New York - At Bloomberg Pursuits, we've spent the past year covering
the most exotic travel experiences, the rarest foods and drinks, the finest
clothes, and the most extreme luxury trends. The following gift ideas are truly
the cream of the crop; the most over-the-top products and experiences that
money can buy. If you need to shop for the person who is impossible to please,
these ten ideas are your best shot.
A (whole) cruise ship for a week
During last year’s Monaco Grand Prix, the 212-passenger
Windstar Sea Breeze moored in the little principality’s harbor so that its
occupants could party and view the races. But it wasn’t a random collection of
cruisers—everyone aboard was a guest of a single wealthy client who just wanted
a couple of hundred of his closest friends to have the same home base for the
week. This is an increasing trend: Cruise liners that are occasionally rented
out for corporate events are being co-opted for birthday parties and family
reunions.
One birthday boy on a Crystal ship outfitted the staff’s
uniforms (and the bottom of the pool) with his family crest for the
occasion—another Crystal ship-renter, who is a well-known former talk-show host,
provided each guest with his or her own monogrammed pillow in the staterooms.
When it comes to the kind of customization you can get your billionaire with
this gift, the sea’s the limit.
Cost: $500 000 per week up to $1 million
A bottle of ultra-rare champagne
Only a few small plots in the Champagne region were spared
from the ravages of the phylloxera virus, which devastated European winemaking
in 1863 and forced vintners there to graft native vines onto robust, imported
American roots. One of the remaining plots with French roots is a jumbled,
now-ancient half- acre clos at the Bollinger vineyard, where a highly
sought-after Champagne is made in the old style.
To craft the ultra-delicious vieilles vignes, Pinot noir
grapes are crushed in a small press, where the cuvee is extracted (the first
and best juice) and then aged in French oak barrels that are up to a century
old. Any given year will yield between only six and nine barrels. After aging
for eight to 12 years, a couple of thousand bottles will be sold to a ravenous
crowd of wine fans. Your billionaire may be able to afford one of these
herself—getting her hands on a bottle is another story.
Cost: $975 per bottle for the 2005 vintage, up to $5 000 and
beyond for older vintages.
Tommy Hilfiger’s 2003 Ferrari Enzo
Only 400 Ferrari Enzos were ever made, and the cherry red
one owned by fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger is in spectacular condition. A bit
more than 3 600 miles are on the odometer, and it has been in Hilfiger’s hands
since it was sold, which makes it even more valuable.
“My lifestyle is changing,” the 65-year-old told Bloomberg,
explaining his decision to auction the supercar at Scottsdale in January. “I
don't drive fast sports cars as I used to. These days I prefer driving my
Rolls-Royce Dawn or my Maybach.”
Advantage: your billionaire. While Hilfiger’s gotten tired
of clambering in through the dramatic scissor doors and revving up the V-12,
650-hp engine, your gift recipient will be able to enjoy all those horses in
near-mint condition—plus a carbon-fiber body, carbon-ceramic brakes, and a top
speed of 218 mph. Of course, when it comes to price, the advantage goes to
Hilfiger; he likely bought it for about $650,000, and you’ll pay millions.
Cost: Experts at Hagerty Classic Car Insurance bet this car
could break the $3 million mark at auction.
An all-sapphire watch
Choosy watch fans love to be able to see the mechanics at
work inside their little horological marvels, so an increasing trend in recent
years has been to make cases entirely out of transparent or colored sapphire. A
standout in this category is the Greubel Forsey Double Tourbillon 30°
Technique, a spin on a much-loved watch from the brand that had previously come
in metal versions. Now there’s hardly any metal to be found on the dial or
case, minus a few screws and the winding pin. It’s a manually wound watch, with
a 120-hour power reserve and two tourbillons.
Of course, the thing that will really win over your
billionaire is its scarcity and value—only eight will be made, all of which
will be exclusively sold in the U,S. Oh yeah, and that price…
Cost: $1.275 million. For a watch.
A private jet in rose gold
Rose gold has been such a trend in recent years, hasn’t
it? It has appeared on mechanical watches, on wedding rings, and on such
Apple products as the iPad and the Watch. So it’s only natural you’d start
seeing it in the air, right? Wrong.
This straight-out-of-Scrooge-McDuck’s-dreams gift is one of
the counterintuitive wonders available in the annual Neiman Marcus Christmas
catalog. According to NM, the Cobalt Valkyrie-X “will be one of the fastest
piston aircraft in the world when it debuts in 2017. With a shape that is
raindrop sleek and a 350-horsepower engine, the Valkyrie-X will whisk its pilot
and three passengers along at speeds of up to 230 miles per hour, with a range
of up to 1,150 ground miles.”
Also, spoiler alert: It will attract a lot of attention. The
actual structure of the plane is carbon composite, but the exterior is plated
in an exclusive rose gold coating formula, and the interior flight controls are
also sheathed in the material. And with each purchase, Neiman Marcus will
donate $200,000 to the Heart of Neiman Marcus Foundation.
Cost: $1.5 million
A hotel built from scratch
Do you have a picky billionaire? It happens; you’re not
alone. Luxury travel outfitter Black Tomato has your back. If no hotels on
earth ever seem to meet his needs—or there isn’t even a hotel in the part of
the world where he wants to go—they’ll build one. From scratch. A whole hotel.
The new service, called Blink, will plop a fully customised
pop-up hotel on a pristine spot of land wherever you want it to, complete with
accommodations, meals, planned activities, and a staff. If you want, you can
select everything from the patterns on the seat cushions to the bottles of wine
in the cellar. The brand estimates that there are 751 074 508 800 different
combinations you can choose from. In three to five months, your billionaire’s
hotel will be ready, and you can send her off to Timbuktu for a week, just as
you always dreamed.
Cost: Pop-ups range in price. Examples supplied from Black
Tomato include $65 784 for a group of six for three nights in Morocco to
$177 600 for the same group spending four nights in Bolivia.
A house in a billionaire’s Hawaiian enclave
Nestled on the Big Island’s Kona Coast, between deep blue
lakes, lush waves of greenery, and ancient lava flows, Kohanaiki is the latest
Hawaiian playground for the ultra-rich. There, the 80 homeowners and their
families enjoy a Rees Jones golf course with six oceanfront holes, plus a
private spa with locally inspired treatments and a yoga lawn. There’s tennis on
the 450-acre property, naturally, plus a bowling alley, cigar lounge,
restaurants, a Scotch bar, and a craft beer brewer on site.
Tennis star Lindsay Davenport and golfer Ben Crenshaw have
already scooped up homes there and are enjoying the little comfort stations
around the property that continually dispense soft-serve ice cream and Mai
Tais. Oh, and there’s a garden where local fruit grows, so if your billionaire
wants to pick dragon fruit off a tree and eat it, she can. (Your billionaire
probably does not want to do that.)
Cost: $100 000 entry fee; $25 000 annual dues. The most
inexpensive home is a $3 million attached home, while the upper end includes a
$22.5 million five-bedroom custom home. We say go big. Or go home and eat
dragon fruit.
A bottle of six-figure whisky
Japanese whisky has been such a rage all over the world that
high-end brands are beginning to run out of their age-labeled bottles. But for
some time now, one line has reigned supreme: the Suntory Yamazaki 50 Year,
which made its debut in 2005 at $9,500 a bottle. Aged since the 1950s in
Japanese mizunara oak barrels, the liquid has a dry finish and a musky nose.
The brand released only 250 bottles, and earlier this year one sold at auction
for $109,585. You can buy your billionaire the one remaining retail bottle at
Dekanta distributors. But act fast—even that will seem like a bargain when none
are left on the market.
Cost: $133 999.99
A Culinary world tour
For a few years now, the Four Seasons private jet experience
has been one of those, “If I had unlimited funds, maybe I would do it” larks. New
York Times columnist David Brooks famously joined a trip for a leg, and
couldn’t quite figure it out. Their chef-curated food tours have finally nailed
the concept: What if you do want to eat the best food in the world, and remain
in nestled in comfort and familiarity at every moment between stops?
The latest “Culinary Discoveries” tour was curated with the
four-time “world’s best restaurant” winner, Noma, and its peripatetic founding
chef René Redzepi. Starting in Seoul, this trip will jump from Tokyo, to Hong
Kong, to Chiang Mai in Thailand, where you’ll ride an elephant to a tribal
village and enjoy a local lunch with a Noma chef. Further stops include Mumbai,
Florence, and Lisbon. Of course, you’ll spend some time in Copenhagen, where
you’ll be able to go foraging with the Noma team, followed by a meal in their
restaurant. But you have to hurry, Noma is closing this winter, and your
billionaire will be furious if he’s the only person at Davos who never ate
there.
Cost: $135 000 per person, based on double occupancy.
A penthouse in the historic Woolworth Tower
Manhattan has a lot of storied skyscrapers, but few of the
truly old icons (the Empire State, Chrysler, and Flatiron buildings) actually
include residences, which makes the Woolworth Tower extra incredible. The 1913
landmark tower, designed by architect Cass Gilbert, is recognizable for its
high-pitched copper roof—which has played a role in many films, including the
site of a battle between Amy Adams and a dragon in Enchanted. Currently, one- through
four-bedroom residences are available, all with state-of-the-art finishes such
as Dada cabinetry and Calacatta marble in the kitchens and bathrooms. Architect
Thierry W. Despont for Alchemy Properties oversaw the years-long renovation.
Residence 31A, the crown jewel of the complex, is a
full-floor, four-bedroom featuring two dramatic private terraces lined with the
familiar copper and terra cotta details that make the building so famous. There
are 360-degree views from the apartment, which is awash in meticulous
herringbone floors and spacious walk-in closets. If your billionaire wants to
feel like an old-school king of New York, there’s no better castle. Dragons not
included.
Cost: $26.4 million