Conspicuous Consumption

I was reading the Forbes Life supplement to Forbes Magazine today while--let's just say I was sitting down--and one of the articles caught my attention. The title is What Makes them Tick and it's about a pair of fairly young custom watchmakers.

This is an industry that has all but disappeared due to the introduction of the highly accurate quartz in 1969 by Seiko. Very few new people enter the business because it's dying and to find two extremely talented people wanting to try their luck is unlikely at best. Yet that's what happened in 1985 when Stephen Forsey entered trade school to learn the craft.

Today, teamed up with Robert Gruebel, whose family has been in the small side of the business for generations, they comprise Gruebel Forsey, makers of high end watches. How high end? Well, their "cheap" model costs $250,000. Can you say Conspicuous Consumption?

The article is actually quite interesting but I just can't imagine spending between a quarter of a million dollars to a half million on a watch. No matter how amazing the technology and finish of the casing. Hell, I can't imagine spending a half million on a friggin' house.

Comments

kenju said…
That's ridiculous. I can't even imagine spending more than $75 on a watch, since I get tired of wearing the same one all the time. The jeweler we bought my diamond ring from wears a watch he paid $14K for. I thought THAT was bad!!
5:02 PM
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