There are many reasons why people like what they like. You could say that a cheap watch can tell you the time as well as can a Rolex - most of which I have had personal knowledge of have not been particularly good at keeping time, certainly not as good as the clock on the kitchen wall, for example, which as long as I remember to point the boiling kettle away from it, works well on its AA batteries. Like the Nikon F4s did, come to think of it, and had it loaded first time every time too, I might have kept it.
What is completely overlooked in these kinds of equations is appreciation of aesthetics: my first sight of the Submariner told me that it was the most beautiful watch I had ever seen. It cost me, back in '72, just short of a hundred quid: it was, I think, considered by Rolex to be a sports item, a watch for folks who liked the sea and getting very wet. I don't think they imagined it would also be thought of as jewellery later in its life. Today, the prices for that item on the Internet are in the region of euros 12,600. That is some appreciation, and when I had the thing serviced a couple of years ago, the agent remarked that it was probably of an age to be considered a collectible, loading the value even higher, as with those old new Leicas that live in display cabinets from the day of purchase.
Back to the aesthetics: there are Rolexes and there are Rolexes. The multi-coloured ones leave me cold, as do the gold ones. As for those covered with diamonds, I wouldn't want to be mistaken for a bookie or publican, a politician or even a Mafia capo.
That said, I discovered that my new cheapo replacement has another problem other than just being a substitute: turning the unidirectional bezel takes hands like pliers. I had filled out the online return document thinking of sending it straight back whence it had come, when something made me pause and go back online to check the experiences of others: the reality seems to be that it comes with the furniture. What's the point of returning it when the chances are the next one will be exactly the same? None. At the price, and as my swimming and snorkey days are but memory, it matters not a jot; even parking meters are unimportant now, and the cooker does have a tinger that tells me when the soup's ready.
So yeah, it's not all about the time at all. Why should it have to be?
Just struck me: at the time, my brand new Nikon F or F2 each cost me more than my brand new Rolex.
