The Robb Report presents the Best of the Best

Robb Report Best of the Best (RSS Title)

Nr. 6 - September 10, 2003 - posted by Andis Kaulins Copyright © 2003 by Andis Kaulins

The Robb Report, Magazine for the Luxury Lifestyle


If you are looking for the "best of the best" in terms of luxury products and a luxury life style, you should look at the Robb Report online, where one can subscribe to the Magazine and/or the eNews. The Robb Report will keep you up on what you could do, buy and consume if you could afford it. If you are among the best of the best - a status which of course is not necessarily a function of income or net worth - maybe you CAN afford it. Whatever the case may be, The Robb Report is a consumer's ultimate delight.

The magazine this year has / had the following editorial schedule:

January Private Travel
February Car of the Year
March Spring Style plus the Special Yachting Section
April The Ultimate Home Tour
May Adventure and Travel plus the Special Motorcycling Section
June Best of the Best
July Wealth Management and Family
August Exotic Cars
September Fall Fashion
October Private Preview 2004
November Watches and Jewelry plus The Host Guide
December The Ultimate Gift Guide

I subscribe to the Robb Report because it gives me perspective on life in general.


Human Work and Skills and the Value of Luxury Items

We live in a world where money, fame, success, achievement, wealth etc. are held in high esteem. This is not simply the so-called "materialistic" side of the world, as detractors of material wealth might be apt to proclaim. The best of the best luxury consumer goods are also a stunning panorama of HUMAN SKILLS as well - and this is something that we too soon forget in passing judgment on "material goods".

Nearly everything that we buy or consume is made by human work and expertise - albeit using the materials of nature - which I call the spiritual side of materialism. You can not make a product which does not in some way use the natural resources which our planet provides - so, for those of you out there who are "God-fearing" - you need not deny yourself luxury goods for religious reasons. In the last analysis, these material goods also derive ultimately from the hand of the Almighty. Man can only use what is THERE to begin with and nothing else.

Still, it is what Man does with natural resources which often sets the value of what we call "luxury items". After all, even diamonds have to be skillfully polished to shine, and most things "worth having" involve the application of the best technological or craftsmen skills that mankind has to offer.


The Word "Luxury"

The word "luxury" is thus really in part a misnomer and the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th edition) gives three definitions for "luxury", all of which in my opinion do not necessarily hit the nail on the head:

1) something inessential but conducive to pleasure and comfort
my comment: so what is "non-essential"? and is a heavy diamond around your neck really "comforting"? or, is having a castle in Scotland a luxury? - perhaps only after you put in the lacking central heating.

2) something expensive or hard to obtain
my comment: many forbidden drugs are expensive and thankfully hard to obtain - I would not call them luxuries

3) sumptuous living or surroundings
my comment: anyone can sit on a beautiful beach and watch the sunset drinking a glass of pure water - that is sumptuous living and surroundings too.

So, "luxury" must have yet another - missing - element.


Having what your Neighbor does NOT have

To my mind, luxurious goods are generally those which can in fact sometimes be easily obtained (IF you have the money) but which the rest of humanity does not have - the scarcity of which goods, due to the laws of supply and demand, makes them exorbitantly expensive and in our eyes "valuable". For example, in the formative years of the automotive revolution, it was a luxury to have an automobile. Today, nearly everyone in the Western world has "a car". So, to have a true "luxury car", you drive a Daimler-Benz (Mercedes), or some similar brand, which the masses either can not afford or which they do not purchase due to other priorities.

In other words, the dictionary definitions of "luxury" above miss the essential point of "luxury" items, which is their relative scarcity among our fellow humans. We often want what the other guy has and we do not have it. This grass is greener view of the world is not always accurate.

Be this as it may, as the famous saying goes, "You can tell the size of the boys by the size of their toys", and, indeed, a certain degree of one-upmanship is at the root of all "luxury" thinking. Especially men are competitive among each other and constantly jockeying for position somewhere - even if it is only something as simple as winning a round of golf at the local country club.

I will not comment on the competitiveness of the ladies here, because, as a man, I can not look inside their heads, but THEY are the ones who WEAR the diamonds. The question remains, who is paying for it. For many men, women too, are a luxury - and, I think, in fairness, vice versa in many cases.


What Makes Luxury Items Expensive?

One major reason that products are luxurious and cost a fortune to buy is the amount of human work and skill involved in making them.

The name Ferrari is not synonymous with luxury just because it is expensive. Rather, everyone knows that a Ferrari represents the absolute apex in the state of the art of making the fastest consumer automobiles, often incorporating modern new knowledge gained from professional auto racing. There was a day when only race cars had disk brakes. Now we find disk brakes on normal consumer vehicles.

Similarly, the most expensive watches are masterpieces of state-of-the-art technology and design - and, interestingly, most of the websites of the world's leading watchmakers reflect these best-of-the-best design elements. Take a look at some of these mostly unique websites:

Rolex
Patek Philippe
Cartier
Breitling
Tag Heuer
Ebel
Audemars Piguet
Chopard
Chaumet
Blancpain
Breguet
Vacheron Constantin
IWC
Omega
Jaeger LeCoultre
Girard-Perregaux Ferrari Watch
Ulysse-Nardin
Baume & Mercier
A. Lange & Soehne
Bulgari
Piaget
Rado
Tissot
De Grisogono
Alain Silberstein
Wempe - Overview
but then again DavidGagne.net - a prolific blogger ! - has a link to what David Gagne calls the World's Best Watches at far less cost.... It just depends on what you need.

Just as in the making of time-pieces, where years of experience are at the heart of the watchmaking art, the most fabulous houses incorporate thousands of years of experience in architecture and building, using the best construction materials available, and applying the newest technologies: see

Microsoft Encarta ® a history of architecture and building

The "spiritual" lesson perhaps to be learned here about "material" goods is that some things may have an "intrinsic" value - independent of advertising and similar variables - an intrinsic value based on their content in natural resources and based on the amount of human work and skill that has gone into making them. In my view, these are generally the products which later become "classics", i.e. products which retain their value. We might put art and music into this category particularly.

The "theory of intrinsic value" is a branch of philosophy which can be found explained online in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Much of our life depends on our decisions with respect to the "value" of things.
So, the next time you "buy" anything "luxurious", ponder what makes it so.

You may be buying a "luxury" item which is not such at all - it might just all be hype, or you may be deluded.

On the other hand, if the product has a legitimate intrinsic value, you might be purchasing a masterpiece of human workmanship which you will enjoy for a long time. So, caveat emptor (Latin for "buyer beware").