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Except that watches are kind of going out of style, with all of the electronic devices people have. Perhaps the US version would be a nice smartphone, a nice MP
by atgm 16y ago
Except that watches are kind of going out of style, with all of the electronic devices people have. Perhaps the US version would be a nice smartphone, a nice MP3 player, and nice, non-Apple earbuds.
- jrockway 16y agoNo, everybody has those. Do you assume someone's rich because they are wearing nice headphones? I don't; I assume they are a college student who just got back to the city after Christmas break. Hence, not a status symbol.
- atgm 16y agoI don't really assume that someone's rich because they have a nice watch, either... or that they're not rich because they're not wearing a watch.
- jrockway 16y agoRight, because in our generation, we don't really "get" watches. I mean, I know that there are $20,000 watches in the Universe, but I wouldn't know one if I saw one. So I don't consider it a status symbol and wouldn't pick it up if someone was using an expensive watch as a status symbol. To that generation that "gets it", though, then perhaps watches are status symbols. A status symbol that people have these days is their house. Most people pay way more than they can afford, mostly to make themselves feel like they "fit in" with a "more elite" crowd. (I noticed this because I rent what someone with my income can afford, but the people I live with make a lot less money than me. They are using their housing as a status symbol; I am using it as a place to sleep and shower.)
- brc 16y agoTrust me, if you saw a really expensive watch, you'd know it was an expensive watch. You don't have to know the list price of a sports car to tell it is expensive. It's obvious just from looking at it.
- atgm 16y agoMaybe if you know about sports cars. I've seen, for example, RX-8s and thought "Wow, what a nice-looking sports car, I bet it's expensive." They're pretty cheap.
- brc 16y agoPut a RX-8 next to a Pagani or even a Lotus and the difference will be quite clear.
- stcredzero 16y agoSports cars are an interesting object lesson in signaling. Often their track performance is way out of line with their price and/or appearance. For many, an old Mazda MX-5 is a superior track-day car to many newer vehicles costing several times as much. The Ariel Atom is especially instructive, as it achieves higher performance by dispensing with the sheet metal -- which is the primary medium for an automobile's signaling.
- pasbesoin 16y agoGave mine up after the band broke (yet again) from constantly taking it off to type (wrist rest).
- nickpinkston 16y agoHaha - me too! Are we just too busy (lazy?) to fix it?
- fanboy123 16y agoReally expensive timepieces should have gone out with the quartz watches that came in during the 80s. They haven't because some of the rich and powerful use an inferior technology (from a timekeeping perspective) to show how successful they are. While hackers may just use their phones it is unusual to see a wealthy banker, talent agent or lawyer without a nice watch. I would assume it is more prevalent in jobs that require a lot of signaling for negotiation.
- atgm 16y agoI guess I don't hobnob with the wealthy enough.