Maxim July/August 2020

It often surprises luxury watch enthusiasts to learn that Bell & Ross is not only French, but less than 30 years old. The brand’s passion for quality and design eclipses that of many Swiss watchmakers with much more impressive pedigrees; indeed, it opened its own manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland in 2002. Bell & Ross is best known for timepieces inspired by aircraft instrumentation, especially its iconic square-cased watches with bold graphics straight from the cockpit of an F-35. Wearing one makes you feel like a fighter pilot, a large part of their appeal. Bell & Ross, whose devotees include everyone from Robert Downey, Jr., Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gordon Ramsay, to the elite pilots of the French Air Force, is equally obsessed with speed on land, however. In 2016 they formed…

For a while there this spring, before most barber shops and hair stylists were able to reopen for business, the state of men’s grooming was seemingly in dire straits. With “quarantine beards” the new normal, pundits predicted that men would embrace this enforced slovenliness; CBS New York even went so far as to air a segment titled “Experts Predict Long Hair, Beards Back In Style By Summer.” Of course, men proved more resilient than that, unwilling to abandon their perfectly-trimmed facial hair and precision fades. Nor did they decide to forgo fine grooming products simply because there was no one around to appreciate them. The timing in fact proved fortuitous as two new luxury grooming lines were in the nascent stages, while one of the country’s coolest high-end barber shops expanded…

It’s 1977. French motorcycle racer Thierry Sabine is missing in action in the Libyan desert on the Abidjan-Nice Rally. “I realize that my situation is uncomfortable, difficult,” Sabine later wrote. “Two days later I have no compass or clock, which broke down in a fall while trying to find the lost route. It is now two days and two nights that I am lost in the desert, under a sun that begins to make me lose my mind. The total absence of shadow is an oppressive sensation, which engenders a feeling similar to that of claustrophobia. Then I decide to get away from my bike. In socks and sucking the stones to give me saliva, I realize my life is worth less and less. And that is when I promise that…

The cancellation of this year’s Geneva International Motor Show in March did little to dampen the spirits of auto enthusiasts, nor has it dissuaded the world’s most sought-after sports and luxury marques from making impressive debuts. Instead of pulling the sheets off their latest creations before horsepower-hungry crowds, the likes of Bentley, Aston Martin, Bugatti and McLaren hosted virtual unveilings and found other unconventional ways to announce their feats of engineering, design and bespoke craftsmanship. With 88 examples being built at about $950,000 apiece, the Aston Martin V12 Speedster is perhaps more accessible than some of the new rides, but no less awe-inspiring than the competition. A product of the marque’s Q by Aston Martin custom division, the dashing design draws inspiration from both Aston’s rich racing history and aeronautical engineering.…

Rory McIlroy, the world number one golfer, has climbed from humble beginnings to the very top of the sport. Today the Irish athlete and UNICEF ambassador looks down from on high at all who seek to topple him—raking in winnings and accolades along the way. With a career among the most lucrative in golf history, the London Sunday Times put his net worth at about $170 million in 2019. His tournament appearance fees (said to top $2 million apiece) and winnings (such as the 2019 Fedex Cup where he won a cool $15 million) are just part of his estimated annual earnings of about $40 million, making him one of the world’s highest-paid athletes. As is often the case with true winners, the trappings and financial rewards are not what drive McIlroy.…

He has captivated millions at President Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force briefings; led the nation’s scientific response in the time of our worst health crisis in recent memory; and been the voice of reason in the course of a heated debate about whether or not we are doing the right thing. Dr. Anthony Fauci has even seen his face plastered on everything from candles to cupcakes, while Brad Pitt played him on Saturday Night Live, and thanked him personally at the end of the sketch. Not half bad for a 79-year-old, five-foot-seven immunologist from Bensonhurst. Fauci, who earned his MD at Cornell University Medical College and was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008 in recognition of his “efforts to advance understanding and treatment of HIV/AIDS,” has been the Director of…