Who Watches the Watchmen (Our Chit Chat Thread)

There's an element of that to it alright, but the car comparison breaks down(no pun) to some degree. Watches are now male jewellry rather than the necessity they once were. If we take the car comparision they're more like the weekend sports car the (mostly)middle aged guy drives to meet other golfists at the weekend, rather than the car he drives to work or brings the kids to school. There's little utility involved. They're one of the signifiers of wealth and taste within the society and social group they inhabit and in that framework the utilitarian superiority of quartz is a major negative. On more US based forums you see this more openly and you'll even see some guys boasting about how much a service costs on their [insert expensive brand here].

As for "soul" I can see it more with a handwider than an auto. There's a personal connection to the old style contained within. For me there's more of that element in vintage stuff too as they're more delicate and from a different time, often reflecting same. A Tesla Plaid can go from 0-1000 in half a second or whatever with little effort save for keeping your retinas where nature intended, but driving something like a 60's Ferrari with a Columbo V12 revving to seven grand is a far more visceral and involved and involving experience, even though a hot hatch would worry it in the performance end of things(Though they've become very expensive jewellry too, polished and pickled, rarely actually driven). I once had a go of a very well sorted 1960's Lotus Elan. Oh. My. God. The level of feel and connection in that thing was off the scale insane. Though I agree with your regarding the diesel Beemer. I would say a fair few "soulful" mechanical watches, particularly in the vintage realm can fall into that bracket.

Yes and no. More we're a social animal and part of that is display of group affiliations and status. Clothes, cars, language, phones, all sorts. We all do it pretty much. Just the signifiers change.

Oh certainly Fitz, but mostly people want shít that others want. That's usually expensive shít, but not always. It depends on the societal group's checklist. And all of it is down to perception. Take the current Rolex "shortage" - and something you've noted nail on the head yourself - on chrono24 if you want a Sub there are ninety plus pages of the things. And that's just one outlet. They're not rare, nor hard to get, but the market and perception has decided they are and you quite simply have to pay extra to get one. Which in turn naturally plugs into the "luxury" perception. The actual qualities of the watch are a bit down the line. Then again actually rare is a crap selling point. If only fifty people can ever get one, that won't drive a market, beyond the extremely rarified atmosphere of hedge/trust fund boyos having a willie measuring contest at Bonhams. 😁