After announcing its role as Vast’s brand partner and official timekeeper late last year, IWC Schaffhausen has now followed up on that news with a tangible expression of the collaboration, in the form of the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive, unveiled at Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026. An astronaut’s tool watch, conceived from scratch with human spaceflight as the intended use case, the non-limited-edition timepiece was developed by IWC’s engineering division, XPL.

Rethought based on astronauts’ timekeeping demands and the extremes of the space environment, as well as limitations they might face in wearing and using these watches, the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive is built around the ‘vertical drive’ clutch system that transmits energy from the rotations of the bezel to the movement, with no conventional crown involved. This rotating bezel mechanism, working in tandem with a rocker switch on the side of the case that acts as a toggle, controls all the watch’s functions, from setting home and mission times to winding the movement. Removing the need for a crown is a thoughtful consideration given that astronauts may find themselves having to manipulate their watches through the thick gloves of their space suits. And providing for both manual winding and automatic winding on Earth and also in space is vital: Without gravity, automatic winding can only work through the acceleration created by the watch wearer’s wrist movements, so automatic winding becomes less effective, hence the necessity of manual winding. The capability of winding the movement by rotating the bezel or by way of the integrated oscillating mass means the watch works in gravity and also in weightless environments. 

Specifically engineered for the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive, which is not adapted from an existing IWC model, the IWC-manufactured calibre 32722 automatic movement operates at 28,800 vibrations per hour and is equipped with 120 hours of power reserve and central hacking seconds. The integrated GMT module supports tracking two time zones, with the mission’s reference time indicated by a dedicated hand on the outer dial, in a 24-hour format to mirror the rhythm of Earth time; the central hour hand can indicate the mission time in the conventional 12-hour format, or it can be adjusted in steps of one hour to display another time zone, such as a location on Earth. A window at 3 o’clock keeps track of the current date.

Measuring 44.3mm in diameter and 16.7mm in thickness, the Pilot Venturer’s Vertical Drive might understandably wear quite large for daily use on Earth, but the generous dimensions are also chosen to be in service of spacesuit-outfitted explorers. IWC’s proprietary Ceratanium forms the watch’s caseback and rotating bezel, while zirconium oxide ceramic in white makes up the case; both materials are known for their durability, scratch resistance, light weight, and thermal stability. An integrated strap made of fluorinated rubber, a good thermal insulator with resistance to ultraviolet radiation, continues the lines of the case. And to cover all scenarios that could occur during a spaceflight mission, the watch is water resistant to 100m, so it will survive the splashdown admirably. 

IWC is no stranger to building watches for space: The brand sent its watches into space as part of SpaceX’s Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn commercial human spaceflight missions, in 2021 and 2024, respectively: the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Inspiration4” and Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Polaris Dawn”, both in limited runs of four that were then auctioned off for charity after the expeditions returned to Earth, and both bearing striking visual similarities with the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Lake Tahoe”, specifically the white-ceramic construction paired with a dark dial. 

Perhaps in continuing that aesthetic lineage, the new Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive carries forward these visual codes, although in a radically reimagined style. Modern and minimalist, the watch is replete with references to 60s retrofuturism, especially the Space Age’s fluid forms, bubble-shaped silhouettes, and high-tech materials. A case of white ceramic is set against a matte black dial; among the few observable colour elements are the Superluminova on the hands, offered in blue and green to echo the colours of Earth as seen from way afar. 

On the technical front, instead of leaning on a terrestrial aviation watch qualified (or modified) to withstand the rigours of space, as its previous space-faring watches have been, IWC built a space-bound watch from the ground up, resulting in the brand’s first watch designed specifically to suit the demands of space flight. According to the brand, testing done by Vast’s engineers based in the aerospace company’s California headquarters assessed the watch for resistance to vibrations and pressure change. 

The watch has cleared spaceflight standards for Vast’s Haven-1, scheduled as the first commercial space station and currently in development by the American aerospace company building space stations for human habitation, and the novelty is set to join Haven-1’s four crew members on their trip to space in early 2027.

This story was first seen as part of the WOW #84 Vision 2026 issue.

For more on the latest in luxury watch reads, click here.

The post Designed for Orbit: IWC Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive appeared first on LUXUO.

In the dark of night, SUBLIMAGE L’Extrait de Nuit works in perfect harmony with new SUBLIMAGE L’Extrait Baume Regard to offer repairing action that benefits every part of the face.

The ultimate skincare experience: a result of the chemistry between two exceptional signature ingredients, Vanilla Planifolia and Swertia. Skin emanates sublime radiance upon waking.

The post SUBLIMAGE Les Extraits: when night reveals the sublime – CHANEL Skincare appeared first on LUXUO.

Yayoi Kusama’s greatest achievement was not the polka dot, the pumpkin or even the Infinity Room. It was her ability to build a visual language so distinctive that it could move effortlessly from museums to public sculpture, fashion, luxury retail and popular culture without losing its identity.

That is why her legacy matters beyond the art world.

Kusama passed away in Tokyo on 14 August 2026 at the age of 97, after a career spanning more than seven decades. She continued painting until her final days. By then, she had become one of the rare contemporary artists whose work was immediately recognisable to collectors, museum-goers and casual audiences alike.

Her significance is especially clear. Kusama demonstrated that cultural influence is strongest when a creator develops a world rather than a product. Her dots, nets, mirrors and pumpkins became a coherent universe — one that could be translated across disciplines without becoming anonymous. Few artists have achieved that degree of authorship.

More Than an Iconic Aesthetic

Kusama’s visual codes became so familiar that their deeper meaning can easily be overlooked. Born in Matsumoto, Japan, in 1929, she began experiencing visions during childhood in which patterns seemed to multiply across her surroundings. These experiences later informed the dots and nets that would become central to her art.

For Kusama, repetition was not merely decorative. It was a way of confronting anxiety, infinity and the boundaries of the self.

Dots multiplied until distinctions between object, body and environment began to disappear. Nets stretched endlessly across canvases. Out of this emerged her idea of self-obliteration — the dissolution of individuality through repetition.

That tension remains one of the reasons her work has endured. Its surfaces can appear playful, bright and instantly accessible, while the ideas beneath them are far more existential.

The polka dot may have become a global motif, but for Kusama it began as something intensely personal.

Before the Blockbusters

Kusama moved to the United States in 1957 and established herself in New York during one of the most consequential periods in postwar art.

She produced her Infinity Net paintings alongside soft sculptures, mirrored environments and experimental performances. During the 1960s, her happenings brought together body painting, fashion, political protest and spectacle.

This earlier chapter is essential to understanding the Kusama who later became a global phenomenon. Her work developed alongside Minimalism and Pop Art, but her interest in repetition, accumulation and immersion remained unmistakably her own. Long before audiences queued for an Infinity Room, Kusama was already challenging conventional distinctions between artwork, environment and spectator.

Her later popularity did not create the radicalism of the work. It simply brought it to a much wider audience.

Infinity Before Instagram

The Infinity Mirror Rooms became Kusama’s most celebrated expression of this thinking. Through mirrors, light and repetition, visitors are absorbed into environments that appear to extend beyond their physical limits. The experience is visually seductive but also disorientating. A person enters expecting spectacle and instead confronts the sensation of becoming very small within something seemingly endless.

That duality — pleasure and unease, visibility and disappearance — is central to Kusama’s appeal. It also explains why her work adapted so naturally to the digital era.

Her installations became among contemporary art’s most photographed experiences, but describing Kusama as an “Instagram artist” gets the chronology backwards. She had been creating immersive environments decades before smartphones transformed how audiences consume culture.

Contemporary culture caught up with Kusama. Today, immersion has become a familiar strategy across museums, retail, hospitality and entertainment.

Luxury brands increasingly build environments designed not simply to display products but to envelop consumers in a complete brand world. Kusama understood the power of that idea long before it became a commercial convention.

When Art Entered Luxury

Her collaborations with Louis Vuitton made the connection particularly explicit. Kusama’s dots appeared across handbags, clothing, store façades, installations and monumental displays, turning the Maison’s boutiques into extensions of her artistic universe.

For some, the collision of fine art and commerce raised predictable questions about commodification. Yet Kusama’s work had always crossed boundaries between painting, sculpture, performance, fashion and spectacle.

The more interesting lesson lies in how successfully her imagery survived mass reproduction. Many creative signatures weaken when repeated too often. Kusama’s became stronger.

A single cluster of dots could identify her instantly. A giant pumpkin could function simultaneously as sculpture, cultural landmark and highly recognisable image. A luxury object covered in her patterns remained visibly Kusama even when removed from the museum.

That level of recognisability is what luxury houses often spend decades attempting to build through monograms, silhouettes and design codes. Kusama achieved it through art.

The Risk of Becoming Too Recognisable

There was, however, a cost to such ubiquity. The more Kusama’s dots, pumpkins and mirrored rooms circulated globally, the easier it became to consume the aesthetic without engaging with the ideas behind it.

A pumpkin becomes a photo opportunity while a mirror room becomes content. A pattern becomes a commercial device. That is why any serious tribute must separate Kusama the artist from Kusama the phenomenon.

Behind the instantly recognisable imagery was a relentless working practice concerned with repetition, mortality, infinity and disappearance. She moved through postwar experimentation, conceptual art, installation, the rise of the global art market and eventually the age of social media without abandoning those core ideas. While the context changed, the vocabulary remained hers.

An Infinite Legacy

Kusama’s influence now reaches far beyond the conventional boundaries of contemporary art.

Her work helped normalise the idea that an artwork could be immersive, participatory and instantly recognisable while still carrying conceptual weight. Her career also demonstrated the extraordinary power of a coherent creative identity — one capable of moving between museum, cityscape and luxury culture without losing its origin.

That may be the clearest takeaway from her legacy. Kusama did not simply create memorable objects. She created a world, then maintained its visual integrity for more than seven decades.

In a culture increasingly driven by novelty, collaborations and rapidly changing trends, that consistency feels especially significant. She spent a lifetime exploring how the self might disappear into repetition and infinity. Instead, she created an artistic identity the world will find difficult to forget.

For more on the latest in culture and art reads, click here

The post Yayoi Kusama Made Infinity Her Own appeared first on LUXUO.

The purchase price of a yacht is the number everyone talks about. It’s printed in the listing, negotiated over email, and celebrated when the deal closes. What follows that closing is a far longer list of obligations, most of which never appear in a brokerage brochure. Owning a vessel in foreign waters introduces a layer of administrative and financial complexity that owning a boat down the road from your house simply doesn’t.

Brokers aren’t necessarily hiding these costs. Their job is to match buyer and vessel, and once the transaction clears, the ongoing relationship usually thins out. The result is that many first-time owners discover the real structure of their expenses in their second or third year, when patterns emerge and the annual total starts looking nothing like the estimate they built during due diligence.

This piece walks through the categories that tend to surprise people. Some are large. Some are small but relentless. Together they can add a meaningful percentage to the annual cost of ownership.

Registration, Flagging, and the Paperwork That Follows

Every vessel needs a flag state. That choice determines which country’s laws govern the boat, what safety inspections apply, and which tax regime you fall under. It’s a decision with long consequences, and it’s rarely as simple as picking whichever jurisdiction a broker mentions in passing.

Choosing a Registry Is a Financial Decision

Registries compete for business. Some offer lower annual fees, some offer faster processing, and some carry reputational weight that matters when you resell. Each has its own fee schedule, and those schedules include items beyond the headline registration cost — tonnage certificates, radio licenses, survey requirements, and renewal charges that arrive on their own timetable.

The cheapest registry on paper is often not the cheapest in practice. A registry with minimal fees but slow document turnaround can leave a boat sitting unusable while paperwork clears. Time in a marina berth costs money whether you’re aboard or not.

Ongoing Compliance

Registration isn’t a one-time act. Certificates expire. Surveys come due on fixed cycles, and a vessel that fails one may need work completed before the certificate reissues. If ownership sits inside a corporate structure — a common arrangement for larger yachts — you’re also maintaining that entity, which means annual filings, registered agent fees, and in some jurisdictions a corporate tax return even when the company does nothing but hold a boat.

Berthing, Storage, and the Cost of Simply Existing

A yacht occupies space, and space in desirable places is expensive. Marina fees are the most predictable ongoing cost of ownership, which makes them the easiest to underestimate, because owners tend to price the berth they want rather than the berth they’ll actually need.

Seasonal Rate Structures

Mediterranean and Caribbean marinas often price by season, and the gap between high and low season can be substantial. A berth quoted at an attractive annual rate may assume you’re there in the quiet months. Book the same slip in August and the arithmetic changes.

Length overall drives most pricing, but not all of it. Beam surcharges, catwalk access, water and power metering, and mandatory services like waste pumpout appear as separate lines. Some marinas require you to use their contracted service providers, which removes your ability to shop for better rates on routine work.

Haul-Out and Winter Storage

Vessels come out of the water for maintenance, and haul-out is priced by lift, by day on the hard, and by any yard services performed while you’re there. Winter storage in a covered facility costs considerably more than open-air. Owners who plan to move a boat between regions seasonally should also account for the delivery itself, whether that means paying a professional crew or shipping the vessel on a transport ship.

Crew, Insurance, and Legal Exposure

The moment you employ someone aboard, a different set of rules applies. Crew employment abroad involves contracts, payroll, social contributions in some jurisdictions, and medical coverage that meets the standards of the flag state. The Maritime Labour Convention sets minimum requirements for seafarer working conditions, and compliance is not optional for vessels that fall within its scope.

Insurance premiums vary by cruising area, and the boundaries matter. A policy written for coastal European waters may exclude regions you intended to visit. Navigational limits, named storm provisions, and crew liability coverage all shift the price. Read the exclusions carefully. They tend to be where the real terms live.

Moving Money Across Borders

Nearly every cost described so far gets paid to someone in another country, in another currency, on their schedule. This is where a quiet expense accumulates. Yard invoices, marina renewals, crew salaries, insurance premiums, and registry fees all require funds to arrive in a specific account, on time, in the right denomination.

Banks handle this, but not uniformly. The advertised transfer fee is only part of the cost — the exchange rate applied to the conversion often carries a margin above the mid-market rate, and that margin is where much of the real expense sits. On a €40,000 yard bill, a two percent spread is €800 that never appears as a line item anywhere.

Setting up a reliable payment method before you need it saves both money and stress. Comparing what your bank charges for an international wire transfer against alternatives is worth doing once, carefully, rather than discovering the difference across a dozen transactions. Timing matters too. Currency markets move, and an owner paying large invoices in a currency other than their income currency is exposed to that movement whether they think about it or not.

Recurring payments deserve particular attention. Crew salaries and berth fees repeat monthly or quarterly, and small per-transaction inefficiencies compound. Owners who consolidate payments, hold a balance in the local currency, or schedule conversions deliberately tend to spend measurably less than those who transfer ad hoc.

Tax, VAT, and Import Duty

Few topics generate more confusion. A vessel’s tax status depends on where it was built, where it’s registered, who owns it, and where it spends time. In the European Union, VAT status attaches to the boat itself, and a yacht without proof of paid or exempt status can face a demand for payment during an inspection.

Temporary Admission and Its Limits

Non-EU owners may use temporary admission arrangements, which allow a vessel to remain in EU waters for a limited period without VAT becoming due. The rules around eligibility, duration, and what resets the clock are specific. Guidance published by the European Commission on customs procedures is worth reviewing alongside professional advice, because the consequences of getting this wrong are measured in a percentage of the vessel’s value.

Cruising taxes, light dues, and port charges appear in various forms depending on the country. Individually small. Collectively noticeable.

Building a Realistic Picture

None of this argues against owning a yacht abroad. It argues for building a budget that reflects the full structure of ownership rather than the headline figure attached to the sale. The costs described here are knowable in advance. They’re documented, published, and predictable — they simply aren’t gathered in one place for a buyer’s convenience.

The owners who fare best treat the purchase as the beginning of an ongoing financial arrangement rather than a single transaction. They ask about renewal cycles before signing. They read the exclusions. They set up payment infrastructure early and revisit it when circumstances change.

A yacht is a long-term commitment to a set of recurring obligations in jurisdictions that operate on their own terms. Understanding that structure before the money moves is what separates ownership that stays enjoyable from ownership that becomes an administrative burden. The information exists. It just requires asking questions that no one volunteers to answer.

For more on the latest in luxury yachting reads, click here.

The post Yacht Ownership Abroad: The Line Items Brokers Don’t Advertise appeared first on LUXUO.

Few communities illustrate this shift as clearly as the Bentley Owners Club Singapore (BOCS). For Jonathan Kwan, now BOCS President and chairman of its 11th Lunar New Year Gala, the connection is particularly personal. His father was one of BOCS’s founders, and Kwan attended club events long before he became a Bentley owner himself. “You can say I actually grew up together with the club,” he says.

The club’s 2026 Lunar New Year Gala at The St. Regis Singapore, which brought together 220 members and guests, offered a fitting snapshot of that evolution. Now in its 11th year, the event remains BOCS’s signature gathering, while its programming increasingly reflects a community extending beyond motoring alone.

A New Generation Behind the Wheel

When BOCS was established, its membership was largely made up of first-generation businessmen who came together to enjoy the finer things in life and meet like-minded peers. That profile is changing. Kwan says the club is now seeing members in their early 30s joining, bringing a younger perspective on luxury ownership.

The shift highlights an interesting observation: what does the contemporary Bentley owner actually want from the marque and the community surrounding it?

For Kwan, the answer remains rooted in the car itself. Bentley owners appreciate not only luxury but performance, with the marque’s GT racing heritage informing the design and driving experience. And the ownership continues even after the engine is switched off.

When Luxury Becomes a Shared Experience

BOCS places an unusually strong emphasis on family. Members are encouraged to bring relatives to events, while the club organises activities ranging from family barbecues to go-karting and bowling.

The approach reflects a wider evolution in luxury. The most desirable experiences today are often those that can be shared — not simply displayed.

The club’s calendar has also rebounded strongly following the disruption of the pandemic. Since 2022, BOCS has increased its activities, with monthly events throughout 2025 becoming oversubscribed and generating what Kwan describes as strong, active participation and lasting friendships.

The gala itself reinforces this social dimension. Its 2026 edition combined the traditions of Lunar New Year with BOCS’s own automotive identity, from its Pegasus-inspired entrance installation to a first-ever live auction. In that sense, the Bentley becomes less a symbol of arrival than an invitation into a community.

The New Language of Exclusivity

Exclusivity remains important, but its expression is changing. Rather than being defined solely by access to expensive objects, it increasingly manifests through experiences unavailable to the wider public.

BOCS has organised private experiences ranging from bespoke handbag crafting to personalised car scents. Kwan describes these experiences as one of the pillars keeping members connected and engaged.

This is where contemporary luxury begins to diverge from conventional ideas of conspicuous consumption. A product can be purchased; an experience built around a community, however, is harder to replicate.

Heritage Meets the Future

That tension between tradition and reinvention is perhaps most apparent in the industry’s transition towards electrification.

Bentley announced its Beyond100 strategy in 2020 with ambitions to become an EV-only brand by 2030. Kwan’s comments, on the other hand, reveal the emotional complexity of that transition. Bentley enthusiasts appreciate the sound of an internal-combustion engine and the subtle vibration felt when the throttle is engaged. He welcomes the marque’s decision to continue using ICE technology within its new PHEV V8 powertrains.

The issue is not simply whether luxury consumers will accept electric vehicles. It is whether technological progress can preserve the emotional qualities that made certain forms of luxury such as the Bentley experience desirable in the first place.

From Singapore to the World

If the next chapter of Bentley ownership is about community, that community may have no borders. BOCS already organises overseas drives through destinations including the UK and Scotland, culminating in visits to Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe. Kwan says the club intends to explore more international drives in the future.

Its ambitions extend further: BOCS plans to reach out to Bentley clubs around the world, creating opportunities for members to connect with owners beyond Singapore. That may ultimately be the most revealing shift of all. The luxury car was once the destination. For a new generation of owners, it may simply be the passport.

The Bentley still matters. So do the craftsmanship, performance and heritage that come with it. However increasingly, the value of ownership extends beyond the badge on the bonnet. It is found in the people gathered around it, the journeys taken together and the experiences that cannot simply be bought off the shelf.

In modern luxury, perhaps the ultimate privilege is not merely having something few others possess. It is having somewhere — and someone — with whom to share it.

For more on the latest in culture and events, click here.

The post Beyond the Badge: How Bentley Ownership Is An Invitation Into a Luxury Community appeared first on LUXUO.