Have you ever thought about the factors that affect and direct our watch purchases? Let's confess, we all know that we don't buy watches to know the time. So why are we spending a fortune on these small machines? More importantly, how do we make this decision?
Why do we buy watches? The simplest answer to this question is of course our love of accessories. The last answer that comes to mind is our desire to know the time. We certainly do not need watches in terms of functionality. From the mobile phones that are with us almost at any moment, to electronic devices wherever we turn our heads, we come across the hands and screens that are eager to tell us what time it is. Of course, it’s not enough. We also want to have those machines on our wrists.
You may have encountered the saying “The man's only accessory is his watch”. I believe that this sentence remains quite ordinary and superficial for a true watch lover. We put meanings on watches more than just accessories. A heritage, an embodiment of special interest, a symbol of friendships or achievements. The things that we know so far. So, what power makes us buy those watches that we wear? This is the point where things start to get confused.
It's not easy to choose from thousands of models from hundreds of brands. Moreover, the concept we call taste depends on subjective truths. When we give the money and put the watch on our wrist, do we act according to our taste or others? Or what we call taste takes place upon witnessing the other people's choices?
When we examine the factors that shape our buying habits from past to present, we come across a surprising picture. In the 90s, our watch lover, who trusted only the comments of his close circle and the advertisements in magazines, met the forum culture in the 2000s. He suddenly starts communicating with tens and even hundreds of people who have been passionate about watches. When we take the time a little further, the acquaintance of this person with social media, which is at the peaks of internet use, enables him to meet with millions of people with the same interest. The problem is that the number of people meeting on the common denominator increases so much, the rate of active participants decreases, and the number of passive audiences increases. At this point, the mob begins to be divided into groups.
It is very difficult to separate the categories with certain lines. Celebrities who wear watches for pleasure or forced to wear watches due to advertising agreements, professionals trying to manipulate people with commercial concerns, collectors who share only their tastes, spectators who are just watching what is happening, and much more. Let's continue our example from the person mentioned above. I guess it would be correct to position him at some point between the collector sharing his tastes and the audience watching what is happening.
Changing tastes, like habits, also requires a process. Just like our watch enthusiast, who continue to use social media at full throttle, start to change with time. After a point, the necessity to approve the tastes, to have the motives to be accepted, to be followed and to be reinforced should have struck our love of watches that models that drive the masses, receive millions of likes, and have years of “waiting” lists, become the interest of our watch aficionado. Now, a few friends with whom he had a conversation about watches have been replaced by thousands of followers and millions of likes. Maybe this is what it should be. Changing tastes managed to collect all watch lovers under the roof of several models of certain brands. Who knows, maybe Patek Philippe Nautilus and Rolex Daytona actually represent the "last" point where watchmaking has come.
Honestly, I miss the old days. The Paneristi spirit, the extraordinary complications of the JLC, the reproduction of the historical models of Vacheron, and many more novelties, the big and small developments that succeeded in exciting everyone interested in the watches, I anticipate them all. Maybe I miss those old friendships. The chats starting from watches and extending to all areas of life, shopping without the thought of being liked or appreciated by others. But I also know that I want the impossible. I think the best is to watch the excitement of those who are just getting interested in watches. With that old pure feeling.
