The inevitable "it's a status/fashion/art statement" response is about the same as the "smell" of books or "warmth" of vinyl in another way I overlooked. Somet

The inevitable "it's a status/fashion/art statement" response is about the same as the "smell" of books or "warmth" of vinyl in another way I overlooked. Sometimes a person WANTS to spend a LOT of money on something otherwise mundane & expensive. You want _The_Hobbit_, do you pay $0.50 for a used & worn paperback, or first-edition copy for $200,000 (see recent news)? same content. You want _Dark_Side_of_the_Moon_, do you order the $0.11+shipping used CD from Amazon and play it on your computer's disc drive, or pay $200 for an original vinyl copy and listen to it on a $100,000 record player? same content. Until recently, watches really did nothing other than tell time, all with about the same accuracy. A $5 watch was not meaningfully less useful than a $500,000 Swiss marvel. Yes, many of the premium watch makers will continue, because some people WANT to spend a mind-boggling amount on premium craftsmanship applied to mundane ends. But MOST people don't.