[tushar-r]

It is interesting - I follow a bunch of "finstagram" accounts. A couple of years ago, there used to be weekly "show your watch on Friday" posts with Rolexes and such. I realized after reading this article that I haven't seen such a post in a very long time. Most of these accounts post a lot less these days as well. Guess the reduction in bonuses post the Covid boom has had a massive effect on the folks who bought these watches!

[Rinzler89]

Luxury watches and clothes are mostly bought by poor people to signal other poor people that they have more money, and to signal actually rich people that they're stupid and financially irresponsible.

You never see your Zuckerbergs or Musks go around with flashy watches or clothes with Dolce & Gabana plastered over them. Those are mostly on average people who want to signal to their peers that they "made it".

[WorkerBee28474]

> You never see your Zuckerbergs or Musks go around with flashy watches

5 seconds of searching Google pulls up examples for both.

[darkfloo]

No? I’m sorry as much as I would like this to be true luxury watches are a sign of external wealth / conversation pieces for the wealthy (5/100M range I would guess)

Might not be the case for the tech wealthy crowd as I know these circles less

But for the traditional/family/business wealthy crowd watches are an easy icebreaker, especially if you mention you don’t care about the price and you like them for x other reasons

[defrost]

Sheesh, you get a Valerii Danevych with a flying tourbillon for yourself and to save the planet .. not for others to gawk at . . .

[Rinzler89]

> conversation pieces

I get that those $250K one of kind Bugatti/Ferrari watches that have the guts of an internal combustion engine or the functioning planetary solar system on display inside them are good for conversation pieces since they're unique, but What conversation can you make about a bog standard $5k-$10k Rolex?

  - Hey, nice watch.
  - Yeah thanks, it's a Rolex, it's shiny, golden and it tells the time.
  - So kind of like my Casio?

So most expensive watches are just Vablen goods.

[decafninja]

The truly rich seem to indulge in luxury goods that most average or wannabe or merely rich folks don’t even know about.

IIRC Zuck has closets full of seemingly mundane looking clothes (tshirts, hoodies) that actually have 4-5 $ figure price tags.

Sure they may not have GUCCI or SUPREME plastered all over them but they’re definitely luxury goods.

Likewise for watches. The wannabe rich might indulge in Rolexes but the very rich seem to indulge in watch brands I’ve never heard of.

Plus now you have brands playing the exclusivity card. Sure, you can save up for that Rolex or Hermes or Ferrari but they will refuse to sell it to you unless you’re a “somebody” or have “built up a relationship”.

[bamboozled]

If you're poor, how do you afford Luxury watches, I don't get it?

On the other hand, the richest people I know seem to wear Apple Watch Ultra a lot, even women who have smalls arms and it looks ridiculous on.

[tonyedgecombe]

>If you're poor, how do you afford Luxury watches, I don't get it?

Like everything else, with a monthly payment.

I live in a reasonably wealthy part of the UK. Most developments around me have a mix of affordable (subsidised) and normal housing. In general the subsidised houses have the newer and more expensive cars parked out front whilst the people that can afford their home tend to drive ten year old Volkswagens or similar.

Also if you are wealthy there are good reasons why you might not want to signal that, even within your own family.

[Rinzler89]

You're poor because you waste all your money on luxury goods and frivolities. Why is that difficult to grasp?

[beaglesss]

Rich people use them to transfer bearer instruments of wealth across borders without having to inform the gestapo.