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> You're talking about collectors. No, I'm not. I'm talking about people that buy high-end watches. They're like ties, it doesn't really make sense to own just

> You're talking about collectors. No, I'm not. I'm talking about people that buy high-end watches. They're like ties, it doesn't really make sense to own just one. You need one for every occasion, to match all the types of outfits you wear. It makes sense for you to own just one high-end watch. But the kind of person that can pay $30K for a watch is not you. They are the people that keep Patek Phillipe in business. They made €765.6 million in 2013. The Swiss watch industry as a whole is around $10 billion.

Riod 11y ago
$800MM is a small business and $10BN is a small industry fyi.
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  I never said it wasn't. The theme is small, entrenched industries that seem way bigger than they are. Hollywood seems so much bigger than it is because geopolitically, US culture exports are a big contributor to global goodwill. The watch industry is sheltered by old, old money, patronized by the kind of people who could comfortably buy up the entire industry if they saw the need. Market logic is a useful thing to grasp, but there are bigger things in the world than markets, and it's really useful to be able to understand how they work. What looks small often isn't. Bigger, better, faster, stronger are not the only rules the world lives by. There exist points at which normal logic upends and irrationality rules.
SwellJoe 11y ago
I wonder how we ended up talking so much about luxury watches in this conversation about Hollywood and the tech industry. I still don't think there's a useful comparison to be made, even if we assume that luxury watches are immune to the same sorts of factors that made fancy hats and canes disappear. It's an impossibly large leap for me to treat Hollywood movies and entertainment as a "luxury good"; there's simply none of the same motivations behind it. It really isn't a status symbol to own a copy of the Criterion Collection on Blu Ray.

Riod 11y ago

$800MM is a small business and $10BN is a small industry fyi.

vinceguidry 11y ago
I never said it wasn't. The theme is small, entrenched industries that seem way bigger than they are. Hollywood seems so much bigger than it is because geopolitically, US culture exports are a big contributor to global goodwill. The watch industry is sheltered by old, old money, patronized by the kind of people who could comfortably buy up the entire industry if they saw the need. Market logic is a useful thing to grasp, but there are bigger things in the world than markets, and it's really useful to be able to understand how they work. What looks small often isn't. Bigger, better, faster, stronger are not the only rules the world lives by. There exist points at which normal logic upends and irrationality rules.

SwellJoe 11y ago

I wonder how we ended up talking so much about luxury watches in this conversation about Hollywood and the tech industry. I still don't think there's a useful comparison to be made, even if we assume that luxury watches are immune to the same sorts of factors that made fancy hats and canes disappear. It's an impossibly large leap for me to treat Hollywood movies and entertainment as a "luxury good"; there's simply none of the same motivations behind it. It really isn't a status symbol to own a copy of the Criterion Collection on Blu Ray.