We are prisoners of time. The exigencies of daily life, often one long domino effect of delays, make a mockery of any device designed to keep us punctual. Yet men remain defiantly shackled to the wristwatch, as revered in the canon of masculine connoisseurship as cars, bars and cigars.
It’s a hoary old chestnut, the idea that men are canny creatures who buy expensive watches that can be amortised over time. Not so, says Martin Lindstrom, the straight-talking author of. “With very few exceptions, watches are not a good investment. Period. Men buy watches for emotional reasons and because watches are like car keys that are acceptable to put on a boardroom table. They’re a way for men to be able to display what is important to them without being vulgar.
Benjamin Clymer, the founder of Hodinkee.com, a trusted website devoted to haute horology, agrees. “It’s a talisman of who you are,” Clymer says. “It’s with you day in and day out, and a mechanical watch relies on you as much as you rely on it in the sense that if you don’t wind it, it doesn’t work. It’s quite poetic.”
An emotional connection to the previous owner is certainly not the only reason men are drawn to timepieces from the past, says Aurel Bacs, senior consultant for Phillips in Association with BacsRusso, the auction house’s watch department. Last year, Bacs oversaw sales of more than $US227 million, including a Patek Philippe wristwatch owned by the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty for $US6.2 million.
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