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Comment by DaSHacka | Hacker News Reader

Why wouldn't you just invest the money in a mutual fund and not deal with owning a valued asset that could be stolen, damaged, or lost? Especially if you actually wear it around, I just don't see it.

It's fine to wear it for the purpose of being a status symbol, but I just don't buy that its anything but.

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There are many justifications of Veblen goods, some sensible, many not so much. It's psychological; you need to have a justification to spend non-trivial amounts of money.

Some reasons I've been told why people buy luxury watches, outside of the status symbol ones:

1. As discussed, good watches tend to hold / increase their price as time goes on. This leads to the second point: people who can afford to buy a fancy watch likely have a lot of money in mutual funds/other financial instruments anyway, so a Rolex becomes "diversification" for less-rich people and a curio for the more-rich

2. People want an heirloom to give to pass on to the next generations. I've seen watches three-four generations old. In some circles, the older the watch, the more prized it is; a favorite grandchild might get your best watch. It represents the family's continued success

3. "If you are attacked on the street, you want to be able to give something to the robber so he can leave you unharmed" (never mind the fact that you probably got robbed _because_ you wore the Rolex)

Personally speaking I find many of the justifications hilarious, but this kind of thinking regarding luxury has been going on for centuries, so what do I know.

You buy fashion item precisely for what it is - a fashion item. To look good, to have a nice style - to make a better social impression when you go out, to social events, business meetings, etc. This is a reality of life, clothes make a human and watch is pretty much only jewel you can wear as aman that doesn't make you look like a teenager. Obviously depends on where you hang out, how old are you and what are your priorities but this is a reality of life in some places.

Now if I have to choose a watch and I can make a choice between a losing item and likely winning item I'll take the likely wionning one. Perhaps it's like crypto or mutual funds but I'd rather buy crypto than flush money down the toilet.

So no you don't buy a watch for investment, there are better investments. No you don't buy it a fashion item to get time - I already have precise time on my phone. Not into wathches - all good. You don't like to dress nice, perhaps you live in a big city where nobody cares - no problem.

But let's not argue I'm not wise for not buying "precise time" Casio over Rolex because I have 8k on my wrist I paid 4.5k for and I've been wearing beautiful watch for 7 years now :) And yes there are better investments and million better things to buy - I could drive $2k car, I could make best investments and so on and end up like this guy: https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/10ec45k/i_think_i_r...

It's all simply a point of view + making the best out of your money. At the end of the day it's just paper.

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