Watches that are categorised as jewelry watch can obviously cost serious amount of money. The more the diamonds, the more it will cost. Likewise limited edition watches from sought after collectible brands. These are not the subject of this article, instead this article focuses on everyday watch.
Why bother
Why would anyone spend a lot of money for an everyday watch? Just because "one can afford it" is not a good enough reason. Buying an expensive watch simply to show off discretionary spending power is not an art. There is a difficult-to-explain satisfaction of owning and wearing a high quality watch. And finding a watch that can give such a satisfaction is an art.
A watch is an expression of one's personality. It goes beyond fashion statement to almost like a window to the wearer's soul. A good watch can make an invisible connection to a potential buyer, so much so that other watches, no matter how much more expensive, become irrelevant. It does not mean that the other watches are not beautiful. It is just that the eyes zoom in and the brain lingers on certain watch styles that make the connection, whereas the same cannot be said about the other watches.
The satisfaction with a particular watch does not rest just on its style, which unquestionably is very subjective, but also on its function. Most people will never get the satisfaction of diving in deep oceans, so owning and wearing a good-looking watch that can dive down to 11000 meters below the sea level can be satisfying enough. No, that was not a mistake, Bell and Ross makes and sells watches that can dive eleven thousand meters under the sea. Or how about owning and wearing a good-looking watch that can go up in space? Fortis makes watches for Russian cosmonauts and they sell them to earth-bound people.
Which watch to buy
Obviously, an everyday watch is someting that will be worn most of the time, both at work and off work. So one must find a watch that he / she loves to look at, and to be seen with. Anything less simply will not do. From the elegant Bedat to the sparse Movado or to the sporty Porsche Design, etc, etc, one is bound to be right.
Good-looking quality watches are not confined to those brands that have big advertising budgets whose advertisements are visible in TV spots, magazines, newspapers, and sponsored events. There are many top notch watch makers who do not advertise heavily. Combined, their collective collections contain a lot more choices than the heavily marketed brands, so someone who is looking for that unique watch may have a better chance of finding the watch that expresses him / her best. Many of these watches are not available at the local jewelry stores, so hunting for them can make for an interesting story to be told in a dinner party with friends and family.
And not all good-looking quality watches come from Switzerland, although many of them do. A. Lange and Soehne makes gorgeous watches in Germany. And in Japan, Seiko makes their venerable Spring Drive collection, which can cost more than some good quality Swiss watches.
Value for the money
At the end of the day, any well functioning watch tells time, but buying the right watch is not just about buying a time-telling gadget. It is analogous to buying a wearable art. The return on investment is found through enjoying that wrist-bound piece of miniature machinery that places the wearer along the movement of time. And be forewarned, it can become an addictive hobby.
To read more, follow the links below.
- Haute Horlogerie: History of fine watch making
- Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry: Answers to frequently asked questions
October 2008