currently fl ies a

� fth-generation SR22 up and

down the East Coast for work.

He owns a fractional share in the

SR22, which is professionally

managed, but he is looking

forward to taking delivery of his

own Vision jet sometime in 2016.

Marto says that he considered

other options, from turboprops to

small twin-engine jets, but

ultimately decided that the cost

and performance of the Vision jet

would best suit his needs. His

long-term relationship with

Cirrus also was an infl uence. “I

love the culture at Cirrus. They’re

passionate about aviation,” says

Marto, also noting Cirrus’ record

for innovation and safety. “I felt

like they were the solid bet.”

—�.�.

CIRRUS AIRCRAFT, 800.279.4322,

WWW.CIRRUSAIRCRAFT.COM

al22 013� obee optboi tovn�ip �nv�ivbs ubcokpebb� 57

The A5 is relatively easy to �y.

The pilot seat and copilot seat are

each equipped with a joystick that

controls pitch and roll, and rudder

pedals that control the yaw.

Analog gauges on the uncluttered

instrument panel in the pilot-side

dash display airspeed, angle of

attack, and fuel level, among other

readings. The center dash houses a

removable GPS display, digital

displays for the radio and

transponder, knobs for cabin

heating, and switches for adjusting

the trim, raising and lowering the

landing gear, and other functions.

Obtaining the sport-pilot license

required to operate the A5 takes

only 20 hours of �ight training

compared to 40 hours for a

private-pilot license. Sport pilots

are limited to �ying at sub-10,000-

foot altitudes (or within 2,000 feet

of the ground above 10,000 feet),

during the day, in clear weather,

and in uncongested airspace.

For safety, the A5 is available

with an optional airframe

parachute. Also for safety, the A5’s

ICON A5 ✪ Icon Aircraft’s debut

model is primed to jump-start a

new segment of the recreational-

aircraft industry. The 23-foot-long,

7.1-foot-tall amphibious light-

sport aircraft (LSA)—a category

that the Federal Aviation

Administration created in 2004—

features wings that tilt vertically

and fold �at against the side of the

fuselage, reducing the plane’s

width from 34 feet to 8.5 feet.

The aircraft can then be towed

behind an SUV or a pickup truck

on a specially designed towing

trailer, much like those used to

tow ski boats.

With a range of 345 miles and

room for 60 pounds of luggage,

the two-seat A5 is ideal for

weekend getaways. The 100 hp

piston engine, which is mounted

to the rear of the carbon-flber

airframe and faces backward, takes

aviation or automotive fuel. The

engine enables a top speed of 120

mph. Equipped with retractable

landing gear, the A5 can operate

from Lake Tahoe, Calif.; Flathead

Lake, Mont.; and other bodies of

water where seaplanes are allowed.

Icon has received nearly 1,000

orders for the A5, which has a base

price of $139,000. Those orders

have created a production backlog

of about three years. To help with

production, Icon, which is

headquartered in Los Angeles, has

partnered with Cirrus Aircraft,

calling on its composite

manufacturing expertise to produce

the A5’s airframe components at

Cirrus’ North Dakota factory.

And in June, Icon announced that

it had raised about $60 million in

investment capital, which,

according to the company, will take

it through full-scale production.

wing is designed with a cu�ed

leading edge and other

aerodynamic features that can help

the pilot maintain control of the

plane during an unintentional

engine stall and prevent the aircraft

from entering a spin. This spin-

resistant wing design is a recent

alteration to the A5, and it

increases the plane’s weight to 250

pounds over the FAA’s 1,430-

pound limit for LSAs. Icon CEO

Kirk Hawkins says he is confldent

that the FAA will grant the

company’s request for a weight

exception, but as of July, the agency

had yet to respond. Consequently,

though Icon has a plan in place for

either outcome, deliveries of the

aircraft have been delayed until at

least spring of next year. —�.a.�.

ICON AIRCRAFT, 424.201.3500,

WWW.ICONAIRCRAFT.COM

WATER WINGS

WITH RETRACTABLE

LANDING GEAR, THE A5

CAN OPERATE FROM

LAND OR WATER.

◗

pilot delights

58 �� r ��ober� eboero�p a�t�i��v fall 2013

Featuring

Blancpain Breguet Bulgari Carl F. Bucherer Harry Winston

Jewelers Unblocked Patek Philippe Ulysse Nardin Vacheron Constantin

NEW

WATCH

ES &

VID

EO

S

Download the FREE App

TERRAfUGIA TRANSITION

◗ Like the jetpack, the fiying car

is part of a future that was

supposed to have arrived already.

At Terrafugia, that future is now.

The company’s prototype

Transition achieves 35 mpg on the

road and fiies with a cruising

speed of about 100 mph and a

range of about 400 miles. It is

equipped with wings that unfold

automatically and has a separate

steering wheel and control stick.

Terrafugia, a company that was

founded in 2006 and is based in

Woburn, Mass., has been inching

the vehicle through a double-

certiflcation process that requires it

to meet the Federal Aviation

Administration’s aircraft regulations

and the National Highway Tra�c

Safety Administration’s motor

vehicle safety standards.�

Terrafugia is currently test-

fiying the second Transition

prototype and has begun designing

a third. The company also has

plans to build fuselage structures

for NHTSA crash testing. CEO

Carl Dietrich says that, depending

on how the testing goes, deliver-

ies of the Transition could begin

as early as 2015.

Terrafugia has received more

than 100 orders for the $279,000

Transition. Orders require a

$10,000 refundable deposit. “As

we’ve gotten further into the details

of what’s required to bring this

product to market, our customers

have stuck with us, and so have our

investors,” says Dietrich. “Despite

the challenges we’ve had along the

way, we really are getting close.”

Butch Weaver, of Pagosa Springs,

Colo., has placed a deposit on a

Transition, and he has invested in

Terrafugia. “I have several aircraft,

and what appeals to me about the

Transition is the gee-whiz factor,”

he says. “That idea of being able to

both fiy and drive is just

completely fascinating to me.”

Weaver says he looks forward to

using the airplane for weekend

trips, to fiy into small airports and

then drive oa to explore the local

areas. For longer fiights, he says, he

looks forward to having the option

of landing and driving if faced

with bad weather, instead of

having to land and wait out the

storms. “I think that makes a huge

safety diaerence,” he says.

Terrafugia recently released a

design concept for its next-

generation fiying car, the TF-X,

which, Dietrich says, will feature

highly automated capabilities that

could dramatically improve safety

for personal aviation. “If we can

say fiying this airplane is safer

than driving your car, that’s huge.”

—l.�.

TERRAFUGIA, 781.491.0812,

www.TERRAFUGIA.COM

‘‘’’wHAT APPEALS TO

ME ABOUT THE

TRANSITION IS

THE GEE-wHIz

fACTOR. THAT

IdEA Of BEING

ABLE TO BOTH fLy

ANd dRIvE IS JUST

fASCINATING.

—butch weaver,future transition

owner-pilot

LOOKING AHEAd

DELIVERIES OF THE

TRANSITION COULD

BEGIN AS EARLY AS 2015.

�

pilot delights

60 ��rr �ob��e b�ptieo itpiep�v n�s�uor��c fall 2013

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• Five-year tip-to-tail all-inclusive maintenance package that delivers the lowest

operating cost in its class

© 2013 XOJET is a registered trademark of XOJET Inc.

Call 1-888-843-8986 or visit www.xojet.com/rr

EXCEPTIONAL PRIVATE AVIATION

The smart alternative

E X C E P T I O N A L P R I V A T E A V I A T I O N

At XOJET, we’re about choices. Choose a one-time private jet charter,

a flight program with guaranteed availability—or something in between.

Pay for the options you want. Save on those you don’t.

By combining private jet membership, custom programs and f xed-price charter

service, we’re able to provide a one-stop solution for all your aviation needs

without the upfront purchase requirements and fees of fractional ownership.

To f nd the solution that is right for you, call one of our dedicated aviation advisors

or visit xojet.com for an online quote. The choice is yours. The pleasure, ours.

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Robb Report - September 2013 USA

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