The $300,000 Watch That Doesn’t Tell Time

[bicentennial_baby]

A $300,000 watch? Luxury. A $300,000 watch that doesn’t tell time — and that sells out? Pure genius.

According to several news reports flagged by my friends at Luxist, Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome just launched the “Day&Night” watch. The watch won’t tell you what time it is. That’s so yesterday. But it does tell you whether it’s day or night — helpful, I guess, for billionaire types who can’t afford windows.

As the company’s Web site boasts: “With no display for the hours, minutes or seconds, the Day&Night offers a new way of measuring time, splitting the universe of time into two fundamentally opposing sections: day versus night.”

What’s most impressive about the Day&Night is its complexity, given its absolute uselessness. The watch features two tourbillons — devices that overcome the ill effects of earth’s gravity on a watch’s accuracy — connected by a differential mechanism. Instead of hands, the watch has a “contemplative tourbillon operation whereby the ‘Day’ tourbillon operates for 12 hours to symbolize working life, while the ‘Night’ tourbillon takes over afterward to represent an individual’s private time.”

Like other Romain Jerome watches, the watch is made in part with steel salvaged from the sunken Titanic, along with material from the shipyard where it was built. That sounds creepy to me, but maybe today’s buyers prefer morbid metals.

The company’s chief executive, Yvan Arpa, cited statistical studies to explain how the watch better reflects the time-philosophy of today’s wealthy.

-snip-

He added that anyone can buy a watch that tells time — only a truly discerning customer can buy one that doesn’t.

And here’s the best part: The watch sold out within 48 hours of its launch.

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2008/04/25/the-300000-watch-that-doesnt-tell-time/?mod=WSJBlog

[Clear Blue Sky]

1. How many did they make?

If one was made and sold, big deal. If a hundred, that's really bizarre.

[Hissyspit]

28. 100 of anything can be quite a collectors item depending on what it is.

Watch collectors can be a queer lot, and this one is clear being sold as an art object. It will most assuredly appreciate and that was the intent of the designer. Anyone who bought this bought it for it's uniqueness and collectors value. It's not really a watch, so to speak, people just want to call it that. Anyone who buys it probably pulls out their cell phone to see what time it is, anyway.

[gateley]

2. Whew! Glad I got mine before they sold out! nt

[jmowreader]

3. There's only one way I would pay $300,000 for a timepiece

And that's if it came with a free airplane.

[BlueJazz]

12. ...or a watch that would enable me to go back and forth in time.

:)

[AdHocSolver]

4. Proof, again, that there is NO correlation between wealth and intelligence.

[Dreamer Tatum]

14. If it said Timex on it, you'd be right

Go over to timezone.com and have a glimpse at the auction results...super-premium and bespoke watches
are a pretty good investment if you buy wisely.

I'd rather spend $300k on a watch than a boat...you can almost always get that sort of investment back on a watch.

[Richard Steele]

32. It's the "Paris Hilton Principle": Riding around in a limo doesn't mean you aren't a fucking moron.

[Captain Angry]

5. Who would wear something made out of the Titanic.

That's bad hoo-doo as they say.

[theoldman]

6. I went to the web site and laughed my ass off when I read the

comments.

[bicentennial_baby]

7. "How do they know it sold out in 48 hours if it doesn’t tell time?"

:rofl:

[BattyDem]

10. "The watch actually comes with 2 tons of cocaine and a midget hooker. So it's not such a bad deal"

:rofl:

[piesRsquare]

31. "Does it come in digital?"

:rofl:

[gristy]

8. Wall Street Journal or not, someone's pulling our leg.

Big time.

[BattyDem]

9. Some people have too much money and not enough brains!

:eyes:

[Sanctified]

11. I think the price tag is worth it since it is made out of salvaged metal from the Titanic.

It's like wearing a work of art, it is pretty stunning to look at.

[Telly Savalas]

13. I should try to sell my own feces on eBay. People will buy anything.

[whatchamacallit]

15. Did the watchmaker create this just to prove rich people are assholes who will buy anything?

:banghead:

[OnyxCollie]

16. Actually, I think it's a pretty cool idea.

When I could actually afford to go on vacation, I enjoyed the luxury of being able to take my watch off. I was no longer tied to the constrictions of a schedule, and as such, need not be reminded of it by the chronometer on my wrist. I got up with the sun, and slept by the moon.

I should note, all of my vacations were in the West: Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado. I am especially fond of deserts, Death Valley being my favorite place on earth.

Specific time (4:13 p.m.) means nothing in the desert. All that matters is where the sun and moon are in the sky.

My friends and I joke about the couple we saw in Stovepipe Wells. The woman was yelling at her husband, "Come on! We've got stuff to see! We're on a schedule!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

17. New frontiers in stupidity. Wow!

I wear my dad's old self-winding Omega, no batteries needed. Made in the 1950s. Got it cleaned up & a new crystal put on it and a ladies' leather band.

Much classier than that useless thing. And I get lots of good feelings about Dad every time I look at it.

[gateley]

19. Aw, that's so nice!

I don't have one of my dad's (wish I did) but I have my mom's. It's really old fashioned, teeny face, and infinitesimal little hands. I can't read it.

:hug: for your Dad!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

22. Thanks.

I think it's much more useful than a ladies' watch. Those old ladies' watches are SO SMALL!!!

My dad had two good Swiss watches he left us. I wear the Omega and my college student daughter wears the Longines automatic (circa 1948).

So we both have good vibes thinking about my Dad and her Gramps, and the great memories we have of him.

I got a light turquoise blue leather band for the gold Omega. Looks cool!


You can buy old Omegas for reasonable prices on the Net.

[Hissyspit]

29. If they bought it for $300,000 today and next year they sell it for $400,000...

I would never spend that kind of money on something like that, but then I don't have that kind of money.

[angstlessk]

18. the rich 'work' 12 hours a day??? when did they start doing that???

if I were truly rich, I would be insulted to think I had to work 12 hours per day...these people are just not in touch with the rich...they are the anti-eletists...how dare they!

[Ilsa]

20. It's a "Must-have" for the Paris Hiltons of the jet set. nt

[AlCzervik]

23. well in all likely hood Paris Hilton cannot tell time so this would be perfect for her.

[madrchsod]

21. some time pieces are considered great works of art and command

prices that reflect similar craftsmanship and beauty. like art they really are not made to be worn but to be investments for future generations.



now this watch is worth the estimates



"Another highlight from Patek Philippe is a rare 18K gold minute repeating tourbillon wristwatch (estimate US$200,000 – US$300,000). First introduced in 1995, this highly complicated piece exemplifies the firm’s master craftsmanship – not only does it consist of 336 parts, but it also houses both minute repeating and tourbillon functions within a small case. Approximately 120 pieces are known to date to have been produced, with only about 80 – 90 pieces in god."

[Dreamer Tatum]

25. Automatic movements are the most amazing inventions ever

They're accurate to a few seconds a day, but they use no fuel and most of them beat more than 200 million times a year. The most
sophisticated of them can tell you the date without needing to reset it for 100 years.

I visited the Lange and Sohne factory: they manufacture parts with tolerances of less than 2/100ths of a millimeter. They have machines
the size of a room that make parts about the size of a baby's thumbnail. Completely and utterly amazing.

And the best watchmaking schools in the United States have more or less open admissions and tend to be in community colleges.

[Hannah Bell]

26. 14 & 1/2 years of labor for a $10/hour worker - i'd say that's

an obscenity.

[ConsAreLiars]

24. I'm sure there are many others, but this is one more case for euthenasia of the rich and powerful.

I'm opposed to the death penalty, but some lives are so not worth living that simply putting them out of their misery, not to mention the suffering they bring to the rest of us, just might be the most humane option.

[Initech]

27. Why dont they just buy a $12 Timex and give me the other $299,988?

:wow:

[WilliamPitt]

30. Darwin