Wristwatches are a peculiarly illogical hobby for me. I’ve written before about how little objective sense they make.
The problem of knowing the time is essentially solved. We’re constantly surrounded by clocks, and for those times you would find a wristwatch useful, there are any number of operationally perfect, maintenance-free options available. You can buy a solar-powered watch that synchronizes with the U.S. atomic clock daily for less than $40. In my view, that’s as close to a perfect tool as the human race has invented.
So north of the strictly practical, there is always at least a little bit of “jewelry factor.” Far, far north of the practical, it gets really nuts. In the ultra-expensive realm, manufacturers essentially invent new ways to solve the what-time-is-it problem using old (mechanical) technology. Timekeeping with a quartz crystal and an electronic oscillator has been around for 40 or so years, and that method buries mechanical timekeeping in every practical way.
There are few objectively sillier products than expensive mechanical wristwatches. I still love them. I can’t explain why in a way that makes any sense. I don’t think anyone who loves them can.
My collection is mostly mechanical and comparatively quite modest, and barring a ridiculous unexpected windfall I expect it to stay that way, so I’ll almost certainly never own a Ulysse Nardin Freak. It’s one of my favorites, though. That’s a Freak Blue Phantom in white gold pictured. It lists for $84,800, and can probably be bought for $72,000.
Remember when I said luxury watchmakers used old technology in new ways? Here’s a mechanical watch with no dial, no hands, and no crown. Interesting achievements, and I bet they weren’t easy. Yet what is it good for beyond looking at it and saying “wow”?
I love my left brain in so many arenas in my life. But “wow” is enough sometimes.
You might also like:
- Watches make no sense
I’ve made passing mention of my affection for wristwatches. I really enjoy them. Collecting, wearing… - Wristwatches have peaked
Wristwatches are making less and less practical sense. Is there a clock on the instrument panel of y… - Supreme Court rules Hobby Lobby can sew employees’ vaginas shut
That’s about what you’d think, given the spittle-flecked outrage. Hobby Lobby is blocking access to … - Lessons from a little boy’s wristwatch
My sons are seven and almost ten, and they each have and wear a wristwatch. Aaron just got his; Nath… - When you’re “phone-free” but you aren’t, and a case for discipline
I was fascinated by this recent story of a fellow who runs a Silicon Valley startup, yet doesn’t own…
You know, I sold jewelry for over seven years, and I hated trying to sell watches. On the greedy side, they usually didn’t generate much in the way of commissions (the highest-line we sold was Movado, and the most expensive watch we sold from them was about $1500). On the knowledge side, I had virtually none, and never really got any training, so I often wound up knowing less than the customer. Most of all, though, was the fact that I didn’t wear one because I didn’t think they were practical.
I wake up to an alarm clock. There’s a clock in my car. There’s a clock on my laptop and my PC. There’s a clock on my cell phone. On the VCR. On the microwave. Am I making my point? What the hell did I need a watch for?
But, hey, all kinds if people collect all kinds of different things. Hell, I saw an ad on the bulletin board at a MA grocery store from a guy looking to sell 1200 (that’s not a typo) empty beer cans from the 70s for $250. Funny thing is – somebody will probably buy them.
nhfalcon: I’ve never been a big Movado fan. They’ve got some cool stuff here and there, but they’re mostly known for that single-dot arty motif, and that’s not my thing.
Points taken on the clocks. They’re everywhere. I don’t need a watch, but I feel naked without one. I only take it off for two things.