What time is it? Watches and horology

I know taste is subjective... But seriously!? It just baffles me...maybe its a status thing or just what you do when you've ran out of other shit to spend the money your dad stole from his province.

To take the piss I searched for green MK

but genuinely it's got a better aesthetic.

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Defo agree the Batman works.

I suspect it may be a Sub. It is sorta for sale. The jeweller was wearing it and said it was for sale. It never seemed to appear at the counter and another sales person reckoned he had kept it for himself.
From memory, the face was black.

Wearing this for a friend today

1 Attachment

I need better friends.

It's just a green watch, it's no different to a red or a blue or any other colour right?

Except ite green

Green is, for whatever reason, “the” Rolex colour and they tend to save it for a small number of models because they know the collectors go wild for it. There’s no other reason it’s so popular.

See also the red text on the current Sea-Dweller. Collector catnip.

This is a question that often comes into my head, more often because I'm heavily invested in the car world, but is also relevant in bikes and watches.

Does it piss anyone else off, that essentially if you have a tonne of cash, people think you're some sort of timeless artistic fashion icon?

I see it most with "show cars". Someone buys a very expensive bodykit, some very expensive wheels and suspension, a paint job, and all of a sudden they're lauded as a visionary. "nobody dared do this before!" Well, most likely the pool of people with enough disposable income to do such a "build" is very small already, then out of that very few are even interested. It all just comes down to someone having money.

On Pistonheads (don't bother going on there), there's a thread dedicated to "really good number plates". The people who have the "best" number plates are people who have one or two letters and one or two numbers. There's nothing hard about having one of those, no thought required, no vision, you just need to pick up a phone and hand over your card details to someone who will bid at an auction on your behalf and boom, you have a "really good number plate".

Is it impressive that someone who earns 7 figures has some expensive watches? They can literally choose whatever they want, it's not like they didn't eat 3 meals a day for 10 years to save up for their first Rolex, and that's the level of commitment there, they just buy a watch that a lot of people really like but can't afford.

I just find it mind boggling that this is deemed to be impressive.

That wasn't a rant at anyone on here, or at anyone on here's watch collection at all, I haven't seen behaviour like that here, just out in the wider world (internet).

Its an interesting observation that you make.

I suppose it exists in the watch world to some extent.

People are impressed by expensive things. Given a choice, somebody will almost always choose Rolex over Grand Seiko. Or be more impressed that somebody has got a £150k+ AP tourbillon of some description on their wrist as opposed to a watch of genuine rarity and horological importance.

Does it piss anyone else off, that essentially if you have a tonne of cash, people think you're some sort of timeless artistic fashion icon?

As I see it this doesn't really apply to watches. With regards to Pistonheads, the clue is in the name...

Is it impressive that someone who earns 7 figures has some expensive watches? They can literally choose whatever they want,

Actually it can be quite hard to buy some watches...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmGOGzPIzIM

I feel like you're proving my point by thinking you're disagreeing with it.

What make someone be able to buy a limited supply watch model?

In fact I just watched that properly, and that's exactly the same in the car world. Want to buy a limited run Cayman GT4 or 911 GT3 RS? How many Porsches have you previously owned or who do you know at the dealer or how much are you willing to pay over list?

All of those factors are backed up by money. Sure, maybe you've bought 5 PPs before, but that doesn't make you more of a watch nerd or appreciator specifically, it just means you've got more money.

It depends. I interpret it as having two scenarios for rare new watches.

The first category is for the super rare watches that never actually make it to a dealer or boutique. Only a few are made, and are normally sold on an invitation only basis to very high profile watch collectors directly by the manufacturer. A bit like how Ferrari sometimes make a run of half a dozen cars that will never go on general sale and only be offered to their favourite collectors.

The other category covers the watches that are rare for different reasons, like the Rolex scarcity tricks. In this case, most dealerships get one or two each year and get to offer them to their best customers but also get the benefit of sales leads resulting from the hundreds of people who will call and go into their shops to try their luck.

The reaction to that is the £180,000 1972 911t

To simplify this discussion -

Why but a watch costing more than an £8.99 Casio? It tells the time accurately

• possibly more so than an expensive watch.
  

Almost certainly more accurate.

The Casio f91w is the best watch ever made.

Does it piss anyone else off, that essentially if you have a tonne of cash, people think you're some sort of timeless artistic fashion icon?

I think you may be projecting a little here.

It only impresses other people who are into the same thing on forums / at the wine bar etc. It's the American Psycho business card scene writ large. No one else cares. Did you see the Grayson Perry series where he went and spoke to the different tribes? And the car guys were like "yeah I love customising my car because it's an expression of my personality and taste" etc, and he replies "is it? but they're all exactly the same". And they are. Everyone's following the implicit communally-agreed rules. This place is as bad as anywhere for that.

Money doesn't buy you taste or make you interesting. But there's nothing wrong with having a hobby if it keeps you out of trouble.

Judged by what criteria?

Being in the watch trade I can tell you for certain that myself and all my colleagues are not at all impressed by a timepiece purely on its retail price . It’s rarity , and provenance and history and aesthetics that are much more important.

Yeah, but all of those factors are highly correlated with price

All of those factors are backed up by money. Sure, maybe you've bought 5 PPs before, but that doesn't make you more of a watch nerd or appreciator specifically, it just means you've got more money.

Agree

Does it piss anyone else off, that essentially if you have a tonne of cash, people think you're some sort of timeless artistic fashion icon?

Do not agree