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The world’s most expensive over-the-top motorcycle

Feast your eyes on the Harley-Davidson Blue Edition

This is based on the Harley Softail Slim S. PHOTO FROM HARLEY-DAVIDSON

Have you recently hit your midlife crisis? Are you looking for the ultimate toy to make yourself feel young again while at the same time showing everyone how far you’ve made it in life? Then Swiss watchmaker Bucherer may have something to fill that motorbike-shaped hole in your existence. The high-end watch and jewelry purveyor has teamed up with Swiss custom motorcycle maker Bündnerbike to create the most over-the-top cruiser the world has ever seen: the Harley-Davidson Blue Edition.

Watchmaker Bucherer collaborated with Bündnerbike to create this masterpiece. PHOTOS FROM HARLEY-DAVIDSON

It’s hard to pick one particular detail to start with as everything about this chopper is absolutely nuts, but let’s begin with the fact that every metal part on the bike—which started life as a Harley-Davidson Softail Slim S and took 2,500 hours to make—was custom-made by hand. Most parts, including the specially manufactured super wide rims, were then silver-coated before six layers of paint were applied in what Bündnerbike calls a “secret process,” with the final result being a stunning iridescent-blue paint job that makes this bike worthy of its name.

The expensive motorcycle doubles as a jewel box and a watch winder. Tacky. PHOTOS FROM HARLEY-DAVIDSON

While the paint is nice and shiny, it’s not the kind of sparkle Swiss bling lovers would settle for and so 360 diamonds were added—they now adorn such parts as the ends of the handlebars and the tops of the front fork. A number of elements, including the screws used on this insane Harley, were also gold-plated to round out a look that is as subtle as a kick in the cojones. But even that wasn’t enough for the men behind this project, who clearly have been snorting too much Toblerone in their spare time.

You want to see the rotating camshaft? PHOTOS FROM HARLEY-DAVIDSON

To emphasize the connection between the watchmaker and the motorbike brand, two sections were cut out from the fuel tank and turned into small display cases, complete with armored glass domes. One of these mini safes is holding a six-prong Heaven solitaire ring with a 5.4-karat diamond, while the other one is home to a custom-made watch based on the Carl F. Bucherer Patravi TravelTec II model. As Harley engines aren’t known for their smooth running characteristics, a special holder had to be developed and it now shields the precious timepiece from engine vibrations while also acting as a watch winder so the proud and rich owner always knows the time.

A regular Ferrari has nothing on this. PHOTOS FROM HARLEY-DAVIDSON

The final kicker of this larger-than-life machine comes in the form of a window in the camshaft housing. Through it, you can see the rotating camshaft along with the valve control and the gold-plated throttle valves, all of which are illuminated by heat-resistant LEDs. Bucherer says this is the world’s first motorcycle to have an engine that is lit up from the inside. The price for so much opulence is as out-of-this-world as the motorbike itself—CHF1,888,000, or a cardiac arrest-inducing P99,000,000. Proof yet again that money buys you a lot of things, but taste isn’t necessarily one of them.



Frank Schuengel

Frank is a German e-commerce executive who loves his wife, a Filipina, so much he decided to base himself in Manila. He has interesting thoughts on Philippine motoring. He writes the aptly named ‘Frankly’ column.



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