The finest luxury rides, hi-fi, design and tech

Feast your eyes on WIRED’s annual edit of the intersection between luxury and technology 

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A fashion house basketball, a floating hotel and an electric jet ski make this year’s WIRED list of the twelve luxury objects and projects we’re most intrigued and impressed by. 

Spalding Saint Laurent

YSL has created a sport-inspired Rive Droite collection by Yves Saint Laurent’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello that includes inky black skateboard trucks, wheels and decks, suitably noir bike locks and – naturally – a $4,500 Sirch toboggan. However, this black snakeskin-effect basketball (pictured, above), designed in partnership with the official NBA basketball manufacturer Spalding, slam dunks one-of-a-kind luxury. Just remember to pair it with the New Era classic 9FORTY cap, available in, of course, black. 

£350 | YSL

Sondors Metacycle

Premium e-bike brand Sondors has ambitions well beyond the cycle path, with plans under way for a three-wheel EV vehicle, and reservations now open for Metacycle, a beautifully conceived electric motorcycle with 8kWh rear hub motor (peaking at 14.5kWh), powered by a 4,000Wh lithium-ion battery that will deliver a top speed of 130kph and an excellent 130km range. Details remain fairly scant, but we understand the Metacycle will take four hours to charge, and the frame – in an industry first, made from a single piece of cast aluminum and designed to highlight the space where the petrol engine [i]used[/i] to be – features a transparent smartphones charging compartment while keeping its overall kerb weight down to just 90kg.

$5,000 | Sondors 

Sturdy Cycles Fiadh

Sturdy by name - svelte by nature. Tom Sturdy’s lightweight frames combine bleeding edge 3D-printing techniques with hand-built workshop skills. Drawing on conversations with the customer alongside bike-fit data, the frame is tailored to the individual's riding style as well as physical fit. The frame is a combination of additive manufactured ‘lugs’ (the junctions between the tubes) and more traditional titanium tubing. Componentry like seatpost, stem, cranks and even the fork (often swapped out for off-the-shelf carbon) can also be custom fabricated by Sturdy for a rare full-bespoke ride. The Fiadh (say fee-ah) is Sturdy’s take on the modern all-road bike, with disk brakes and clearance for up to 36mm tyres front and rear. It is capable of straddling every genre from capable race bike to fine conditions gravel grinder.

From £8,000 | Sturdy Cycles 

Rimac C_Two

With a spec sheet that reads like an implausible upgrade on Forza Horizon, Rimac’s revamped 1,888bhp (1.914kW) electric hypercar manages a top speed of 412kph, with a claimed 0-100kph time of 1.85sec and a 0-300kph time of 116sec – putting it on a par with the Tesla Roadster. Power for this carbon-fibre car comes courtesy of a 120kWh lithium battery generating 2,300Nm of torque via two independent single-speed gearboxes driving the front wheels and a pair of two-speed carbon-clutched gearboxes taking care of the rear. Range is around 550kms and you’ll get 80 per cent charge in 30 minutes. Plus, the two-seater will also have Level 4 autonomous driving – one shy of full autonomy – as well as artificial intelligence flourishes including onboard facial-recognition cameras and the ability to detect the driver’s mood, and adapt accordingly.

£1,900,000 | Rimac 

Axsim Formula Simulator

This remarkable F1 simulator is designed using tech developed to train fighter pilots, which, due to its unbeatable realism (albeit without the crumple zones and fire hazards) was also adopted by F1 teams, and the FIA (the governing body of motorsport). Traditional simulation typically involves cumbersome machines that maneuver the driver on large hydraulic legs and runners, shaking and pitching from side to side, but the Axsim offers four different levels of reality, packed into a system no larger than a family car.

The base version simulates the car’s suspension via the FIA-approved suspension platform; upgrade one introduces curved rails that simulate yaw movement and oversteer, while the third stage features G-Seat technology that mimics extreme g-force. Finally, and for the most realistic experience, the simulator can replicate very rapid movements and through a series of airbags in the seat liner, mimicking the feeling of the body under extreme g-force. The seat position, steering wheel and hydraulic pedals mirror a real formula car, and naturally, you can race any circuit you want on your screen of choice.

From £36,000 | Axsim 

Audio Technica AT-ART1000

Those who know hi-fi know that the single most important part of a record player is the cartridge. As a result, this component often costs multiples of the player itself. Hand-crafted in Japan – reportedly by the one person in the Audio Technica factory with the required skill set – the titanium and boron AT-ART1000 cartridge kicks against conventional cartridge design by positioning the moving coil directly above the stylus tip, eliminating the need to transmit along the length of the cantilever. The result means more detail, and more detail means incredibly accurate sound reproduction through the medium and low frequencies and exceptional transient response (transforming the mechanical groove of the record into an electrical current) creating the most accurate and realistic playback possible.

£4,599 | Audio Technica 

Bang & Olufsen Beolab 28

Based around the unmistakable form of David Lewis’s 1992 Beolab 8000 collection, Bang & Olufsen’s new Beolab 28 is a suitably stunning pair of streaming speakers and the brand’s first to ditch the need for a separate control unit. Yes, we can hear the hoots of derision from the traditional black-boxes-in-the-corner hi-fi brigade, but with an integrated streaming module, touch-sensitive user interface, voice assistance and the ability to upgrade the streaming module as the technology develops, we’re more than happy to shed a little hi-tech clutter. And in true B&O style, a motorised action draws the grilles back for listening when the speakers are active, while the base can be adapted for wall mounting, swinging elegantly back behind the speaker.

€10,000 | Bang & Olufsen 

C Seed M1

Not content with its 4.65m tall 144in (3.65m) retractable outdoor TV, C Seed has brought its unprecedented big-screen tech indoors with the launch of the world’s largest folding MicroLED TV. Yes, at the push of a button, the floor opens to reveal a rising column of machined aluminium that gracefully unfolds to create a gargantuan 165in 4K HDR screen standing proud at 2.13m tall, complete with unparalleled colour spectrum and integrated speakers. Available in black, gold, silver and grey, but please do check your floorboards first, because the M1 weighs 1,350kg.

$400,000 | C Seed 

Naim Uniti Atom Headphones Edition

Spending heavily on a pair of high-quality wired headphoness is an admirable step towards audio nirvana, but without the right power to drive them, or quality recordings to listen to, you’ll be missing out on those audiophile goosebumps. But in the Uniti Atom Headphones Edition, Naim has the perfect partner for your headphoness – one that boasts the same luxury aluminium build quality and classy controls as the rest of the award-winning Uniti range. Thankfully, there’s more to this Class A headphones amp than a pretty display and tactile dial: it will drive even the most demanding headphoness (and active loudspeakers), pull your music from servers, USB drives and turntables, as well as stream from the usual suspects including Deezer, Qobuz, TIDAL and Spotify up to resolutions of 32bit/384kHz.

£2,399 | Naim 

Hermes Speedster e

With a shape and style inspired by the 1959 Porsche 356, the Hermes Speedster e is, by some distance, the most elegant electric boat ever to cast off. An exquisite demonstration of craftsmanship, every aspect of the build is hand assembled, from the chrome-framed windshield and gauges, leather dash and Porsche-style folding cloth roof, but there’s more to this runabout than simple nostalgia. It has a top speed of 70kph, although it is more suited to pootling and will manage nine hours at a rather more sedate 10kph, but thanks to the hull’s 72-degree front angle, when you do feel the need for speed, the minimal resistance will lift the boat out the water, rather than porpoising along on the wave.

$269,000 | Hermes Craft 

Eco-Floating Hotel by Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio

Something of a totem to the juxtaposing worlds of luxury travel and meaningful sustainability, this floating five-star hotel is inspired by the movement of the sea and ingeniously generates electrical energy through the use of a vertical axis wind turbine while rotating around its position according to the water current. The added bonus here is that guests also benefit from an ever-changing vista, with one full rotation taking 24 hours. Aside from green energy production, the gargantuan glass roof of the 700m2 central atrium will collect rainwater to be used for grey-water recycling, while clean water will come from desalination. All waste water will be treated on site to avoid unnecessary pollution.

Opening 2025 | Hayri Atak 

Narke Electrojet

More guilt-free, pollution-free and noise-free fun courtesy of Narke, the Electrojet is a 4m carbon-fibre jet ski with a generous swim platform and the small matter of 71kW of power. Equivalent to 95Hp, it will allow you to hit speeds of 75kmh (40 knots) over a period of two hours, which is more than enough time to get to the deserted bay around the headland. It has capacity for three passengers, a Bluetooth-connected smart screen for navigation, and the 24kWh lithium-ion battery and three-phase 16A charger takes just 1.5 hours (or a nice lunch) to recharge.

£poa | Narke 

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This article was originally published by WIRED UK