Few stories in aviation over the past several years have had as dramatic an arc as Volocopter’s. Once celebrated as one of Europe’s most promising flying taxi startups, the German eVTOL pioneer accumulated hundreds of millions in funding, completed high-profile test flights, and pursued commercial launches in cities like Paris and Singapore – before running headlong into the twin walls of slow aerospace certification and mounting cash burn. By 2024, the company had entered insolvency proceedings. In March 2025, it was acquired by Wanfeng Auto Holding Group, the Chinese automotive supplier that also owns Diamond Aircraft, for €10 million. The VoloXPro, unveiled this week at AERO Friedrichshafen, is the first meaningful sign of what comes next.

The aircraft is a two-seat, fully electric ultralight multicopter – a deliberate step back in scale from the more ambitious VoloCity air taxi that defined Volocopter’s earlier chapter, and a deliberate step forward in strategic clarity. Volocopter and Diamond Aircraft worked intensively on the development throughout 2025, modularizing their product portfolio, realigning the supply chain, and optimizing individual components. The result borrows proven architecture from the VoloCity while targeting a far broader and more accessible customer base.

The specification is straightforward by design. The VoloXPro carries two people, runs on 18 rotors, cruises at 70 km/h, has a maximum range of 40 km, and a maximum take-off mass of 600 kg with a payload of 154 kg. That last figure – the 600 kg MTOM – is significant, as it places the aircraft within the ultralight classification in Germany, which simplifies and accelerates the path to regulatory approval. Volocopter expects to achieve ultralight certification in Germany by the end of 2026, alongside parallel approval processes in other European countries.

The shared components with the VoloCity are not an accident of budget or timeline. They are the strategy. The shared use of technical components between the VoloCity and VoloXPro, combined with ultralight certification, is designed to significantly reduce costs – and, crucially, to carry forward the safety validation work already done on the earlier platform. Volocopter describes the safety standard as comparable to commercial aviation, which it calls a first in Germany’s ultralight aircraft category.

The modular platform concept is the other key to the VoloXPro’s commercial ambition. The aircraft can be configured across a wide range of variants – from single-stick control and minimalist cockpit options to high-end versions for professional operators, with optional features including a single-screen glass cockpit, collision warning systems, customizable exterior paintwork, fast charging, and various battery options. In Europe, the primary targets are flight schools, flying clubs, and sightseeing operators. Internationally, the aircraft is positioned for professional air taxi use.

Volocopter also anticipates a range increase of around 25 percent by 2027 through a new battery cell, with the modular design allowing for easy battery swapping. That upgrade path matters given that the current 40 km range is one of the more obvious constraints on the aircraft’s utility in an air taxi context.

Marie Masson, Volocopter’s senior business development manager, framed the aircraft as the product of combining Diamond’s supply chain experience and type certification expertise with Volocopter’s pioneering knowledge of electric aircraft – and asking how to enter the market faster using both. The VoloXPro, in that sense, is less a grand reinvention and more a disciplined answer to the question that sank the first chapter: how do you build an eVTOL business that actually reaches customers?

The answer, it seems, is to start smaller, smarter, and with a clearer line of sight to certification. Whether that approach proves sufficient will become clearer before the year is out.

Watches and Wonders 2026 was, by most accounts, a careful show. The big names refined rather than reinvented, anniversaries were marked with modest updates, and the independent watchmakers largely stayed within their established territories. Then Hautlence flipped open the Retrovision ’64 and reminded everyone what a genuinely original idea looks like.

The premise is exactly as audacious as it sounds. The watch is modeled after the communicator Captain Kirk used to hail the Enterprise – flip-top grille, crown at noon with a green ring accent, and a shape that reads unmistakably as a prop from a 1960s science-fiction set. The difference, of course, is what lives inside.

The Retrovision ’64 is the third entry in Hautlence’s ongoing Concepts series, which takes pop-culture artifacts from specific decades and rebuilds them as functioning mechanical timepieces. The ’47 drew from transistor radios in 2024; the ’85 channeled the visual language of Japanese robotics in 2025. With the ’64, the reference point is the space-obsessed optimism of 1960s television, and the execution is remarkably faithful. The case measures 61.2 x 41.8 x 15.6mm in Grade 5 titanium, sandblasted and finished in brown PVD with red gold PVD trim on the hinged flip cover. That cover is perforated in a grid of tiny holes mimicking a speaker grille – a detail so specific it could only have been deliberate.

Open it and the watch splits into two completely separate displays under two separate sapphire crystals. The upper, round crystal covers a minutes dial finished in orange, green, and white lacquer with Globolight numerals tracked by a skeletonized orange hand. Below it, a rectangular crystal covers a linear hour track built directly into the case, with orange-lacquered numerals and an arrow indicator that travels the length of the track before snapping back to the beginning. That mechanism – a retrograde jump executed on a linear rather than arc-shaped track – is the kind of engineering challenge that gets quietly discussed in workshops for years before it looks this effortless on a wrist.

The center of the minutes dial is cut away entirely, exposing a one-minute flying tourbillon with a double hairspring spinning in full view. In almost any other watch at this price, the tourbillon would be the headline. Here it shares billing with a communicator gag, which either says something about the audacity of the concept or the sheer density of complications packed into a single piece.

The D50 self-winding movement was developed in collaboration with Agenhor, the Geneva-based specialists Hautlence has worked with since introducing this linear jumping-hour mechanism on its Linear line back in 2022. At 239 components, 39 jewels, 21,600 vibrations per hour, and a minimum 72-hour power reserve, the technical credentials are entirely serious regardless of what the case looks like from across a room.

Priced at CHF 129,700 before tax – roughly $165,000 – and limited to just three examples worldwide, the Retrovision ’64 occupies a category of object that is less product and more statement. Hautlence is a small brand making a deliberate argument that watchmaking can still be playful, technically ambitious, and genuinely strange all at once. On the evidence of this piece, the argument holds. Also be sute to checkour article about watch investments.

The connection between Rolls-Royce and the nautical world runs deeper than most automotive stories dare to go. Long before he met Henry Royce, Charles Rolls’ family owned the Santa Maria – a substantial schooner-rigged steam yacht that cruised throughout Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s. More than a century later, that maritime heritage has found its most complete four-wheeled expression yet in the Cullinan Yachting: a collection of four Private Commissions that blur the line between road and sea with extraordinary confidence.

The first thing you notice is that each car has a story rooted in place. North arrives in Crystal over Light Blue, evoking the colder waters of higher latitudes. South wears a deep Crystal over Arabian Blue IV, capturing warmer climes. East is rendered in Dark Silk Teal, suggesting the calm and mystery of deep water, while West appears in Sapphire Gunmetal – the color of a storm-lit ocean sky. All four share a hand-painted compass motif on the front wings, a Twin Coachline in Phoenix Red and Arctic White, and 22-inch fully polished alloy wheels that subtly recall the mirror-bright brightwork of contemporary racing yachts.

Beyond the paint, the Cullinan Yachting is fundamentally a showcase of what human hands can accomplish when given enough time and creative freedom. The hand-painted fascia – depicting the trailing wake of a tender heading toward a yacht at anchor – required two months of experimentation alone, refining paint combinations, application techniques, and lacquering processes. Crucially, the direction of the wake on each car reflects its own compass orientation, ensuring every commission is a true one-of-one. The craftsmanship extends to the rear of the cabin, where an intricate marquetry compass motif on the Waterfall console is assembled from more than 40 individual pieces of veneer in Sycamore, Teak, Ash, and Black Bolivar.

Step inside and the yacht references are everywhere – but never heavy-handed. Open-pore teak runs throughout the cabin, a material far more commonly found on yacht decks than in automobiles, lending warmth and genuine maritime authenticity. The seating tells its own story: Arctic White and Navy Blue leather wraps the interior, with contrast stitching, piping, and headrest monograms in Navy, while seat inserts carry a Bespoke rigging pattern hand-stitched by an artisan with a personal connection to the Royal Navy – each stitch echoing the structure of twisted nautical rope. Above it all, the ceiling becomes a navigational experience, with a unique Starlight Headliner of hand-placed fiber-optic stars arranged in patterns drawn from Mediterranean wind maps, subtly brightening and dimming to suggest shifting air currents overhead.

For all the poetry of its construction, the Cullinan Yachting remains a serious machine. Each of the four commissions is powered by the 6.75-liter twin-turbocharged V12, producing 553 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque – performance credentials entirely sufficient for a vehicle of this stature.

What makes the Cullinan Yachting more than a styling exercise is the internal consistency of its vision. Every detail – the rope-stitched seats, the teak panels, the painted wake on the fascia, the wind-map headliner, the compass on the Waterfall – connects back to a single idea. These four cars are not trying to be yachts. They are trying to carry the spirit of the sea – its navigational romance, its craftsmanship traditions, its sense of boundless direction – onto roads that their owners know just as well as open water. In that, they succeed completely. Also be sure to check our list of the most expensive cars in the world.

Minimalism in product design has gradually flattened the identity of many tech objects. Clean shapes and invisible interfaces once felt intentional, but today they often result in devices that look and behave the same. In response, some audio brands have shifted back toward designs that embrace visibility, tactility, and presence.

TRETTITRE’s TTT series builds on that idea by turning physical media players into objects you actually want to see and interact with. The lineup includes a vinyl player, CD player, and cassette deck, all designed with a shared visual language and the ability to integrate into a modular wall system.

The TTT-LP3 vinyl player stands out as the centerpiece. Its CNC-machined aluminum frame feels solid and precise, while a diffused lighting panel behind the surface creates a soft ambient glow when in use. As a record spins, subtle shadows move across the body, adding a quiet visual layer to the listening experience. The player can be mounted vertically or horizontally on a wall, where it charges wirelessly through the mount, or lifted off using a built-in handle for portable use. A self-balancing tonearm removes the need for manual calibration, making it far more accessible without losing the hands-on ritual of playing vinyl.

The TTT-DP3 CD player takes a different route, focusing on motion and curiosity. Its UFO-like shape includes a transparent magnetic cover that rotates open, partially revealing the spinning disc. The effect turns a simple function into something worth watching. Raised tactile buttons allow easy control without looking, while a small OLED display keeps information minimal and clear. Like the LP3, it includes a built-in battery for portable listening.

The TTT-CP3 cassette player leans into mechanical interaction. Its metal body features sharp geometric lines, and the transport controls respond with firm, physical feedback. Instead of imitating retro designs, it presents a more modern interpretation of cassette hardware. Inside, updated electronics help reduce noise while preserving the characteristic analog sound, and Bluetooth support allows it to connect wirelessly to speakers or headphones.

All three devices connect through the TTT-W magnetic wall rack, which organizes them into a clean, structured display. The rack not only keeps everything aligned but also provides wireless charging for the LP3, removing the need for visible cables and reinforcing the idea of audio equipment as part of interior design.

TRETTITRE also extends the system with matching speakers, in-ear headphones, and accessories, creating a cohesive ecosystem. The result is a setup where vinyl, CDs, and cassettes are no longer tucked away but become a visible, functional part of the space.

The automotive industry has been promising solid-state batteries for so long that the phrase itself has become a kind of placeholder for a future that never quite arrives. Toyota has been chasing it for years. Samsung has a roadmap. QuantumScape has been working on it since 2010 and still has no production vehicle to show for it. The industry consensus, as of early 2026, clusters around meaningful volumes arriving sometime between 2027 and 2030 – for cars. For motorcycles, nobody was even talking about it.

Then, at CES in January, a Finnish company called Donut Lab announced that its answer to when solid-state batteries would be ready for production vehicles was not 2027. It was now. The first units of the 2026 Verge TS Pro Gen 2 – powered by Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery – came off the production line in Estonia at the end of March and are now heading to early reservation holders.

The skepticism was immediate and vocal. Shirley Meng, a professor of molecular engineering at the University of Chicago, visited Donut Lab’s CES booth and said directly that she did not believe it. Yang Hongxin, CEO of Chinese battery giant Svolt, called the claimed parameters contradictory. Those are not fringe critics. The history of solid-state battery announcements has trained the industry to treat bold claims with caution, and Donut Lab’s numbers are genuinely bold: 400 Wh/kg energy density, full charge in five minutes, 100,000 cycle life, operation from -30°C to above 100°C without performance loss, all built from abundant materials rather than rare-earth elements. Since CES, Donut Lab has taken steps to build credibility, including independent cell-level testing by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, which confirmed that the battery maintained over 100% of nominal capacity after multiple hours at 100°C. More recently, a pack-level charging test in an actual Verge TS Pro demonstrated sustained 100kW charging – a 5C rate – for five minutes in a real vehicle environment, air-cooled rather than liquid-cooled.

The motorcycle itself is worth considering on its own terms, independent of the battery story. Verge was founded in Finland in 2018 around a single design premise: start from scratch for electricity rather than adapting a conventional layout. The result is the hubless rear-wheel in-wheel motor, which eliminates the chain, lowers the center of gravity, and removes roughly 120 components compared to a conventional drivetrain. The motor sits where the rear axle would be, freeing space for a larger battery and producing a visual profile that looks entirely unlike anything else on the road. The approach was credible enough to earn Verge a Guinness World Record for electric motorcycle range in 2025 and ambassador partnerships with Formula 1 world champions Mika Häkkinen and Valtteri Bottas.

The Gen 2 TS Pro upgrades the drivetrain alongside the battery. The new Donut Motor 2.0 is 50% lighter than its predecessor while delivering 100 kW of peak power and 737 lb-ft of torque through the hubless rear wheel – figures that produce a 0-60 time of 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 124 mph. The reduction in unsprung weight at the rear wheel addresses one of the practical criticisms of the first generation, which reviewers noted produced some pulsing at very low speeds. Verge’s Starmatter HMI brings four ride modes – Range, Zen, Beast, and a fully Custom configuration – along with over-the-air update capability, improved connectivity, and built-in Bluetooth. Standard equipment includes Brembo brakes and Öhlins/Wilbers suspension, components that are not typically standard on anything at this price.

The battery comes in two configurations. The standard 20.2 kWh pack offers 217 miles of range and charges at up to 100 kW peak, while the large 33.3 kWh pack extends range to 370 miles and charges at up to 200 kW – adding 186 miles of range in approximately 10 minutes via a NACS charging port. Verge has been candid about deliberately slowing the charge rate to ten minutes for the production bike: the intent, as Donut Lab CEO Marko Lehtimäki has put it, is to give riders time for a coffee rather than having to rush back to the bike before it finishes.

Pricing starts at $29,900 for the standard battery configuration and $34,900 for the extended range pack. Neither figure is cheap for a motorcycle, but neither is it unreasonable for what is, on the face of it, the most technically significant two-wheeled vehicle to reach production in years. Deliveries to early reservation holders are underway. New orders are expected to arrive later in the year.

The real proof will come over time. Long-term cycle life, real-world charging logs, thermal behaviour in varied climates, and manufacturing consistency across a production run will determine whether Donut Lab’s technology is the genuine inflection point it claims to be, or whether the industry’s 2027-2030 consensus turns out to have been the more accurate frame. What can be said now is that the bikes are real, they are shipping, and they are powered by a battery that every major automotive company has been trying to build for the better part of a decade. Whether that is a breakthrough or a very impressive starting point, the road will tell. Be sure to check our list of the fastest bikes in the world.

Last year, Bang & Olufsen kicked off its centennial celebration by revisiting the Beolab 90, a monumental floor-standing speaker originally created for the brand’s 90th anniversary. Through the Atelier Editions program, we witnessed the arrival of the silver Titan, the black Phantom, and the purple Mirage. Now, the final two masterpieces have arrived to complete this historic five-part series, marking the brand’s 100th birthday with unparalleled craftsmanship and acoustic power.

The Beolab 90 remains a marvel of engineering, featuring eighteen Scan-Speak drivers and 8,200 watts of amplification per tower. Its core innovation lies in beam-forming technology, which allows for precise control over sound dispersion through active room compensation and direction control. This studio-level adaptability is housed in a massive 302-pound frame, a foundation that remains unchanged even as the exterior is reimagined for these limited editions.

The Monarch Edition offers a grounded, organic aesthetic. Utilizing Rosewood Palisander sourced from a long-time Danish partner, the design features hand-carved wooden lamellas that wrap around the aluminum cabinet in a seamless 360-degree flow. The deep grain of the wood is complemented by ochre-colored aluminum and semi-transparent fabric, creating a look that is both traditional and sophisticated. A delicate light-through-wood stripe on the front provides a subtle contrast to the speaker’s imposing scale.

In contrast, the Zenith Edition is a feat of intricate metalwork and jewelry-inspired design. Its cabinet is adorned with 1,734 individual anodized aluminum spheres, each manually mounted using a specialized method to prevent vibration during high-output playback. The aluminum facemask is pearl-blasted to resemble an oyster shell, while the top is crowned with a genuine mother-of-pearl inlay.

These editions are strictly limited to ten pairs each, representing the pinnacle of the B&O lineup. Each set comes with a certificate of authenticity, a miniature aluminum sculpture of the speaker, and a custom delivery box. With pricing starting at approximately 480,000 euros per pair, the Monarch and Zenith stand as the ultimate tribute to a century of Danish audio innovation.

James Dean called his 550 Spyder “Little Bastard.” He was not wrong about the car. The original 550 was light, fast, and unforgiving – a machine built for people who understood exactly what they were asking of it. Dean did not survive his. The story has attached itself to the 550 ever since, which is part of why the model sits where it does in Porsche mythology.

But the car that matters here is not the original 550. It is the refined evolution that Porsche built in the years after Dean’s death – the 550A, improved in almost every structural respect and produced in a run of just 40 examples. Chassis 550A-0116 is one of them, and it is heading to RM Sotheby’s Monaco sale on April 25 with a pre-sale estimate of between €3.5 and €3.8 million – a figure that, given this car’s specific provenance, may well prove conservative.

Dispensing with the ladder chassis of the original in favour of a lighter and more rigid spaceframe, the 550A also received upgraded suspension and brakes, along with an improved version of the 135 horsepower 1.5-litre four-cam flat-four engine. The hand-formed aerodynamic bodywork was produced by Karosserie Wendler, the same coachbuilder that shaped the original 550. Overall weight came in at approximately 1,200 pounds – a figure that made the 135 horsepower feel considerably more potent than it looked on paper and pushed the top speed to nearly 150 mph.

The history of chassis 550A-0116 is documented with a precision that is genuinely unusual in vintage Porsche collecting, beginning with a remarkable primary source. Herbert Linge – the first mechanic Porsche employed after its factory moved to Stuttgart, and later a racing driver of considerable distinction – kept handwritten records of every 550A built. According to those notes, this example was completed on 18 February 1957 and delivered to Jack McAfee’s Porsche dealership in Burbank, California on 4 March.

McAfee was not a casual enthusiast. He was one of the most capable sports car drivers in California at a time when American road racing was producing a generation of genuinely quick drivers. He had already won the 1956 SCCA Modified F Class championship aboard an earlier 550, recognising before most of his contemporaries that Porsche’s lightweight philosophy had identified something Ferrari and the British constructors had not yet fully grasped. The 550A made its competitive debut at Paramount Ranch Racetrack on 15 June 1957, where McAfee scored two outright wins on the second day alone. What followed was one of the most consistent regional racing records in the SCCA’s California calendar – victories at Palm Springs, Riverside, Pomona, Laguna Seca, Phoenix, Santa Barbara, and beyond, accumulating to more than 25 documented wins across two seasons of competition.

One detail from that racing career sets this specific car apart from every other 550A. Early in its competitive life, McAfee reportedly damaged the rear bodywork badly enough to require replacement. Rather than fitting the standard 550A fixed rear section, he had it replaced with a hinged, tilting unit borrowed from the original RS 550 – a modification he preferred for easier engine access. That quirk was preserved through the most recent restoration. It is the kind of detail that matters not just as a historical note but as physical evidence of the car’s actual use.

After leaving California competition in 1959, the car passed through a series of owners across multiple continents – spending time in South Africa, returning to the United States under the custodianship of race team owner and two-time Le Mans class winner Dick Barbour, then moving to Japan with collector Hui Takahara before being sent to Germany for restoration by championship-winning Porsche specialists Freisinger Motorsport. It returned to the United States in 2013, was exhibited at the 2014 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance where it won Best in Class for post-war race cars built before 1965, and was acquired by the current vendor in August 2018.

That acquisition was followed immediately by a decision that reflects either considerable confidence in the car’s long-term value or genuine commitment to doing the job properly – or both. In August 2019, the 550A was dispatched to Andy Prill in Essex, one of the most respected Porsche restoration specialists in Britain, for what would become a six-year, nut-and-bolt overhaul. The bodywork was stripped to bare metal and repainted. The engine was rebuilt around a factory exchange crankcase sourced from Italy. The matching-numbers gearbox was completely reassembled. Invoices on file total more than £307,000. The matching-numbers original engine case accompanies the sale. Prill describes the result as box-fresh – a term rarely applied to a 68-year-old racing car, and in this case apparently entirely warranted.

When this same car last crossed the block at RM Sotheby’s Monterey in 2018, it fetched $4.9 million – and that was before the restoration. The Monaco estimate of €3.5 to €3.8 million reflects a market that has softened somewhat since 2018, but also a car that is now in demonstrably superior condition. RM Sotheby’s global director of private sales Harvey Stanley has described it as the holy grail of 550A Spyders and a key piece of Porsche’s American racing history. Neither description is an overstatement. Also be sure ot check our list of the fastest cars in the world.

In 1976, two very different innovations captured attention at the same time. NASA presented the Space Shuttle Enterprise, marking a new era in reusable spacecraft, while Amida introduced the Digitrend, a mechanical watch that displayed time through a prism like a cockpit instrument. Decades later, those parallel stories meet in a single object.

The Amida Digitrend NASA Edition takes the original concept and pushes it into something that feels closer to aerospace equipment than traditional watchmaking. Its 39.6 mm case is built as a monoblock structure in black DLC-coated stainless steel, shaped with horizontal fluting that gives it a distinctly technical, almost industrial character. On top sits a glossy white ceramic shell marked with the iconic NASA “worm” logo, a design language used by the agency between 1975 and 1992 and still strongly associated with the golden age of space exploration.

The way this watch tells time is what sets it apart. Instead of hands, it uses a sapphire prism to project the display toward the wearer, creating a layout that feels more like reading a flight instrument than checking a wristwatch. Hours jump instantly while minutes scroll smoothly, driven by a custom-built module developed specifically for this model. This system works in combination with the Swiss automatic Soprod Newton P092 movement, blending traditional mechanics with a highly unconventional presentation.

Amida’s Light Reflective Display technology plays a key role here, redirecting the time readout through the prism so it can be viewed from an angle without turning the wrist. It is a small detail, but one that reinforces the connection to cockpit ergonomics and pilot-focused design thinking.

Even the strap continues the aerospace theme. It features an insert made from Beta cloth, a material originally developed for use in space suits due to its fire-resistant properties. That choice is not just aesthetic, it ties the watch directly to the materials used in real missions.

Limited to just 100 individually numbered pieces, the Digitrend NASA Edition is less about nostalgia and more about merging two design philosophies that were born in the same year. It captures the optimism and technical ambition of the late seventies, translating it into a modern object that feels both retro and futuristic at the same time.

When people search for the biggest LEGO set, they usually imagine massive boxes with thousands of pieces and long hours of building at home. But there is another level of scale that completely changes the meaning of that phrase. Instead of something you assemble on a table, it becomes something you can walk up to, touch, and even sit inside.

A striking example of this shift is a life-sized Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider created at LEGOLAND New York Resort through a collaboration between LEGO and Ferrari . This build is not just large, it pushes the idea of the biggest LEGO set into a completely different category. It uses 554,767 bricks and took more than 2,300 hours to complete, resulting in a full-scale replica that mirrors the proportions and presence of the real car.

What makes it even more impressive is that it is not just a static sculpture. The model sits on a real car base and features working elements such as headlights, detailed brakes, and an interior that closely matches the original. The iconic Rosso Corsa color, the long sculpted bonnet, and the muscular rear are all recreated with a pixel-like LEGO texture that makes the car look both realistic and surreal at the same time. Visitors can open the doors and sit inside, which is something no traditional biggest LEGO set could ever offer.

The realism goes even further with the inclusion of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 platform beneath the structure, reinforcing that this is not just about visual accuracy but also about engineering ambition. Interestingly, the LEGO version is heavier than the actual car, weighing around 1,800 kilograms compared to the real model’s 1,620 kilograms. That detail alone highlights how dense and complex the construction is.

Compared to even the largest retail sets, which usually top out at around ten thousand pieces, this creation operates on a completely different scale. It is dozens of times larger, built for a physical environment rather than a living room, and designed to be experienced rather than simply assembled. That is why builds like this redefine what people really mean when they talk about the biggest LEGO set.

At the same location, the experience does not stop with the display. Visitors can create their own smaller LEGO cars and test them on interactive tracks, including digitally simulated circuits inspired by Ferrari’s real testing grounds. This adds another layer to the concept, turning it from a passive showcase into something hands-on and engaging.

In the end, the idea of the biggest LEGO set is no longer limited to what comes in a box. It extends to projects like this, where scale, realism, and interaction come together to create something that feels closer to a real machine than a toy.

Bell & Ross has always looked upward. The brand built its identity on cockpit instrument panels, aviation precision, and the kind of functional clarity that pilots depend on. The BR-05 Blue Diamond Eagle 36mm keeps that upward gaze but shifts it considerably further – past the atmosphere, past the cloud layer, all the way to a constellation 16.7 light years from Earth.

The aventurine glass dial is the starting point, and it earns its place here through something more than visual appeal. The material has a genuinely interesting origin: Venetian glassmakers on Murano are believed to have discovered it in the 17th century when copper filings accidentally fell into a batch of molten glass, producing a sheet of deep blue with suspended metallic inclusions that catch and scatter light in a way no manufactured effect has ever quite replicated. On a dial, under changing light, it behaves less like a surface and more like a depth – a starfield that appears to shift as the wrist moves. Working with it is considerably harder than working with conventional dial materials. Aventurine glass is highly sensitive to temperature variations and prone to micro-cracks, so every cutting and drilling operation requires specialised tools and considerable care. The fact that Bell & Ross then proceeded to drill eighteen holes into it for diamond setting makes the execution even more demanding.

Those eighteen diamonds divide into two functions. Eleven replace the conventional hour markers, distributed around the dial with the clean legibility that has always defined the BR-05. The remaining seven trace something more specific: the Aquila constellation, reproduced at its actual positions rather than approximated for decorative effect. Altair, the constellation’s brightest star and one of the closest to Earth visible to the naked eye, sits as the largest diamond between 10 and 11 o’clock, representing the eagle’s head. Three medium stones describe the wings and tail, and three further diamonds complete the silhouette. Each stone is mounted in a custom brass setting held by four prongs, set into the aventurine from below so that the settings themselves remain hidden beneath the dial surface. The precision required for this is not incidental – it is the difference between a watch that looks expensive and one that actually is.

The eagle is not a decoration borrowed from mythology. It has been present in Bell & Ross’s visual identity since the brand’s earliest years, a symbol of flight, elevation, and the conquest of the sky that connects directly to the brand’s aeronautical roots. Placing the Aquila constellation on the dial is a layering of references – the eagle as symbolic figure, the eagle as literal star map – that rewards the kind of attention this dial invites. The caseback carries a laser-engraved rendering of the constellation, so the reference runs through the entire object rather than stopping at the dial.

The case around all of this is the 36mm BR-05 introduced in 2025, a reworked proposition rather than a simple reduction of the 40mm original. At 8.7mm in height, it sits considerably slimmer than the larger format. The integrated bracelet flows directly from the case, with the first link forming part of the case itself – a structural decision that produces the clean, uninterrupted line that the BR-05 has always prioritised. The familiar square geometry with rounded corners and four polished screws on the raised bezel remains unmistakably the same watch, just with proportions recalibrated from scratch rather than scaled down. Crown guards protect the screw-down crown; water resistance is rated to 100 metres; the anti-reflective sapphire crystal sits above the dial without drawing attention to itself.

The movement inside is the automatic BR-CAL.329, a Sellita SW-300 base at 3.6mm in height running at 28,800 vibrations per hour with a 54-hour power reserve. Slim, reliable, and appropriately hidden – the dial is the point here, and the movement exists to serve it without complicating it.

Priced at $5,000, the BR-05 Blue Diamond Eagle 36mm occupies a position that will interest collectors who have been watching the BR-05 line develop since 2019 and jewellery-oriented buyers who have not considered Bell & Ross before. It is the most dressed-up watch the collection has produced, and also, in a specific and considered way, the most true to what the brand has always been about. The sky was always the reference. This time, Bell & Ross just mapped it precisely. And don’t forget to check our list of the most expensive watches.