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TimeTexas's avatar

Very interesting and something I've been thinking about alot. I don't buy watches for other people to enjoy. I also don't buy for value, but after value/value retention certainly makes the justification for spending the money easier. Living in Houston, and having relatively unknown, albeit somewhat expensive watches, I have no concerns about security. What I have discovered is that even more than the monetary value of the watch is the value of the relationships associated with the purchase. I gravitate towards small independent watch brands because I value the ability to meet the watchmaker, understand their vision and philosophy. Following their journey and knowing I'm wearing a part of that journey is exceptionally meaningful for me.

That said, I do like the Nautilus for 5k, even if I couldn't sell it. But I could give it to my kids when I die and they could sell it. Nothing like a loophole. 😂

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pete mcconvill's avatar

I struggle with the core premise of this entire exercise, that is the attempt to impose rational criteria upon an essentially irrational decision. A core principle I live by is that people arent rational, we just rationalise the emotional decisions we were always going to make. I suspect your tools will be mostly that - post hoc rationalisations of previous decisions.

Having said all that one thing I'm curious about is how you'd model Des(cum) - ie the cumulative desire for a number of watches vs the unique desire for any one of them. I feel your model tends to drive towards a 1:1 comparision between a (for example) 120k watch and a 15 k watch but what is the value of looking into a box and seeing 8 watches instead of one? For a real life practical example - consider the recent tag-kith collab. Purchasing the box of all of them was a 20ish% premium over buying each individually because the collection was quite literally worth more than the sum off its parts. Perhaps instead of considering watches, consider alternative collections to a given dollar value?

I guess Im curious because thats my approach - I want a watch collection, not a collection of watches. I know what I want my collection to be and the purchasing decision is not will I buy this watch instead of that watch but rather will I buy this watch now and that watch later.

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