Thread: It's too funny...it's just too funny

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2008/04/...e/?mod=WSJBlog

April 25, 2008, 11:54 am
The $300,000 Watch That Doesn’t Tell Time


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.

The Day&Night watch (Romain Jerome)


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.
“When you ask people what is the ultimate luxury, 80 percent answer ‘time’. Then when you look at other studies, 67 percent don’t look at their watch to tell what time it is,” he told Reuters.
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.






I'm almost in tears over some of the comments.

This thing makes one think why it is impossible to do certain things (impossible in the eyes of the majority of people that is). This should be the most impossible thing ever to sell. A watch that only tells if it is day or night? Jesus.

My creations has a practical value at least. I don't get the value of this watch more than it's art value perhaps.

Pure genius? You got that one right. "Incredible" would be my comment.

That made me think of art. If you create 4 equally looking paintings and sell one of them for $1MM to a rich guy, what would you're other 3 be worth to you? Same thing. By the way, how many of these watches was made?

This is just good marketing.

Billionaires have big ego's and many of them want to outdo each other... markets exist to serve those needs, regardless how impractical the item might be. The Lamborghini Reventon comes to mind immediately -- for an extra million, you get 20 extra horsepower and some body additions. What a rip-off ... that is, unless you have a billionaire ego to satiate ... This watch falls into that same pyschographic.

Manufacture a great product in limited editions, jack the price up 1000X, send out press releases to the affluent media outlets, and blammo, you're in the industry.

We can't really call it genius or brilliant until they make a sell can we? I didn't catch anywhere in there where they had a sell or even an order for one. I don't doubt the possibility of it though.

Originally Posted by Redshft

We can't really call it genius or brilliant until they make a sell can we? I didn't catch anywhere in there where they had a sell or even an order for one. I don't doubt the possibility of it though.

"sold out within 48 hours of its launch earlier this year as watch fanatics snapped up the $300,000 timepiece"

Glad I ordered mine asap

Ahhhhh, I guess that last line was hiding from me.