A watch revelation thanks to Eric Clapton, Patek Philippe and Pudsey Bear - 16/11/12
I love mechanical wrist watches and particularly chunky pieces with a seventies vintage (a couple of mine are pictured on this site). I have a lot of watches (too many according to Mrs B.) and accessorise them to my clothing; invariably the dial colour will complement my shirt and tie in the week, and my t-shirt at the weekend.
Mechanical watches trump quartz equivalents for me purely because of the quality of the engineering that goes into them. It gives me pleasure to look at a watch and know that its insides are a miniature feat of engineering skill and complexity. For me, the pleasure gained from a watch is nothing to do with its value and all about its aesthetics.
Hearing a watch ticking when I put it to my ear, is something I find deeply satisfying – this is surely a psychological throwback to being in the womb and listening to a beating heart.
On the downside, old mechanical watches are a bit like old cars (another interest of mine); you have to accept that they will go wrong from time to time, and will need periodic servicing. It certainly helps if you know a ‘man’ that can help you when things fail (and for watches, I wholeheartedly recommend Richard Askham).
Sometimes, or in my case, it feels like often, a watch I really like will fail and it just isn’t worth getting it serviced because its value when fixed, doesn’t cover the expense of getting it fixed. Again the analogy to old cars is inescapable. With old cars though, I used to get by this problem by fixing them myself – my watch repairing skills by comparison are truly woeful (although I fixed an old clock recently).
This week I read about the sale of Eric Clapton’s Patek Philippe 2499 /100 platinum chronograph. This watch, admittedly ultra-rare, sold at Christies for $3.6 million dollars and it has left me flabbergasted to think that any watch, even with intrinsic value, could possibly be worth, even a fraction of, that sum. The watch looks nice, but for me, some of my seventies Seikos have more visual appeal and a higher desirability score.
I have argued with my wife for years about watches, she says things like; "it’s just a watch" and "it’s just for telling the time". Never did I expect to find myself in a position where I felt compelled to agree. With Children In Need about to get into full swing, the thoughts about what better use $3.6 million could be put to are clear in my mind. I think that the Indian buyer that acquired this piece will have gained much more pleasure from the desire, and the chase, than could possibly be gained from wearing the watch – after all, it just tells the time! There you are Mrs B., I put it in writing!
The nice thing is that Eric Clapton would probably agree with me. The amount of his belongings that have been auctioned of late, for the benefit of charity, is significant. I bet he has felt much greater pleasure from the good he has enabled, via his drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, then he ever got from wearing an outrageously expensive watch - I bet he won’t even miss it!
Finally, and philosophically; the value of time is not in being able to tell it; it is in having as much of it as you can and in making the most of what you have. A friend of mine recently told me about a question he asks the older members of his society, “if you had your time again, what would you do differently?” His feedback; almost all say spend more time with family and friends, no one has ever talked about possessions.
Observations Home
Home
Mechanical watches trump quartz equivalents for me purely because of the quality of the engineering that goes into them. It gives me pleasure to look at a watch and know that its insides are a miniature feat of engineering skill and complexity. For me, the pleasure gained from a watch is nothing to do with its value and all about its aesthetics.
Hearing a watch ticking when I put it to my ear, is something I find deeply satisfying – this is surely a psychological throwback to being in the womb and listening to a beating heart.
On the downside, old mechanical watches are a bit like old cars (another interest of mine); you have to accept that they will go wrong from time to time, and will need periodic servicing. It certainly helps if you know a ‘man’ that can help you when things fail (and for watches, I wholeheartedly recommend Richard Askham).
Sometimes, or in my case, it feels like often, a watch I really like will fail and it just isn’t worth getting it serviced because its value when fixed, doesn’t cover the expense of getting it fixed. Again the analogy to old cars is inescapable. With old cars though, I used to get by this problem by fixing them myself – my watch repairing skills by comparison are truly woeful (although I fixed an old clock recently).
This week I read about the sale of Eric Clapton’s Patek Philippe 2499 /100 platinum chronograph. This watch, admittedly ultra-rare, sold at Christies for $3.6 million dollars and it has left me flabbergasted to think that any watch, even with intrinsic value, could possibly be worth, even a fraction of, that sum. The watch looks nice, but for me, some of my seventies Seikos have more visual appeal and a higher desirability score.
I have argued with my wife for years about watches, she says things like; "it’s just a watch" and "it’s just for telling the time". Never did I expect to find myself in a position where I felt compelled to agree. With Children In Need about to get into full swing, the thoughts about what better use $3.6 million could be put to are clear in my mind. I think that the Indian buyer that acquired this piece will have gained much more pleasure from the desire, and the chase, than could possibly be gained from wearing the watch – after all, it just tells the time! There you are Mrs B., I put it in writing!
The nice thing is that Eric Clapton would probably agree with me. The amount of his belongings that have been auctioned of late, for the benefit of charity, is significant. I bet he has felt much greater pleasure from the good he has enabled, via his drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, then he ever got from wearing an outrageously expensive watch - I bet he won’t even miss it!
Finally, and philosophically; the value of time is not in being able to tell it; it is in having as much of it as you can and in making the most of what you have. A friend of mine recently told me about a question he asks the older members of his society, “if you had your time again, what would you do differently?” His feedback; almost all say spend more time with family and friends, no one has ever talked about possessions.
Observations Home
Home
