[lb1lf]

...and don't even get me started on people who buy a Rolex Submariner - the quintessential tool watch (and luxury symbol, by all means - but it wasn't always so) and then ask whether they should take any special precautions after accidentally showering with it...

Sigh.

[noufalibrahim]

I'm probably missing something here but if I have to worry about getting an expensive watch that calls it "Submariner" wet of all things, at the very least, it's badly named.

[close04]

I think the bigger point is that people think they “afford” a luxury item as soon as they barely afford to buy it and forget that owning also has a cost. They are too afraid to use the damn thing out of fear that they damage it somehow. Their luxury item loses all meaning and use beyond showing ownership of an expensive thing.

Like those fancy luxury cars some people buy but are too expensive to drive, maintain, insure, or repair. One scratch wipes out their savings so the car sits in the garage.

[noufalibrahim]

Can't argue there. The first time I visited the US, I bought expensive calligraphy paper. I brought it back home to India and saved it for when I would be "Good enough" and practiced on cheap copier stock.

Fast forward a few years, I gingerly took out the pad and pulled out a sheet. I didn't do it right and tore the sheet down the middle and had to take fresh one. Then I dropped my pen while writing (since I was so "careful" with the paper) and had ink droplets fall onto the sheet. Finally, when I put pen to the paper, I found that it had absorbed moisture from the air and the the ink bled into the paper ruining everything.

[NetMageSCW]

Yeah, I don’t understand buying a car to sit around. It’s a car, if you aren’t driving it, you aren’t getting the full experience.

I daily drive what some think are just for special trips.

[lb1lf]

Haha, we need to talk. (Current garage: Land Cruisers BJ42 and HZJ78, SI 80" Land Rover (full grille, thank you very much), 1972 RRC, a 1966 MGB V8 (retrofit, not original).)

Oh, and a Passat for the missus. The kids call the Passat 'The muggle car'.

I really could do with a couple cars less (mostly to make room for a Toyota Century, I have wanted one for years), but I love all of them for different reasons, so...

[lb1lf]

close04 pretty much nailed it with his comment below. There is nothing wrong with the Submariner - quite the contrary, it is an iconic design and exceedingly well made.

The 'problem' is that as it migrated (much like, say, Leica cameras and optics) from being tools for professionals into status symbols, a lot of its owners went from basically banging it about, relishing each and every battle scar obtained to (sigh) worrying about resale value.