A recent controversy here in Ireland got me wondering about watches valued in the thousands of euros (or dollars, or whatever). Namely, what the hell is it about a watch that makes it worth that much money? Is it just the label, or being made out of expensive material, or do these watches actually do spectacular things that make it worth forking out loads of money for them?
To be honest, that isn’t that much by some watch standards. I don’t think that you could find a Patek Philippe watch for less than $30,000. They have their own magazine that buyers get a subscription to, and they show the prices that their old watches fetch at auction. I was reading through it, and their watches from the 1930’s and 1950’s were all bringing in prices of more than $1,000,000 at auction.
As with any luxury item the value is that placed on it by the purchaser. No doubt the watch has a complicated movement, sapphire crystal and other exotic touches but no doubt a person who spends €9,000 on a watch does so because he can, and regular working Joes like you and me can’t or won’t.