I long ago gave up expensive watches in favor of Timex Indiglos – they cost twenty bucks, last three years or so and thus cost far less than the maintenance on real watches. And with the arrival of quartz-movements, the cheapest watch is as accurate as the most expensive.
If I were scuba diving, I’d want a good, waterproof watch to keep time while I was under water. Other than that, I can’t think of a good use for an expensive timepiece. But some of my friends, newly impoverished, bewail the loss of their Rolexes. They claim that, in a business meeting, the participants evaluate others by, among other things, their watches.
Is this really so? I’ve tried to console my newly-watch-shorn friends by suggesting that I assume a man’s IQ drops ten points for every dollar he spends on a flashy piece of jewelry but they remain unconvinced. And they may be right – I’m not of that world, so I really don’t know. So I ask you folks who at least wander into that wilderness: are expensive watches important? Do they add confidence to their wearers, or to those who observe them on other’s wrists? Or are they the mark of a fool? Your comments welcome (and just in time for Christmas shopping decisions!)
George H. W. Bush was a Timex man for war related reasons (to say nothing of the CIA years.)
Chief uses sun and moon – but GPS and cell phones work too.
In my expce, the wealthiest guys rarely drive >$200K cars or live in most costly house…or wear particularly costly (or well-coordinated) clothes or watches or cufflinks….observations apply to many centimillionaires/billionaires (30-65yo) in hedge fund/PE/IB or tech industries seen in daily office or boardroom settings
Obviously, some will commute via G550 or a $200K+ Mercedes 65 or wear a $100K+ Patek (or $7K Rolex), but it’s usually because they actually enjoy the performance and/or aesthetics of specific product and it’s a trivial cost vs their net worth anyway (and everyone that matters roughly knows their net worth/income, so advertising one’s wealth is not their objective)
I gave up wearing a watch a long time ago. It was an Indiglo by the way, which are great and, I think, great looking. Got to love the light. But … I have lots of gadgets I carry around that already show the time. Otherwise someone nearby always has the same, and can tell me the time. Plus, a big watch just wrecks your cuffs. And there’s that constant feeling of time ticking by …. In meetings an articulate person with good presence and good ideas quickly commands respect regardless of timepiece.
Theme song for this post: Wearing My Rolex by Wiley
Men don’t typically wear expensive or flashy jewels (at least in New York-centric business circles) hence expensive watches are the norm. Now expensive doesn’t mean flashy. The Submariner is practically part of the uniform on most trading floors, private equity shops, hedge funds and law offies (along with Gucci loafers and the small repeating patterns of Ferragamo ties). There is nothing flashy or egregious about luxury watches, at least not the standard ones. You get into the bedazzled creations from jewellers like Cartier (not the real stuf from the Swiss guys) and it can be pretty tacky. Gold faces are ok with leather bands, but gold bands are totally out. Same with gold/stainless combos.
I wear a Rolex that I got myself for my 30th birthday. It is expensive, though, and does not tell time as well as the Timex Ironmans I used to use. It also requires about $500 of maintenance every 5 years to keep it working properly (which my wife thinks is a colossal waste of money). I view expensive watches as jewelry, since as you correctly point out, they fail to outperform a Timex that costs less than $45. I grew up in Texas and Texans love Rolexes, so I guess I fell prey to a status symbol of my environment. I also worked on Wall Street for 10 years and there are a lot of Wall Street guys that wear fancy watches. It often amazed me that some of these guys would have not one, but several expensive watches. I guess that is the kind of excess that got everybody in trouble.
Swiss watchmakers have 60%+ gross margins, which should provide a sense that not only is the mechanical watchmaker’s technology obsolete, he is charging you 2-3x manufacturing cost including his own generous salary. I worked at the American branch of a large Swiss trading firm in the 1990s, and all the senior American guys had copied the titans of Swiss finance, who wore expensive shirts, expensive suits, expensive ties, and $50 Swatches.
You know, Dadio, you bought me (off my wish list for my 21st birthday) a beautiful watch which I wear everyday. It continuously brings me joy. So there you have it!
I wear a Rolex, but I don’t wear it to make an impression, but rather because it feels great. It feels substantial and sturdy, and I can wear it in the shower or pool or sailing. I guess part of the good feeling is also the psychic benefit of knowing that I have something that is really good quality (and I think good looking).
Rolex is very middle class. My collection of Pateks will get me to New Zealand when the new hun arrive at our doors, and support me there for a couple of years. Rolex, Cartier, etc., are considered “fashion jewelry.” Good timepieces never go out of fashion.
.
Wristwatches are where men’s hats were in 1958; that is, just a few years from extinction. They are an anachronism. A device which does nothing but tell you the time and date? When my iPhone or bberry will do that and everything else except cook my dinner (is there an app for that yet?).
Take a look at the wrists of an increasing number of men, and almost everybody under 25. Nothing but skin.
In Red River as John Ireland and Montgomery Clift size each up, Ireland looks at Clift and states: “There are only two things more beautiful than a good gun; a Swiss watch or a woman from anywhere. You ever had a good Swiss watch?” As I said earlier, I just find elegant, simple timepieces interesting, attractive and, sometimes, beautiful. And I include many Timex products in that group. It’s not really the cost. I can’t say for sure why. I just kinda’ like watches.
I understand that, KC – watches don’t move me (so to speak) but a beautifully made rifle does. My father left me a Winchester .22 made in the late 40′s or early 50′s (and, writing this, I realize I should run the serial number and nail that date down) that has a jewel-like trigger and a silky bolt action that is just a joy to use. There’s certainly a large helping of nostalgia in that affection – memories of being taught to shoot it, the cheaper, rougher rifle my father bought me for my own when I was ten or so, and the feeling of maturity when I was presented with the great one years later, but there is also a deep appreciation for something so well made. And I can understand how one could have the same feeling for a beautiful watch, a hand-made knife, or a great car. But I agree with the Red River guy – the right woman beats all.
I wear a casio w/ stainless steel band and another casio calculator watch from time to time(it comes in handy @ work).
One of the richest men I know in greenwich also wears a casio digital watch.