The future of Omega vs. Rolex

Dan S

Spending a month's salary on a watch is a pretty aggressive, and probably a good way to calibrate across different people's means. Spending 3-4 months salary on a watch seems a bit reckless, unless for some reason you happen to have a very large net worth relative to your salary. In the 45-54 age bracket, the median net worth is less than 2x the median annual income. So spending 3-4 months salary could amount to having 12-16% of ones entire net worth in that single watch, which is just stupid.

Dan S

People at the median income level (or even 1.5x the median) are not typically buying luxury watches.

YY77

Isn't the unwritten rule for an engagement ring in US 3 to 4 times a months wages?

YY77

True but one can decide to put aside €225 a month 3+ years to spend on 9k watch.

Dan S

That's what the diamond industry recommends.




Did you read my comments about net worth? Those are savings that won't be going into a college or retirement fund.

YY77

Sorry if I misunderstood your explanation, I'm not a native English speaker. However college fee and retirement fund is arranged differently in every country, US has very high fees, whereas in Iceland for example it's free from what I recall. Retirement fund in NL is set up by the government and should be sufficient to keep the same income after 68. No worries on my side about my incidental watch spendings.

Dan S

I am getting the feeling that you and I belong to very different generations.

Nobel Prize

Or countries or points of view.

Point is, plenty of people can afford it, if they want to and give it priority over other things they may need or want.

How that goes is really a personal thing.

It is also true that with my yearly cost on health insurance alone in the US I could afford a very substantial watch every year. Same for education. While my family in Europe has universal healthcare AND a private insurance plan that is very very comprehensive and costs a year about what I pay in one month. Same for education, there are free choices and private choices. For university the public choice is as good as it get's, for high school not so much.

Even admitting the 100G Gross or 80 Net is not average in the US there are a lot, a lot of people in the US making that salary. Hell, when I was a waiter in New York 25 years ago I Mae 125 to 150 a year. Yes, I was a waiter in high end restaurants but still, a waiter.

Ironically when I become a manager I had to accept 48 a year....but it paved the way to a career so it was worth it.

fibonacci

Well, what was the watch?

alam

note that was 25 years ago, and in current (2020) dollars that would be approximate $173-207K...or close to the average salary of a dentist in NYC (as reported by Google in May 2020).

STANDY

Many generations on here, and many walks of life.
Here you could be talking to someone young with a family and a mortgage or someone 50 without a mortgage with a high paying job. At different stages of life many do or don’t have disposable income.
In Australia and some countries your superannuation comes out of your wages so you don’t have to save for retirement as much as others In countries that don’t have the same system.

So for some a new watch is saving for months and others it’s a swipe of a card. 😉

STANDY

I've worked and paid super and am guaranteed a wage on retirement. So no social services as I have paid for it myself. 😉

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextav...rement-crisis-look-to-australia/#1c2d617447b5

STANDY

I've worked and paid super and am guaranteed a wage on retirement. So no social services as I have paid for it myself. 😉