Watch This

The conversation never actually happened but through the years some have reported that authors F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway had this exchange:

Fitzgerald: "The rich are different than you and me."
Hemingway: "Yes, they have more money."

Of course rich is relative. I know people who would mock my bank book but to others I would be considered very wealthy just by having two cows.

To the former group, here's a new item for sale you may want to get on the waiting list for. To the latter, I'm sorry you have to see this, as you sit surfing the internet on your free government laptop in your dirt hut in the Congo.


Here are the details from the Wall Street Journal.

"A $300,000 watch? Luxury. A $300,000 watch that doesn’t tell time — and that sells out? Pure genius.

Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome just launched the Day&Night watch. The watch won’t tell you what time it is. That’s so yesterday. But it does tell you whether it’s day or night — helpful, I guess, for billionaire types who can’t afford windows.

As the company’s Web site boasts: 'With no display for the hours, minutes or seconds, the Day&Night offers a new way of measuring time, splitting the universe of time into two fundamentally opposing sections: day versus night.'

What’s most impressive about the Day&Night is its complexity, given its absolute uselessness. The watch features two tourbillons — devices that overcome the ill effects of earth’s gravity on a watch’s accuracy — connected by a differential mechanism. Instead of hands, the watch has a 'contemplative tourbillon operation whereby the ‘Day’ tourbillon operates for 12 hours to symbolize working life, while the ‘Night’ tourbillon takes over afterward to represent an individual’s private time.'

Like other Romain Jerome watches, the watch is made in part with steel salvaged from the sunken Titanic, along with material from the shipyard where it was built. That sounds creepy to me, but maybe today’s buyers prefer morbid metals.

The company’s chief executive, Yvan Arpa, cited statistical studies to explain how the watch better reflects the time-philosophy of today’s wealthy.

'When you ask people what is the ultimate luxury, 80 percent answer ‘time’. Then when you look at other studies, 67 percent don’t look at their watch to tell what time it is,' he told Reuters.

He added that anyone can buy a watch that tells time — only a truly discerning customer can buy one that doesn’t.

And here’s the best part: The watch sold out within 48 hours of its launch."
   

Comments

[Stacey]

"...67 percent don’t look at their watch to tell what time it is..."
C'mon, everyone knows this - they look at their cell phones instead. Duh.

And if some wealthy person wants to pay $300k for a watch that doesn't tell time, send 'em to me - I've got 4 old ones that I got from Target that don't work anymore, and I could use the money.

[Diane]

"There's a sucker born every minute." P.T. Barnum

[Janet]

Greetings from the Congo!

From my dirt hut I can see it is daytime.

[Chris Thorne]

I thought about buying that watch...but they couldn't guarantee that I could get TWO, with sequential serial numbers. If I couldn't get that, well, you can understand my interest wained significantly... LOL

[Ana]

At least, it's cool to look at.

[Chris]

$300k could go so much farther...I don't know, helping out New Orleans?

[db]

This could be a wise investment if the watch sells years from now for millions.

A watch is just another form of jewelry and most jewelry has no practical value.

I wish I had two cows

[Geo]

A man came up to me and asked me what the time was that was on my watch,yeah, it's daaaaay!
Does anybody really know what time it is.

[Glen Quagmire]

But I do most of my best work at night!

Oooohhh Yea!!! Giggety giggety...

[jes]

The truly wealthy don't neet to know what time it is. I've always felt that this was true of pampered women/trophy wives too. This is the reason I never wear a watch on a date - even though I have a very nice watch.
Terrible - I know.

[Tiffiny]

I had a boss who once had a watch that much, and I about quit simply because I felt it was unethical. Someone who buys a watch for that kind of money though and it doesn't even tell time...those people really ought to be shot on site for that gross waste of money.

Tiffiny