> Why bother?

ego, of course

Vanity. Ego is something else.

> ego, of course

This is so silly. Do you really not have any hobbies where you spend inordinate time or money on things you could objectively accomplish quicker and cheaper, but having less fun, in other ways? Like, I ski. It’s a silly way to get up and down a hill in the 21st century.

I’m not a watch guy. But mechanical watches are beautiful. There are idiots who buy them. But that doesn’t mean everyone who does is an idiot.

Collecting watches isn't a hobby, it's pure consumerism. Sure many hobbies have (recently?) gotten way more people spending top dollars for no reason but with watch collecting there's nothing else. You're not tweaking the dials, you don't know how to make the watch, you just watch it and wear it while a technologically superior version is 500 times cheaper. There's also no natural shortage of them, they can make a trillion of these watches.

At least with cars or audio equipment there's some marginal benefits once you get to crazy numbers, not the case with watches.

What is wrong with watch consumerism? It isn't like it's ruining the planet and hurting anyone. Like you said, there is no shortage and nobody will die without them.

We can say all the same things about cars, but nobody thinks it’s odd that there’s a status culture about cars worth more than $75,000.

Because that’s only 2-5x the price of a new cheap car.

A watch at $80,000 is what, 10,000x what a new cheap one is?

But good for them! It’s really hard to be angry at them for buying said watch without it being some form of jealousy.

> nobody thinks it’s odd that there’s a status culture about cars worth more than $75,000

Sure. To each their own. I drive a Subaru. I don’t think it’s weird that others like a nice car. (I also think there are douchebags who drive both.)