Orlando Issue 2019 Q1

Q1

O R L A N D O

I S S U E

2 0 1 9

STERLING M A G A Z I N E

THE MAGIC KINGDOM L U X U R Y

A T

Y O U R

D O O R S T E P

C O N T E N T S

Most Expensive Home

2019 BMW 8 Series

Pg. 48-49

Pg. 42

Automotive

Home Design

The Maldives Travel Pg. 40-41

Tesla Model x

Redefining Luxury

Brick by Brick

Tag Heuer

Pg. 10 - 15

Pg. 24-27

Pg. 54-55

Pg. 34-35

Automotive

Jewelry

Marketing/Design

Watches

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TESLA MODEL X: THE OFFICIAL SUV OF THE FUTURE

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My eyeballs feel weird. It's the fault of Tesla's Ludicrous mode. With the feature enabled the Model X P90D is the world's fastest SUV -- launching from zero to 60 in 3.2 seconds. Sure that jolt of acceleration will fling you back into your seat, but what I wasn't prepared for was how the g-forces affected my eyes as the acceleration seemingly pushed my corneas into my skull. Like the car itself, it was at first unsettling, but once that feeling passed, it was a hell of a ride. Even with those ostentatious Falcon Wing doors.

The (nearly) eye-popping boost of supercar-esque acceleration from Tesla's $10,000 Ludicrous mode option is essentially an expensive party trick. For the price of a used Honda Civic, you can impress your friends and make sure you're always the quickest car leaving the stoplight. But the real reason to buy a Model X (or any Tesla vehicle) is the battery under the floor, the sensors that make it semi-autonomous, the improving build quality after some initial Falcon Wing door missteps and the charging ecosystem.

At the heart of the car is Tesla's electric power train and battery. The automaker is currently ahead of every other manufacturer when it comes to range.

The P90D I tested can go 250 miles before dying. Of course that depends on how you drive, terrain and how much weight the SUV is dragging around town.

During my trips around the city (including priming the battery for Ludicrous mode bursts) and a round-trip drive to Reno from the Bay Area, I averaged about 220 miles.

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Keeping the SUV powered up wasn't a problem with all the chargers scattered throughout the Bay Area.

But to really get the Tesla experience you have to use one of the company's proprietary Superchargers that are free for Model S and X owners. I went from 32 percent charge to 92 percent in 40 minutes on one of my trips. It's far quicker than the hours it usually takes fill the battery of other EVs with regular chargers.

The Model X will support those slower industry-standard level 2 chargers. But, you have to use an adapter that ships with the car. It also comes with a home charging system that if you plug into your regular outlet will take more than 24 hours to go from zero to EV hero.

The truth is, the battery technology and the charging ecosystem are incredibly important to Tesla. The company is even building a giant factory in the desert to make sure all its cars stay charged. But it's also jumped feet first into the semi-autonomous driving world with Autopilot.

While adaptive cruise control and lane assist are becoming prevalent on luxury vehicles from Audi, Mercedes, BMW and Cadillac, Tesla's system still feels like the most polished and ready for the road -that doesn't mean it's close to being out of beta or that the driver can use it as an excuse to start texting friends. I felt confident that the Model X would stay in its lane correctly and track the vehicle in front of it about 90 percent of the time. But, there were moments when I felt that if I hadn't taken control, I would have hit a median or another car. At one point the system got confused when trying to track a white truck, on a white road with a white concrete median running alongside it. It tried to follow all three simultaneously, and eventually I had to take control of the car.

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Still, when it is working, it feels like the future. For example when stuck in gridlock, it lowered my stress level about 80 percent. Like most people, I despise the hours wasted sitting in traffic. Although Autopilot didn't give me that time back, it did make the experience a bit more bearable by tracking the vehicle in front of me and keeping the car in its lane, giving me the opportunity to relax while still keeping my eye on the road. It's a reminder that when cars are fully autonomous, commutes won't make you make you want to rip your hair out with rage.

But, there are moments when having the car "drive for you" could lead to bad habits. At times when I became too comfortable with Autopilot and let my eyes linger on the giant center console too long.

Features like Autopilot are wonderful, but we shouldn't to trust our lives to robot cars just yet.

Keep your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road -- even if that means disregarding the gigantic dash tablet.

There are very few buttons outside of the steering wheel and column stalks; the 17-inch display controls nearly everything. A giant screen makes sense for navigation, media, energy data and accessing options like Autopilot, ride height and sensors/camera. But for stuff like lights and climate control, it's less than ideal. I don't want to hunt and peck to adjust the air conditioner and or turn on the fog lights. I'm a fan of tangible knobs and buttons for items I'll be adjusting regularly or need to access quickly.

That said, navigating the menus and apps presented less of a learning curve than expected. I was tapping away raising and lowering the suspension height and adjusting the steering from sport to comfort while cruising through town after just a few days. Yet with all that control at my fingertips, it's disappointing how the car handles media. Playing music from your

smartphone requires you to sync your smartphone via Bluetooth. Once that's done, the only controls available in the Model X media app are volume (which goes to 11) and skipping forward or back.

That's it. Everything else needs to be handled on the phone. There's no support for Android Auto or CarPlay or even third-party apps like Spotify. The Model X is basically a giant Bluetooth speaker with a really nice screen which might be ďŹ ne on an entry-level compact car. It seems out of place on a luxury vehicle.

Once you get away from the technology that permeates Tesla and its vehicles, the Model X is at its core an amazing SUV to drive. The handling feels oddly lighter than the Model S sedan and, thanks to the always-on torque of the electric motors, you'll never want for acceleration. Body roll (the amount a car leans) around corners was less than expected and experience felt more like driving a sports sedan than a sport-utility vehicle.

The styling, while polarizing, grew on me. I'm a fan of the front end that looks futuristic and bland at the same time. The rear of the car still feels too heavy design-wise. Some passengers entered the car ambivalent about its looks but once they got out and saw it at certain angles (usually from the front)

decided it that "on second thought" it's something they would want in their driveway.

One opinion that stayed constant was how people felt about those Falcon Wing doors. They either loved them or hated them. But everyone still wanted to see them open, which was initially a problem because Tesla inadvertently gave us an early build of the Model X to review. After one of the doors broke, they swapped out the SUV with a more current version of the car. This "newer" Model X displayed enough dierences in the dash cluster and cab to make us feel comfortable that the ďŹ rst car wasn't just a lemon.

That said, the Model X we eventually received had solid build quality, and the doors opened and closed without issue approximately 120 times during our tests. And, while I'm still not a fan of doors that open up like I'm in an episode Miami Vice or 2000s music video, the Model X does give me faith that the Model 3, the $35,000 Tesla for the average person, will be a well-made car that also happens to change the world of driving with its electric power train.

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REDEFINING

LUXURY: www.sterlingmagazines.com | Sterling Magazine 25

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The world’s largest Rolex Boutique has been launched in Dubai by Rolex and Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons. Located in the Fashion Avenue at The Dubai Mall, the new Rolex Boutique is spread across 850 sq. m., with the three-level structure boasting of a custom design by the Rolex Interior Design department in Geneva, Switzerland, that reflects the famed luxury brand’s hallmark colors, materials and architectural features.

While the ground floor of the new space is a typical Rolex boutique showcasing its various watch collections, the top floor houses The Rolex Experience, which has been billed as “a total immersion into the world of Rolex,” including a screening room showing a film delving into the history and growth of the brand, as well as an exhibition area allowing patrons to delve deeper and discover more about Rolex’s heritage of innovations.

Having been the official Rolex retailer in Dubai for about 60 years, the new boutique represents a new milestone for Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, the Middle East’s leading retailer of luxury watches and jewellery. In a statement, Abdul Hamied Ahmed Seddiqi, Vice Chairman of Seddiqi Holding, said, “We are honored to partner with Rolex on this major endeavor that represents a landmark for our retail operation which, over half a century, has grown from a single shop in Souk Bur Dubai to more than 65 watch boutiques across the UAE, including five Rolex Boutiques and 12 points of sale in Dubai. The latest Rolex Boutique will showcase Rolex watches in spectacular surroundings. This collaboration marks an enduring relationship and our continued passion for the Rolex brand.”

Founded by Hans Wilsdorf in 1905, Rolex pioneered the development of the wristwatch, and is at the origin of numerous major watchmaking innovations, such as the Oyster, the first waterproof wristwatch, launched in 1926, and the Perpetual rotor self-winding mechanism invented in 1931. Rolex has registered over 400 patents in the course of its history.

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TAG HEUER:

CARRERA HEUER 01

ASTON MARTIN Inspired by the geometric shapes specific to Aston Martin’s sports cars, and the technical, sporty TAG Heuer Formula 1 adopts Aston Martin Racing’s lime essence colour. The first model is powered by a TAG Heuer automatic calibre Heuer 01 (Reference CAR2A1AB.FT6163), with water resistant up to 100 m. Framed within a 45mm solid steel case with special parallel lines pattern and ceramic black brushed tachymeter bezel, the Car Carrera Heuer 01 is completed with Aston Martin’s engraving Bevelled and domed sapphire crystal with double anti-reflective treatment.

Additionally, the design for this edition features lines on the side to evoke speed, the race track and piston that is specifically developed to recall the details of the new vantage.

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On the side features steel push buttons at 2H and 4H as well as black steel rubber crown at 3H. Finally, the watch is fitted to the steel folding clasps with double safety push-buttons and TAG Heuer shield. Designed in an exclusive collaboration with Aston Martin, this is the first time TAG Heuer uses a leather strap in the TAG Heuer Formula 1 collection. The leather strap comes with special embossing that will surely add character and sporty style to the overall look of the timepiece.

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On a recent trip to the Maldives, my entire itinerary was planned around one single hotel amenity: an overwater bungalow with a built-in, two-story waterslide. (Never mind the bedroom's retractable roof and the floating catamaran nets by the private pool.)

Here more than anywhere else on Earth, it's extravagant design features—rather than a convenient location or knockout restaurants—that make a hotel. After all, you're not in the Maldives to explore a new country. You’re there to feel like the world’s most glamorous castaway. Your hotel room is your destination; you'd better pick a good one.

Enter Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, which is shaking up the formula of Maldivian luxury with the region’s first-ever underwater bungalow. (You read that right.) When it opens late this year, the Muraka, which translates to “coral” in the local language, Dhivehi, will have cost $15 million to build—but the experience of sleeping 16.4 feet below bel sea level can be all yours for a cool starting price of $50,000 per night, before taxes.

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Still, Saleem tells Bloomberg that “designing an undersea structure such as Ithaa and designing a sleeping and living experience is vastly different.” Among his main concerns were safety. The restaurant, he says, is in shallow waters and is always fully staffed; evacuating from the Muraka in the event of an emergency may have to happen unattended. A sophisticated air-quality monitoring and alarm system will help; so will safety instruction briefings like the ones you see and hear on ai airplanes.

The scope of the project presented logistical concerns, too. First, Saleem had to devise a lighting and design scheme that wouldn’t reflect off the acrylic walls. “We couldn’t use bright colors or variations of white, as that would reflect too much and impede the undersea experience,” he explained. He also had to work in tandem with marine biologists to ensure that the villa had no impact on the surrounding corals for which it’s named. Then the 600-ton structure had to be built on land in Singapore, hoisted onto a crane, and transported in a specialized ship that could moor near the reef and submerge the suite in the ocean.

Even in the luxury-friendly Maldives—whose resorts are known to command some of the highest prices globally—this type of building isn’t sustainable as anything more than a one-off. “There are no immediate plans to create additional undersea residences at this point in time,” Saleem says.

To Martin Rinck, who oversees Hilton’s global luxury and lifestyle brands including Conrad, the debut of the underwater villa is a way to stay ahead of the industry. He says it’s “a perfect example of the out-of-the-box thinking that meets guests demands before they even have them.” To Saleem, meanwhile, it’s a way to “come up with a unique Maldivian image”—or to one-up the ubiquitous over-water bungalow with something even more envy-inducing.

Nowhere is it more important to drive these types of trends than in the Maldives, where about a dozen ultra-luxe hotels will open this year. “The Maldives is indeed a competitive destination, but also a destination where guests expect the best,” Rinck tells Bloomberg. It’s also a destination for which travelers are willing to shell out for the best. The starting price of $50,000 may sound like a lot to pay per night, but the region claims a handful of private island villas at comparable price points—and they’re popular, too.

Plus, after 20 years in the Maldives, Rinck says it’s important for Hilton to stay apace with its newer, shinier competitors. “We need to continue meeting the expectations of travelers looking for that ‘go big or go home’ experience,” he said. It may not have a water slide, but it’ll probably do just fine.

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