What have those poor books ever done to you ?
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I don’t even set the date on my watches that have it because I can’t see it without my reading glasses… 
The one I’ve owned the longest is my early 70’s Speedmaster - I’ve had that since the 90’s. The oldest watch I own is a DateJust from my birth year (I was born when LBJ was prez). I also have a couple modern watches from Omega and IWC and that’s it. They keep me happy for now, though I’d like.a Planet Ocean. I’ll likely get one used.
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Well, to be fair, it ALSO says, “I’m too much of a greedy prick to give $199900 to Doctors Without Borders, who could no doubt put it to better use than me.”
A watch is worth a thousand words.
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As others have said, perpetual calendar mechanisms are not new. My dad’s working-man mechanical watch from the 1970s has one.
I just wish watch people would admit these are very nice jewelry, instead of always trying to rationalize them as practical devices. There is no mechanical watch at any price that can outperform or outlast a $10 Casio quartz.
Admire the mechanisms and the engineering, absolutely. But admit they are jewelry.
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Yeah, someone doesn’t know what “in depth” means.
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No it doesn’t. The kind of person that buys this watch is also the kind that can afford to give $2M to MSF.
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We’re not 100 percent sure on the outlast part since Casio quartz watches haven’t been around as long. A well-maintained quality mechanical watch should be able to be maintained pretty much forever…
And the outperform part - to a certain extent. But a genuine dive watch that is sealed with gaskets and a screw down crown and back will most certainly survive under water better than the Casio. A more expensive G-Shock will do well, though.
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Maybe because spending that much cash on a useless status symbol in a world where millions of people in first-world countries can’t afford paying their rent might be considered unethical?
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Same here, possibly for reasons different than yours though. Several years back I was having drinks and sharing stories with my well-to-do brother and he asked me if anyone has ever tried to slip me a tranquilizer. I said “no” and then he proceeded to tell me about a business trip that he had recently taken where a couple ladies at a restaurant bar started chatting him up and bought a round of shots. Shortly after drinking his shot he realized that something wasn’t right so he quickly got up to leave, while one of the ladies was grabbing him by the arm trying to keep him from going. His car was parked out front so he broke away from her and drove off. On his way to the hotel he started getting tunnel vision and he knew that he had a limited amount of time left before he blacked out; fortunately the hotel was near. He made it to his room, collapsed on the bed and woke up at 2pm the following day. I heard about ladies who target guys with expensive watches so I asked him, “Were you wearing a Rolex?” He responded “yes”. Today, he still wears expensive watches but no longer accepts drinks or shots from strangers.
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I have had three Casio MQ-24s on the go in rotation for a very long time and after a decade or two they did give up the ghost. Straps break and yeah they are replaceable but cost more than the watches. More to the point, many battery changes eventually cause wear on the back/seal and the battery holder. I eventually gave up with my three, as batteries would apparently die but when removed and tested, were fine. Reinsert, and watch works again for a couple of weeks.
I used to pay the local watch shop or key cutter to replace the battery but each time cost as much as a new watch. So I started doing it myself and eventually they started to play up as I could not seal the backs so well. Basically, I can no longer rely on them. Though the cost of a decade or two’s timekeeping is pretty darn low, even with all the new batteries over all those years. I did finally last month buy a new one for £5.99! 
You may say they would have survived better if I’d replaced the batteries properly but the cost over the years would be many times the purchase cost.
So yeah, they do last a very long time, but not forever.
I also have a Seiko self-winder that is around 35 years old and still running as well as the day I bought it some time in the mid-1980s. Even when left for days and stopped, just set the time, a couple of shakes to get it going, and it keeps perfect time.
If it ever has a problem it will be serviceable. Even if the Casios were worth servicing (at that price they are not) they are really unserviceable, as far as I can see.
So, yes, expensive mechanical watches are jewellery, but they are also practical timepieces and probably will outlast a battery-powered quartz in the very long run.
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I was hoping for a missing kidney story.
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I mean, it’s nice, sure, but it’s no Seiko on a NATO.
A high quality mechanical watch is something special. They combine incredible manufacturing skill, complexity on a very small scale, and are pretty much the finest type of jewelry that is available to most men.
I have a Hamilton Railroad Grade lever set pocket watch from my conductor grandfather that was made in 1926 and that had to be made to specs that allowed a variation of less than 3 seconds per day, regardless of temperature or the position that the watch was sitting. When you consider that the safety of the railroad system depended on the accuracy of each train being on time, you understand why they required such precision. The amazing thing is that the mechanics of the watch, which could only be seen by opening the back of the case, are more beautifully decorated than the face or the case itself. It is still keeping perfect time almost 100 years later. In 1926, with a 14K white gold case, it cost about $75 which was a bunch of money in today’s dollars. You can buy one of these today for around $300, which is an incredible bargain.
I also have a 14 karat deco style Illinois wristwatch which was made in 1922, and which was an element of American manufacturing that rivaled the quality of anything produced in Switzerland at the time for precision, and were classic designs of the period when a wristwatch was part of every man’s personal style. Absolutely awesome.
Sure they are extravagent. Sure, no one needs anything more than a cheap Timex, or an Invicta knockoff of a Rolex. Actually, we all carry a phone which provides the time. But they are miniature pieces of sculpture, and it’s a shame that they are falling from favor, and that only the rich can afford the best examples of them.
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If a rich person is separated from their money in a way that enriches craftspeople and service providers before they turn that money into further concentration of rental property, so much the better
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Doesn’t that mark you out as a terrorist?
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May I remind you the original question was: if you have money to throw around, why not give away $200k to random people on the street AND then also piss another 200k away on a fucking wristwatch.
That being said, I would not refer to Patek Philipe SA, a company with somewhere between 2000 and 5000 employees and its own Gulfstream G650 jet as “craftspeople and service providers”. And I’m afraid Patek Philipe SA shareholders contribute to further concentration of rental property. But at least some people got a decent salary out of it.
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What a great piece to own.
The astronauts on Apollo 13 were helped by the Speedmaster. My early 70’s version is my favorite watch.
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LOL! Fortunately, that hasn’t happened…yet.
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Enriched my life and my knowledge of mechanics immensely 
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I’d be curious to know what working man can afford a mechanical watch circa 1970 that had an actual perpetual calender complication?
That specific type is rare and costly to make in a purely mechanical watch. On a digital one, trivial, but on a mechanical- it involves several layers of cams and often a countwheel, often with a 4 way stepped cam on a month countwheel for finer models.
It’s not something trivial to add to a watch- takes up a fair bit of space in the movement in any iteration (Except Ludwig Oechslin’s novel variation), and takes more skill for the watchmaker in servicing to set it back up, so adds significantly to the cost.
Not saying you’re wrong- but if its actually what you have- good chance you don’t realize how valuable that watch is…
It might be possible to make a poor imitation of the mechanism that functions, but I’ve yet to really see a convincing example of one.
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