Fascinating post on why we do what we do
Discussion
Over at Watchuseek, crossposted here for the benefit of those who don't know about or frequent that forum.
M4tt said:
Ultimately all higher end watches are Veblen goods. These are products towards which we behave irrationally as we become more, not less, likely to choose them over a superficially similar product as they become more expensive. Quite why we do this is unclear but Veblen's analysis was descriptive, not predictive, and so we can quite certain that we do behave irrationally in this way. As economists, psychologists and so on keep discovering, we are consistently irritatingly irrational creatures.
Products like Champagne, (and other booze) Cuban cigars, jewellery and high end watches are fine examples of Veblen goods. Obviously, as a rational consumer, you will go for a nice Ukrainian sparkling wine rather than a 1907 Heidsieck. Likewise you will recognise the robust properties of a palladium or even stainless steel wedding ring over the metallurgically inferior Gold. Likewise you will agree that Cz is almost as good as diamond for an engagement ring at a fraction of the price - and so on and so on.
Obviously our irrational buying behaviour will cause a degree of cognitive dissonance and, as such, we will attempt to rationalise (in this case, literally make rational!) our choices. The watch houses realise that to do this we need some sort of justifications to hang our confabulated stories of horological superiority upon and go out of their way to give them to us with horological excellence, decoration, good design and tradition, not to mention advertising and product placement.
This is how we get outlandish depth ratings, rare metals and crystals and a mythical tradition of horological excellence. this is also why the use of watches in great adventures like Everest, the Pole or the Moon matter to us and why we worry about who, in our arbitrary notions of status and importance, chooses to wear what.
So that's watches dealt with.
However, there is another way of looking at this. The fact is that there is a little bit more to us than merely being an irrational ape with expensive trousers on. I would assert that through the pursuit of irrational excellence we transcend our humble, even beastly, origins. This is as true of horology as it is of philosophy or theology. Likewise, when we choose gold over stainless and champagne over sparkling wine (made by the same process) we are doing far, far more than behaving irrationally. For a start we are making a point about our importance and the importance of those we share these ritual goods, for ritual goods they clearly are, with. We are locating ourselves in traditions and stories which tell us who we are and what we are worth. (I would love to have a brief foray into theology here but the rules are clear!) I'm not saying that watches are the only way of doing this ritual but they certainly are one way. And that is before we even start to think about watches as more than mere semiotic objects.
The history of horology is, in many ways, the history of the modern mind. The earliest clocks (the etymology is from the Germanic word 'glock' meaning bell) were more like your modern kitchen timer and allowed monks to time their prayers correctly during the night (remember the words of Frere Jaque? 'ding dang dong'! Then bells, and then clocks, allowed us to have a communal time: one size fits all. Clocks became such an important part of us and our world view that mathematicians and physicists from Laplace to Newton to Einstein either argued for, or against, a metaphor of the universe and all within it as determined clockwork whirring into entropy. Finally we enter the modern age, where there is a consensual, but arbitrary, time for everyone: call it GMT or PST or whatever. However, as we now realise, the chaotic, stochastic universe plays by very different rules, and time like quality, is a convenient myth that helps to make sense of one of may possible stances towards the world.
However, meanwhile we are all able to have our own private time. Time which, at our choice, can be either slightly divergent from, or slavishly following, the time that atomic clocks tell us, arbitrarily, it is. As such our individual watches give us, as we choose, a degree of either independence or the ability to conform. These days, our time matters more than ever.
However, in those societies in which mechanical timekeeping has not achieved hegemony, people can tell the time to within about fifteen minutes. it's just something that people, or rather their brains, can be trained to do. However, we in the 'developed world' have lost that skill because we have pushed that bit of brain function outside of our cortex and onto our wrists (or other parts of our environment. In doing so, we smear our cognition beyond our skulls and into the world beyond. The watch, like several other 'mind tools' has become part of what could be called our 'neocortex': those mind tools that prop up our timekeeping, memory and so on, performing a function that, if it were to take place in our brain, would be called cognitive. As a result, the neural skill atrophies.
Well, in my usual manner, I have gone a little beyond my original intention. However, Yes, I really do believe that, as long as you rely on a watch to support cognition in a reliably transparent way, ie, in a way that you do without any further thought than the desire to know the time and the subsequent satisfaction of that desire, then a watch is quite literally an active and essential part of your mind. This is not a wild hypothesis but a legitimately mainstream philosophical position, to which I subscribe.
So, I was going to go another direction but this way will do. The watch on your wrist is a part of your mind, if not a part of your brain. The question is, what sort of mind do you want?
Products like Champagne, (and other booze) Cuban cigars, jewellery and high end watches are fine examples of Veblen goods. Obviously, as a rational consumer, you will go for a nice Ukrainian sparkling wine rather than a 1907 Heidsieck. Likewise you will recognise the robust properties of a palladium or even stainless steel wedding ring over the metallurgically inferior Gold. Likewise you will agree that Cz is almost as good as diamond for an engagement ring at a fraction of the price - and so on and so on.
Obviously our irrational buying behaviour will cause a degree of cognitive dissonance and, as such, we will attempt to rationalise (in this case, literally make rational!) our choices. The watch houses realise that to do this we need some sort of justifications to hang our confabulated stories of horological superiority upon and go out of their way to give them to us with horological excellence, decoration, good design and tradition, not to mention advertising and product placement.
This is how we get outlandish depth ratings, rare metals and crystals and a mythical tradition of horological excellence. this is also why the use of watches in great adventures like Everest, the Pole or the Moon matter to us and why we worry about who, in our arbitrary notions of status and importance, chooses to wear what.
So that's watches dealt with.
However, there is another way of looking at this. The fact is that there is a little bit more to us than merely being an irrational ape with expensive trousers on. I would assert that through the pursuit of irrational excellence we transcend our humble, even beastly, origins. This is as true of horology as it is of philosophy or theology. Likewise, when we choose gold over stainless and champagne over sparkling wine (made by the same process) we are doing far, far more than behaving irrationally. For a start we are making a point about our importance and the importance of those we share these ritual goods, for ritual goods they clearly are, with. We are locating ourselves in traditions and stories which tell us who we are and what we are worth. (I would love to have a brief foray into theology here but the rules are clear!) I'm not saying that watches are the only way of doing this ritual but they certainly are one way. And that is before we even start to think about watches as more than mere semiotic objects.
The history of horology is, in many ways, the history of the modern mind. The earliest clocks (the etymology is from the Germanic word 'glock' meaning bell) were more like your modern kitchen timer and allowed monks to time their prayers correctly during the night (remember the words of Frere Jaque? 'ding dang dong'! Then bells, and then clocks, allowed us to have a communal time: one size fits all. Clocks became such an important part of us and our world view that mathematicians and physicists from Laplace to Newton to Einstein either argued for, or against, a metaphor of the universe and all within it as determined clockwork whirring into entropy. Finally we enter the modern age, where there is a consensual, but arbitrary, time for everyone: call it GMT or PST or whatever. However, as we now realise, the chaotic, stochastic universe plays by very different rules, and time like quality, is a convenient myth that helps to make sense of one of may possible stances towards the world.
However, meanwhile we are all able to have our own private time. Time which, at our choice, can be either slightly divergent from, or slavishly following, the time that atomic clocks tell us, arbitrarily, it is. As such our individual watches give us, as we choose, a degree of either independence or the ability to conform. These days, our time matters more than ever.
However, in those societies in which mechanical timekeeping has not achieved hegemony, people can tell the time to within about fifteen minutes. it's just something that people, or rather their brains, can be trained to do. However, we in the 'developed world' have lost that skill because we have pushed that bit of brain function outside of our cortex and onto our wrists (or other parts of our environment. In doing so, we smear our cognition beyond our skulls and into the world beyond. The watch, like several other 'mind tools' has become part of what could be called our 'neocortex': those mind tools that prop up our timekeeping, memory and so on, performing a function that, if it were to take place in our brain, would be called cognitive. As a result, the neural skill atrophies.
Well, in my usual manner, I have gone a little beyond my original intention. However, Yes, I really do believe that, as long as you rely on a watch to support cognition in a reliably transparent way, ie, in a way that you do without any further thought than the desire to know the time and the subsequent satisfaction of that desire, then a watch is quite literally an active and essential part of your mind. This is not a wild hypothesis but a legitimately mainstream philosophical position, to which I subscribe.
So, I was going to go another direction but this way will do. The watch on your wrist is a part of your mind, if not a part of your brain. The question is, what sort of mind do you want?
Yep - it's all about preceived rather than actual value.
Back in the 1950's Camay Soap was launched with a big campaign as a budget product. No-one bought it.
It was then taken off the market for a year, and then relaunched with a price double that of the opposition. The product was unchanged but now pitched as a luxury product rather than a budget one. It quickly became the biggest seller by far.
Perceived value dictates much of our purchasing and is virtually all a result of marketing rather than reality.
Prestige watches are aspirational items - they signify greater value because of what they represent, not because of what they are.
Back in the 1950's Camay Soap was launched with a big campaign as a budget product. No-one bought it.
It was then taken off the market for a year, and then relaunched with a price double that of the opposition. The product was unchanged but now pitched as a luxury product rather than a budget one. It quickly became the biggest seller by far.
Perceived value dictates much of our purchasing and is virtually all a result of marketing rather than reality.
Prestige watches are aspirational items - they signify greater value because of what they represent, not because of what they are.
Edited by AlexKP on Wednesday 29th April 15:52
Gassing Station | Watches | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff