5 ms·

I had the privilege of trying out a $15,000 Panama hat. There is a qualitative difference between a $100 Panama hat and a $15,000 dollar one, but still, paying

by idoh 11y ago

I had the privilege of trying out a $15,000 Panama hat. There is a qualitative difference between a $100 Panama hat and a $15,000 dollar one, but still, paying $15,000 or more for a hat is quite a luxury acquisition. A finer weave makes them a lot smoother, lighter, and more flexible, which is useful in really hot and humid climates. The guy in the shop said that the daily progress for such a hat is adding about a centimeter to the hat each day.

noir_lord 11y ago
I think it's like watches, once you go above $100 dollars you are out of "I want a practical accessory" and into "I want to own something rare and/or unique". I guess if you have the money it looks like a good deal, I can't imagine spending $15,000 on a hat but then I can't imagine spending it on much of anything (a car perhaps).
- hellodevnull 11y ago
  I don't know much about watch culture (I have a $10 Casio) but I heard someone say that a $1,000 watch is expensive, but a $30,000 watch is an investment. Not sure if people really pay attention to watches but Google "investing in a watch" and there's plenty of articles about it.
  - themartorana 11y ago
    They do. There is a huge divide between a $10 and a $1000 watch. One is a simple Quartz battery-run watch. But when you start talking about mechanical and automatic watches, your looking at incredibly intricate micro-scale engineering. (You may be able to say the same thing about intricately weaved hats, but I wouldn't know.) You can get a decent mechanical watch below $500, but you're almost definitely looking at a Seiko. I wouldn't bet on a watch as an investment, but if you spend $3,500 on a good quality Omega Speedmaster or $35,000 on a (low end) Philippe Patek, it's a solid bet it will retain its value over time. I wouldn't bet on it increasing in value better than a Vanguard index fund, but... Source: I love researching watches and clocks (especially centuries-old clocks) and find mechanical movements to be engineering works of art. I don't personally own that $3500 Omega Speedmaster... Yet...
    - gaius 11y ago
      your looking at incredibly intricate micro-scale engineering Making an LCD is no small engineering feat - it just happens to benefit from enormous economies of scale.
    - ljw1001 11y ago
      If you get really amazing micro-scale engineering, you can get a watch that is almost as accurate as a quartz watch, for a hell of a lot more money. At least with the hat, it is qualitatively better.
      - KC8ZKF 11y ago
        Qualitatively how? Does it keep the sun and rain off better than a ten dollar canvas bucket hat?
        tedunangst 11y ago
        Root comment mentions smoother, lighter, more flexible. Lighter certainly seems like a desirable quality, I'm not wearing a hat to work out my neck muscles.
        KC8ZKF 11y ago
        Smoother, lighter, and more flexible than a less dear Panama hat. The bucket is almost certainly lighter than both, if you're looking to relieve your neck from its tremendous burden. ljw1001 was comparing watches by their ostensive purposes, telling time, but the hats by something else.
        ljw1001 11y ago
        Exactly, better than other panama hats for the purpose for which it is used. And I wasn't as KC8ZKF states, comparing hats by one standard and watches by another. You can make a quartz watch that looks and feels exactly like a fine mechanical watch (excluding those that expose the insides, of course) AND is more accurate. You can't make a cheap panama hat that looks and feels exactly like a finely made panama hat because the craft is directly exposed.
  - marincounty 11y ago
    I have a weird feeling watch collecting/repairing will increase in popularity in the near future? Along with an increase in prices? These brands I mention below, except Orvis, can be bought on eBay for under a hundred dollars. Most of the time they just need a service, or a new stem? Names like Benrus, Elgin, Orvis, Oris, Hellbros, and a buch of ETA movements, with obscure names, are great watches, and one day just might become more collectable than they are presently? These mechanical watches were worn by the working man. They all had great movements. I repair watches, and I can't tell the difference in quality between Rolex movements and most Benrus Movements on the older models. Once you have a basic set of tools, and a little bit of knowledge on these old watches; you really start to see the beauty/value of old mechanical watches. With me--it started out as a hobby, to maybe a career? In the near future I am coding two websites devoted to watchmaking. One will be just about watch repair, and watch information. The other will be my personal business website where I will sell and service watches. I wish I got interested in Horology when I was younger? The bug didn't hit me until 10 years ago, when I got my first IWC cal. 89 watch. The guy who sold it thought it was a Timex. He sold it to me for $5.00. Well I got it cleaned, and oiled, and has been on my wrist ever since. It's so old the letters on the dial are completely faded, so it doesn't even look like an expensive watch. I wear it in the worst parts of town. I am the only one who knows it's a extremely well designed/machined piece of watchmaking history. So yes, I think vintage watches will go up in value. I hope not for awhile--because right now I can still get good deals on EBay. I just got a Omega Seamaster for a little over $100 dollars. When I get it running it will make a great watch for someone? A watch that will never be thrown away? A watch that can be handed down to a loved one?
    - ljw1001 11y ago
      vintage watches, and hand-made hats, will go up in value simply because there are more people with more money than they can find things to spend it on. It's called Asset Price Inflation.
    - lwhalen 11y ago
      Dude, I can hear your uptalking in your every other sentence. Questionmarks are for questions, not emphasis.
- js2 11y ago
  It's interesting that there are still products (hats, watches, cars, ...) for which the finest examples are made by craftsmen with enormous skill, and not by machine.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    I'm having trouble thinking of many things where that is not the case. Computer chips are one obvious example, but what else?
    - leephillips 11y ago
      Cellphones, laptops, ball-bearings, tires, ....
      - erichurkman 11y ago
        There's still a luxury brand that hand-builds cell phones: Vertu, out of England. Though obviously the components are still made by machine (chips, etc). http://www.vertu.com/us/en/home http://www.vertu.com/us/en/home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSAC43Ydrf8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSAC43Ydrf8
        leephillips 11y ago
        They're pretty, in a way. But are they the finest examples of a cellphone? That was the question I was replying to. Are they actually better than an iPhone, or my HTC?
        noir_lord 11y ago
        The website is nice but the phones are 10x the price of an iPhone and 30 times the price of a Moto-G 3rd gen. That said it's nothing to do with the spec of the phone and everything to do with the look of the phone, everyone in their set knows that the phone costs 7 grand, they know that you know that they know etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snob_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snob_effect
      - 11y ago
- sebastianavina 11y ago
  I want something rare and unique, lets buy an off the shelf, mass produced iWatch for USD 17k. Sometimes there is just no viable explanation for human behavior.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]

by idoh 11y ago

noir_lord 11y ago

I think it's like watches, once you go above $100 dollars you are out of "I want a practical accessory" and into "I want to own something rare and/or unique". I guess if you have the money it looks like a good deal, I can't imagine spending $15,000 on a hat but then I can't imagine spending it on much of anything (a car perhaps).

hellodevnull 11y ago
I don't know much about watch culture (I have a $10 Casio) but I heard someone say that a $1,000 watch is expensive, but a $30,000 watch is an investment. Not sure if people really pay attention to watches but Google "investing in a watch" and there's plenty of articles about it.
- themartorana 11y ago
  They do. There is a huge divide between a $10 and a $1000 watch. One is a simple Quartz battery-run watch. But when you start talking about mechanical and automatic watches, your looking at incredibly intricate micro-scale engineering. (You may be able to say the same thing about intricately weaved hats, but I wouldn't know.) You can get a decent mechanical watch below $500, but you're almost definitely looking at a Seiko. I wouldn't bet on a watch as an investment, but if you spend $3,500 on a good quality Omega Speedmaster or $35,000 on a (low end) Philippe Patek, it's a solid bet it will retain its value over time. I wouldn't bet on it increasing in value better than a Vanguard index fund, but... Source: I love researching watches and clocks (especially centuries-old clocks) and find mechanical movements to be engineering works of art. I don't personally own that $3500 Omega Speedmaster... Yet...
  - gaius 11y ago
    your looking at incredibly intricate micro-scale engineering Making an LCD is no small engineering feat - it just happens to benefit from enormous economies of scale.
  - ljw1001 11y ago
    If you get really amazing micro-scale engineering, you can get a watch that is almost as accurate as a quartz watch, for a hell of a lot more money. At least with the hat, it is qualitatively better.
    - KC8ZKF 11y ago
      Qualitatively how? Does it keep the sun and rain off better than a ten dollar canvas bucket hat?
      - tedunangst 11y ago
        Root comment mentions smoother, lighter, more flexible. Lighter certainly seems like a desirable quality, I'm not wearing a hat to work out my neck muscles.
        KC8ZKF 11y ago
        Smoother, lighter, and more flexible than a less dear Panama hat. The bucket is almost certainly lighter than both, if you're looking to relieve your neck from its tremendous burden. ljw1001 was comparing watches by their ostensive purposes, telling time, but the hats by something else.
        ljw1001 11y ago
        Exactly, better than other panama hats for the purpose for which it is used. And I wasn't as KC8ZKF states, comparing hats by one standard and watches by another. You can make a quartz watch that looks and feels exactly like a fine mechanical watch (excluding those that expose the insides, of course) AND is more accurate. You can't make a cheap panama hat that looks and feels exactly like a finely made panama hat because the craft is directly exposed.
- marincounty 11y ago
  I have a weird feeling watch collecting/repairing will increase in popularity in the near future? Along with an increase in prices? These brands I mention below, except Orvis, can be bought on eBay for under a hundred dollars. Most of the time they just need a service, or a new stem? Names like Benrus, Elgin, Orvis, Oris, Hellbros, and a buch of ETA movements, with obscure names, are great watches, and one day just might become more collectable than they are presently? These mechanical watches were worn by the working man. They all had great movements. I repair watches, and I can't tell the difference in quality between Rolex movements and most Benrus Movements on the older models. Once you have a basic set of tools, and a little bit of knowledge on these old watches; you really start to see the beauty/value of old mechanical watches. With me--it started out as a hobby, to maybe a career? In the near future I am coding two websites devoted to watchmaking. One will be just about watch repair, and watch information. The other will be my personal business website where I will sell and service watches. I wish I got interested in Horology when I was younger? The bug didn't hit me until 10 years ago, when I got my first IWC cal. 89 watch. The guy who sold it thought it was a Timex. He sold it to me for $5.00. Well I got it cleaned, and oiled, and has been on my wrist ever since. It's so old the letters on the dial are completely faded, so it doesn't even look like an expensive watch. I wear it in the worst parts of town. I am the only one who knows it's a extremely well designed/machined piece of watchmaking history. So yes, I think vintage watches will go up in value. I hope not for awhile--because right now I can still get good deals on EBay. I just got a Omega Seamaster for a little over $100 dollars. When I get it running it will make a great watch for someone? A watch that will never be thrown away? A watch that can be handed down to a loved one?
  - ljw1001 11y ago
    vintage watches, and hand-made hats, will go up in value simply because there are more people with more money than they can find things to spend it on. It's called Asset Price Inflation.
  - lwhalen 11y ago
    Dude, I can hear your uptalking in your every other sentence. Questionmarks are for questions, not emphasis.
js2 11y ago
It's interesting that there are still products (hats, watches, cars, ...) for which the finest examples are made by craftsmen with enormous skill, and not by machine.
- mikeash 11y ago
  I'm having trouble thinking of many things where that is not the case. Computer chips are one obvious example, but what else?
  - leephillips 11y ago
    Cellphones, laptops, ball-bearings, tires, ....
    - erichurkman 11y ago
      There's still a luxury brand that hand-builds cell phones: Vertu, out of England. Though obviously the components are still made by machine (chips, etc). http://www.vertu.com/us/en/home http://www.vertu.com/us/en/home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSAC43Ydrf8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSAC43Ydrf8
      - leephillips 11y ago
        They're pretty, in a way. But are they the finest examples of a cellphone? That was the question I was replying to. Are they actually better than an iPhone, or my HTC?
      - noir_lord 11y ago
        The website is nice but the phones are 10x the price of an iPhone and 30 times the price of a Moto-G 3rd gen. That said it's nothing to do with the spec of the phone and everything to do with the look of the phone, everyone in their set knows that the phone costs 7 grand, they know that you know that they know etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snob_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snob_effect
    - 11y ago
sebastianavina 11y ago
I want something rare and unique, lets buy an off the shelf, mass produced iWatch for USD 17k. Sometimes there is just no viable explanation for human behavior.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]