$1000 Umbrellas
April 26, 2009 – 9:59 pmCatchy enough title for you? Let me explain!
I was on the bus last week on my way home from work and a guy about my age was sitting next to me, frantically trying to figure out where he had left his watch. How did I know? Because I could hear him talking to a co-worker on his cellphone, asking him to check his desk in the hopes that he had taken it off earlier in the day (you also may be interested in my post on public cellphone use).
I heard him mention that it wasn’t just any old watch. It was a Breitling watch. Breitling happens to be a luxury Swiss watch brand.
It got me thinking about owning something meant for daily use that was so expensive. Now I have nothing against watches. Especially Swiss watches, considering my Swiss heritage. And I can understand wanting to own a well-made watch that will last for many, many years. But I think that it’s very possible to get a well-made watch in the $100-$200 range, and a Breitling certainly does NOT fall within this range.
So the question is, does a guy my age need to have a Breitling watch, especially considering the chance that it could be lost or misplaced?
Before I answer the question I would like to give another example of an item meant for daily use that people often tend to lose or misplace: an umbrella. Beyond some very obvious differences in terms of quality, there is another reason why we don’t buy $1000 umbrellas. We happen to lose them too damn much!
So to answer the question- the guy probably doesn’t need the Breitling. And I would say unless he is prepared to lose the watch, then he most certainly shouldn’t have it. Though we probably don’t lose watches as frequently as we do umbrellas (or sunglasses) most of have lost or will soon lose at least one watch in our lifetime.
Is it really worth the stress and the angst when we lose that watch because it happens to have cost $1000 or even much more than that?
Probably not.
PS. I didn’t actually think a $1000 umbrella existed. Well, I was wrong, times FIFTY!
