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TL;DR - if you need to get a meeting with someone, get a Veblen good that the meeting person is into A friend gave me a fake Rolex once. He said it was excepti
by gregpilling 9y ago
TL;DR - if you need to get a meeting with someone, get a Veblen good that the meeting person is into
A friend gave me a fake Rolex once. He said it was exceptionally good; he had the exact same model that was real and the only difference he could see was that there was an o-ring on the winder of the real Rolex, and none on the fake.
I wore it to a trade show one time, and I was honestly shocked by the positive reception I got as a human -- from every other guy who was wearing a watch!. Usually these were the guys of more importance; buyers and sellers at the executive level, or the CEOs themselves. I hadn't worn a watch since the day my phone could tell time (am old, phones in the 90s did not tell time), so I also hadn't thought about watches in years as a consequence.
I can tell you that the cost of a Rolex is well worth it, from the particular point of view of 'access' to the guys with watches and hey let's talk about them . The watch club. The $40 fake I had was good enough, because who is going to unwind someone else's winder at a social gathering? Similarly other Veblen goods like a Lamborghini (rent one!) that a guy talked about as a conversation piece on a Reddit AMA a day or two ago. Whatever someone is deeply interested in, they will glom onto you if you show anything like authentic interest. If you want my attention, wear a MotoGP shirt or something from VR46.
The fate of the watch? the strap broke and the watch sat in a drawer for a while. My friend offered to fix it, so I gave it back to him about 5 years ago and haven't seen it since! LOL . I haven't needed it either, so I don't care. My phone tells time :) He has promised to return it, but I think he uses it as a spare. His real one stays in the safe, 100% of the time.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago> I can tell you that the cost of a Rolex is well worth it It sounds like the cost of a fake Rolex is worth it, while a real Rolex is laughably overpriced.
- iamacynic 9y agooverpriced for who? prices are meant to discriminate. that's the whole point. but do keep in mind that a new low-end honda starts at roughly $20k, and a vintage rolex can be had for ~$5k.
- mtempm 9y agoFrom an engineering perspective only (removing social/psychological attitudes from your mind) this is an interesting comment. Honda Company for years has output some of the best engineering in the automotive world, while Rolex produces nothing compelling from an engineering perspective. The Honda S2000 had the most impressive 4cyl engine ever produced (and easily one of the best--impressive, reliable, fun--consumer engines ever produced) ... available in a reasonably priced roadster. There is a popular engineer/gear head Youtuber, Engineering Explained, that gawks over his. But Honda and Rolex are different animals. Personally I would rather not network with someone who values my character on the basis of wearing a Rolex, especially not in software dev. We're supposed to be savvy intellects, not ostentatious egos.
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- iamacynic 9y agosounds like the price discrimination is working.
- mtempm 9y agoThat's a pretentious insult without any substance. At least the Honda product has some compelling, original engineering know-how; the Rolex does not, and that's all I ever said. What you're saying is unsubstantiated troll-bait and insulting to me, and a lot of people. Good on ya' for that one. Edit: you edited your own comment... To still another unsubstantiated yet pretentious and condescending comment.
- anigbrowl 9y agoI didn't see the original but I did not get the impression that the poster's aim was to insult you. You mentioned being software development, and as a skilled craftsperson in that field naturally you prize function over display. But two professional investors might eye each others' Rolexes to to signal both a sufficiently high level of disposable income that they can afford not to care about purely utilitarian factors, and as a sign of willingness to comply with an unwritten social norm rather than insisting on the superiority of their own taste/judgment in every circumstance. What's ostentatious to the outsider may be an expression of humility to the insider: 'I'm willing to pay the price for this entry ticket on my wrist, but did not come here this evening to try to one-up everyone else.' At the opposite end of the social scale, you might wear a black leather jacket to fit in at the local punk club, but if your leather jacket was of too obviously high quality the other punks would doubtless consider you a wanker. Please consider the possibility that you are undervaluing the social engineering function of the expensive watch by focusing on the technical engineering criteria.
- thaumasiotes 9y agoDepends on your perspective. The real Rolex may be laughably overpriced by comparison to the knockoff Rolex which gets you the same benefits. It can still be underpriced compared to the benefits. Ignoring the networking benefits, I've always found Rolex's message of "we charge more because we're _lower_ quality" pretty uncompelling. They are the Vertu of the 20th century.
- criddell 9y agoIt's jewelry. What jewelry isn't overpriced? A Rolex at least holds it's value well compared to other jewelry. If you buy a vintage Rolex and take care of it, you can pretty much sell it at any time and get your money back or maybe even make a small profit.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago> It's jewelry. What jewelry isn't overpriced? Fake Rolexes, apparently.
- pizza 9y agoSuppose you are able to distinguish fake and real watches - then noticing someone wearing a fake one (without revealing your knowledge) acts as a defense against the Veblen good.. and I suppose for some levels of wealth, that information is good for figuring out someone else's intentions?
- rhizome 9y agoThe key is to own both, so you know the difference. Then you wear the fake, and use the fakeness to tell a story, or start a conversation, perhaps with someone who also knows Rolexes, and now you have a shared interest.
- kingkawn 9y agoNo.
- anigbrowl 9y agoSurely the key is to know the difference, rather than necessarily to own both - depending on one's reasons for the pretentious display, of course.
- rhizome 9y agoThe scenario I'm imagining is that a Rolex fan spots the fake, starts in on Sherlock'ing the matter, then you can add some of the lesser-known differences yourself.
- i_feel_great 9y agoThis is depressing. You need to play the fool's game to get ahead.
- anigbrowl 9y agoA fascinating example, and well told. Thanks for sharing.