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0 pointsTheOtherHobbes7y ago0 comments

When we're talking about unbelievably expensive mechanical products that tell the time with less accuracy than a cheap quartz movement, "quality" is perhaps not the best word.

These products - like overpriced fashion brands - are pure capitalist virtue signalling. They're personal advertising tokens and power objects, intended to display to the world that the wearer/buyer is conspicuously untroubled by any material scarcity.

It's not about quality in any of the usual senses of the word - except maybe in the archaic sense that being that kind of rich is self-defined as being "a person of quality".

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jiveturkey7y ago· 1 in thread

all of the enthusiasts i know hide their watches. it’s about an appreciation for craftsmanship.

edit: i guess i do know a lot of folks that wear a watch for brand status but those aren’t enthusiasts.

bigiain7y ago

I don't hide mine, but mine are bought for odd personal reasons.

The one I have on right now is _probably_ a real 1957 Sputnik 1 Poljot commemorative watch. It could be a fake, but if it is it's got the pre 1962 movement in it, so its at least "period"... And I don't actually care, it only cost me $70.

I also have a somewhat-less-likely-to-be-genuine 17-jewel Sturmanskie Soviet Airforce watch like the one Yuri Gagarin wore into space in 1961. Again, I don't actually care if it's genuine or not - I like the idea of it enough. Somebody might have gone to enough effort to make a plausible fake out of period-correct parts, and sold it to me for ~$80 - good on them... I still get to use it as a story-starter...

bartread7y ago

> These products - like overpriced fashion brands - are pure capitalist virtue signalling.

I think people might think that's true, and I'm sure some people buy watches to show off but they're sure to be disappointed because here's the thing: nobody notices the watch you're wearing (except for, occasionally, other watch enthusiasts).

I felt a bit self-conscious the first few times I wore a "proper" luxury watch, but pretty soon realised nobody was paying even the slightest bit of attention. Now I don't even think about it.

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