131–140 of 145 posts
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Why do you take it off when prepping dinner? And yeah, I kinda miss the never-care-about-power aspects of my mechanicals, but holy cow the AW is so useful I don't really see myself going back full time.
I don't want anything getting in the band
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and i'm surprised people still want to signal wealth, this day and age. I would imagine you'd be treated worse by the average person, if you're signaling wealth.
Only if you live entirely on the internet. I've never met anyone in real life that actually hates people with money.
Disliking ostentation of wealth is another one.
If you never met anyone that dislikes the latter... well perhaps you live in US.
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Annually?! It is recommended to service your Rolex approximately every 10 years depending on the model and real-life usage. https://www.rolex.com/watch-care-and-service/faq.html#:~:tex... .
The modern movements are a lot more robust. It wouldn't surprise me if a 50-year old watch had 1 year as the recommended service interval.
I bought a Casio F91W so I can turn my phone off at night and use the watch for an alarm clock. I'm happy to have the most popular watch in the world. It's simple, cheap, reliable, and has a retro look that has grown on me.
When I "got into watches" a decade ago, I got a bunch of interesting looking ones from Gearbest I think (today it'd be Aliexpress). Mechanical, quartz, retro, futuristic, large & small, multi-dial crazy kitchy contraptions and plain classy ones. Got it happily in and out of my system for couple of hundred bucks total , probably 12-18 or so different pieces :). Don't understand paying more than, say $300-400 for a wat…
People spend $3,000 for a watch so that they can show off that they have so much money that they can piss away $3,000 on a device that tells time.
I dunno...maybe I'm just a lot more pragmatic with my money. I can understand a watch being a fashion accessory, but then that's just looks. Knowing the extreme precision going on inside the watch doesn't make it look any nicer from the outside.
My money needs to go to something I can acknowledge with my senses in some way. Watch internals don't do that.
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Why do you assume all of these things only exist to impress others? There's a lot to appreciate in the design and craftsmanship of a well made product, its impact on culture, or its significance in history. Or maybe the object simply puts a smile on your face when you see it or touch it. That new phone could make someones work day more efficient. That diamond necklace could be a gift from their loved one and a remind…
The satisfaction you get just seems very price-inefficient and lot of that price seems to be traceable to one-upsmanship. What is the special value of the diamonds in the necklace?
And you see this with nearly every hobby. If you look at the audiophile community, you'll see people with $20,000 speakers in their living room, yet they live a rather modest lifestyle. You can find people spending thousands of dollars on samurai swords to hang on their bedroom wall. These people are not trying to impress the world. They have a hobby and they are able to appreciate these items.
The special value of the diamonds? People have worn diamonds for ages. It's been ingrained in our culture that diamonds are significant as they've been worn by royalty and noble figures over the years and marketed as a symbol of love. They're also the hardest naturally occurring substance on the planet and look quite nice to the eye. Did you ever see a child dress up like a princess? They didn't do it because they wanted to impress others, they did it because it made them feel special. Wearing diamonds can have that same impact. It can make someone feel special, or represent to themselves their own successes and accomplishments in life. I looked at wedding bands the other year. Many of them had diamonds hidden on the inside of the band. If the purpose of diamond jewelry was only to impress others, why would they be hidden on these rings and only known to the wearer?
I'm not going to say expensive objects or diamonds are never used to impress others. I'm only saying that's one of many reasons why someone might make such a purchase. I don't think it's appropriate to see something of value and automatically assume the owner only bought it to impress you. If you talk to them about the purchase, they might be able to talk your ear off about their passion and what that object means to them.
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Damage isn’t a huge problem, watches tend to be pretty sturdy and mere scratches aren’t going to hurt resale value in most cases (unless you have them repaired!) Theft on the other hand is a pretty big concern, I just had a 100k patek ripped off my wrist. I’m very lucky though, the local store manager was sympathetic and managed to help me skip the queue for a (slightly more desirable) replacement, effectively nullif…
Insurance on a $100K watch through Hodinkee is around $1400 a year, although I'm sure you can get a better deal. If you're an enthusiast then you're paying for peace of mind. If you're an investor then that's the equivalent of a 1.4% management fee per year. The price action right now is absolutely ridiculous, but if you already bought at say 5x retail then that dramatically eats into your potential profits. It's jus…
A rare watch is an IYKYK item and the iconic pieces are immediately noticeable from across the room. I do wonder if the deflation in asset prices (driven by increase in interest rates) will put downward pressure on some of the craziness right now. But for someone who is outside looking in, and wondering what the fuss is all about: A watch, especially Patek Philippe is much better for signaling status to those you wan…
In California, IYKYK, but so do the streeet thugs. $200k is a nice payoff for 30 seconds worth of risk.¹
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I am a fan of another Japanese watch brand, Citizen, particularly the Eco-Drive models. Solar powered, very durable, and they look great. Prices range from $100 for basic models to over $3000 for the Hakuto-R (there is some connection to the Japanese lunar mission, https://www.citizenwatch.com/us/en/product/CC4016-75E.html ). Most Citizen watches are water resistant as well. I've had one model running continuously fo…
Eco-drive is awesome. I used to wear an Eco-drive for ~8 years and I never had to charge it or even adjust the time – I doubt it lost more than a minute or so in all that time. I have a couple of Seiko solar watches now. They're good too but the charging is not as good as the Eco-drive as they charge pretty poorly indoors or in cloudy weather. As an aside, the most expensive Eco-Drive is now the Eco-Drive One at ~$54…
Looks like it's still 40% thicker than the One though.