How fortunate we are.

As I was glancing though the usual Friday thread, looking at the various watches we're wearing, a thought came to mind...

A couple of weeks ago I was in a post office, posting a watch worth a grand or so. The chap in front of me was buying an electricity card for £15, but he wanted to pay that amount with £11 in change and the other £4 on a debit card. The protocol is to not split electricity cards across payment methods (I was totally unaware of this) so he drew the £4 out in cash first, and then paid the full £15 sum.

As I was waiting, I glanced at the time. I was wearing my IWC, just one of a few watches I own. A quick sum in my head led me to remember that the three main watches I wear, along with all the various straps and boxes and things cost me around £7,000. None were bought new of course, as that would have put the figure closer to £10,000. But even £7,000 is a fat chunk of dough for time keepers.

Let's be honest here; a £9.99 Casio is amply good enough as a time piece. Accurate, tough, long-lasting, and easy to own. It's all the watch everyone "should" ever need. And yet we spend sums, which to some folk, would be astronomical and widely unachievable.

So, as collectors and lovers of high end time pieces, how fortunate we are.

Have a blessed weekend TZ'ers, and enjoy your watches! :smile-new:

Yep, you are correct. The chap in front of you could probably put £7k to good (or not so good) use
The fact we have hobbies such as watch collecting means we have a level of disposable income, the vast majority of people on earth do not have that luxury. Huge percentages of the UK population don’t.

That’s why the fundraiser is so important, we (IMO) should give a little back for the use of the forum, the sums requested for donation are small compared to the value of items sold on SC.
I am not alone here in having several expensive hobbies, it’s a very fortunate, (as a result of lots of hard work, when not on the forum - come back Mick all is forgiven) situation to be in.

You have reminded me that I have not made a donation for a while, thanks!!!

I came from a family who had very little, northern 2 bed terrace council house with divorced factory worker and care assistant parents, but not a shoe box in middle of road.

My upbringing and experiences keeps me grounded, even though I wear a £8k trinket on my left wrist and have a comfortable lifestyle.

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Originally Posted by noTAGlove

I came from a family who had very little, northern 2 bed terrace council house with divorced factory worker and care assistant parents, but not a shoe box in middle of road.

My upbringing and experiences keeps me grounded, even though I wear a £8k trinket on my left wrist and have a comfortable lifestyle.

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I'm from similar stock. Eldest of 8, grew up for the most part in a 2 bed council house in Ireland, until I emigrated in the middle 90s.
I did ok whilst away and moved back to Ireland in 2003 and enjoyed the tiger while it lasted.

I'm in my mid 40s now and the boy I was would laugh in my face if ever I went back in time to tell him that not only would we be ok!
That we'd own our home, have no debt, and collect mechanical jewellery that serves no real purpose other than as conspicuous consumption.
It's madness.

That said. My family's comfort and sustenance comes 1st. From making sure my Son has both an appreciation of where & who he comes from, to supporting his ambitions however I can.
On to covering my youngest brother's uni accommodation and on to making sure my Mam was never short whilst she was alive. I didn't get into mechanical watches until a few years after she'd passed on.

I know the cost of living crisis is biting, the rate of price inflation is merely slowing whilst that of income increase is barely rising and certainly not rising in any meaningful way if one is in benefits.

A thought that often strikes me, was best expressed IMO by Terry Pratchett's "Vines Boot Theory" The cost of being poor is crippling almost usury.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory

Never foolish to be grateful for what you have. Most of the humans who have ever lived would consider our lives heavenly. And yet there are probably less smiles than ever. We're twisted creatures. Quite a feat to create a safer, more secure unhappier society.

Thoughtful thread for a Friday, I like it :encouragement: We should be mindful, and gratitude for our good fortune is right and proper.

I sometimes find myself talking nonsense about 'guilt' - like a few here I grew up with less than f-all and could get a bit 4-Yorkshiremen about it - so ending-up with a few quid to spaff on trinketry still feels a bit odd, but guilt is a pointless, self-indulgent emotion that does no-one any good.

Instead, a visit to the FR I think.

I was watching a Jimmy Carr interview a few weeks ago (some podcast or other) and he remarked that even the poorest members of western society enjoy a life with conveniences and luxuries that 50 years ago (less than two generations) even the top, top tier of society - Royalty and the like - could only dream of.
It's a sobering thought really. With all their wealth and land and servants, most of the ultra elite throughout history didn't even have a flushing toilet. We take an awful lot for granted, it does make you wonder just how bad the people living on the modern day breadline have it.

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Originally Posted by kevkojak

I was watching a Jimmy Carr interview a few weeks ago (some podcast or other) and he remarked that even the poorest members of western society enjoy a life with conveniences and luxuries that 50 years ago (less than two generations) even the top, top tier of society - Royalty and the like - could only dream of.
It's a sobering thought really. With all their wealth and land and servants, most of the ultra elite throughout history didn't even have a flushing toilet. We take an awful lot for granted, it does make you wonder just how bad the people living on the modern day breadline have it.

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As many of them rely on food banks, (choice between eating and heating), I'd say VERY BAD!

What a refreshing thread to read! We should all feel grateful for our good fortune.

Reminds me about an article I read recently by Simon Boas, who has cancer and was recently given just months left to live:

"When you say, as you do, 20 times a day, "I'm fine" realise that you don't just mean "I'm adequate." You are FINE. Refined. Unique. Finely crafted; fine dining; fine china! You really are fine in that sense too. We say it all the time, but unknowingly we speak the truth. We should be dazzled by our good fortune and dancing on the tables every day."

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Originally Posted by Griswold

As many of them rely on food banks, (choice between eating and heating), I'd say VERY BAD!

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Indeed but then how would say those are doing who who don't have a home, those who don't have access to food or running water, those to whom 'heating' would be more layers of dirty clothing, burning rubbish or huddling under dirty blankets. That's in our own country. It gets even worse, if that's possible, overseas.

It's not what we have but what we do with it that counts

I guess this will degrade into BP territory or definitely G&D rather than watch talk.

But. I’ll make a comment to the OP.

Us on TZ are probably a minority of the population. But we aren’t the richest either. We are indeed fortunate. I think most of us do spend carefully, if not we wouldn’t have spare cash to spend on our expensive trinkets. I was fortunate to have a good salary when working and a good wife who kept me in check on frivolous matters. Both of these meant I could afford to buy some nice time pieces and the TZ forum meant I could try out wearing some belters.

A wirst watch is an acronym these days. I fear soon to go the way of the bowler hat and breifcase (and tie).

https://youtu.be/tSt5MaSDDj8?si=ne8wdxKDVGO9neK8

Frankly being born in a 1st world country means you have hit the jackpot - No matter how humble your upbringing was.

The UK, and many other 1st world countries have their problems, but they are small beer when compared to the lives and desperate struggles of many people on this planet.

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Originally Posted by catflem

Frankly being born in a 1st world country means you have hit the jackpot - No matter how humble your upbringing was.

The UK, and many other 1st world countries have their problems, but they are small beer when compared to the lives and desperate struggles of many people on this planet.

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This is what I was going to say …

Just count ourselves lucky.

Having access to free education all the way to degree level was key for me.

The debt piled on kids these days is a poor development.

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Originally Posted by MartynJC (UK)

A wirst watch is an acronym these days. I fear soon to go the way of the bowler hat and breifcase (and tie).

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(An anachronism methinks sir.)

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Originally Posted by Filterlab

As I was glancing though the usual Friday thread, looking at the various watches we're wearing, a thought came to mind...

A couple of weeks ago I was in a post office, posting a watch worth a grand or so. The chap in front of me was buying an electricity card for £15, but he wanted to pay that amount with £11 in change and the other £4 on a debit card. The protocol is to not split electricity cards across payment methods (I was totally unaware of this) so he drew the £4 out in cash first, and then paid the full £15 sum.

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Some time in the late '90s, I bought a JLC in Bond Street on a whim. Hadn't been thinking about buying a watch at all. I think it was £1400 (it's since been on Sales Corner at least once for considerably more than that, quite understandably). As I was walking home from East Dulwich railway station, I passed a brightly lit window. No curtains and the place looked really threadbare. Two old men were emptying out a jigsaw puzzle on a wooden table. I got the impression they had almost nothing. I felt awful.

The no. of members health problems I've read about since I've been on this forum has also been a timely reminder not to take my health for granted.

An alternative view is that in the grand scheme of things we are the unfortunate. We are trapped in a financial world and live our lives being dictated to by money. Yes, we are in a better position than others in this world but we are all unfortunate to be here.

Watching Race across the world, in almost every series you camp across societies living off the land, working hard to survive. These people seem to invariably be far happier than us lot.

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Originally Posted by Griswold

As many of them rely on food banks, (choice between eating and heating), I'd say VERY BAD!

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That's another discussion for another thread. There's a strong, strong argument that grocery prices have been inflated the past couple of years through corporate greed, and energy companies are scalping us to the bone!
There's also an argument that the "heating/eating" thing is a myth and mostly down to poor choices. Last year (2022/23 tax year) I earned on paper less than half the "living wage" and I didn't have any benefits or handouts, or use food banks. I did sell off some of my unnecessary 'things' to make ends meet in the tighter months I suppose, but that's something anybody can do. I feel comfortable making this argument because I've lived it, I survived the closing of my business and a separation while living on a few hundred quid a month.
So no, not "very bad". The ones using food banks still have a telly and a bed and hot running water. They might be the lower end of the socio-economic ladder in the UK but they'll still be in the top 20% of the world in terms of comfort and luxury.

We are indeed fortunate and blessed.

I’ve paid £130 this week for straps alone, and further amounts for watch boxes.

For new additions.

Don’t get me wrong, outgoing pieces have seen me up on the deals. More money in from a cull that went out. But still: blessed.

Great thread.

Have a great weekend all.

G

Thought provoking thread, thanks OP. Sitting in our garden in the sunshine right now contemplating my lot and feeling incredibly fortunate. Off to the fundraiser.

I’m always torn between thinking we have so much and feeling guilty Vs thinking what we have is just normal and wondering instead why so many have so little.

The real lottery winners are the Boomers (my parents' generation).

I'm Gen X (born 1971) -- less lucky, but fortunate to own my own home. I certainly can't complain.

My kids (b. 1997 & 2002) -- less lucky again: student debt and no hope of getting on the property ladder (at least until their Boomer grandparents die)

I wouldn't want to be 10, 15, 20, 25 years old today: social media, housing, insecure employment etc etc.

Re watches: for me, it's what I spend my money on. I drive a pretty basic car, don't take expensive holidays, and generally live pretty cheaply. Watches are my treat, my indulgence and passion. Overall I'm up in terms of such limited buying and selling as I do (or have done: largely a thing of the past now). So they've been a good "investment" (ugh!) -- although I've lost money on some.

I've also spent an inordinate about of time learning about watches (although @ £20 per hour maybe I haven't made so much after all!). I've also bought (on the whole; not always) wisely and well.

Finally, such watches as I own are worth at least what I paid for them, in some cases more (and in a couple of cases a lot more) so they are, in effect, money in the bank.

Over the past 20 years or so a lot (less than 100? honestly I'm not sure) of watches have passed through my hands and have given me both pleasure and profit. But these days I'm down to 8, of which I wear two: a nice mechanical (expensive, vintage, well-known brand) and a quartz beater (cheap, modern, microbrand). The other half dozen are ones I genuinely love. I don't think I've bought a watch in ages and have no interest in either acquiring more or disposing of the ones I've got (famous last words on tz-uk!) These days I spend more on straps and bracelets than on watches -- although they still cost more than most people spend on their (internet / High Street) watches.

So, yes, I am fortunate demographically -- where, when and to whom I was born -- but I have also made choices with my (still limited) resources. Watches have been a choice at the expense of other options. And they've been good to me -- not just financially (which is the least of it) but in terms of education, community, etc. A hobby.

I wear a watch all the time. Have done since I was a kid. I feel naked without one. So it makes sense (kinda, to me) to look down at my wrist multiple times a day and see something that brings me pleasure. I don't wear it to impress others (no gold, no Rolex) but to make me happy. All my watches are "under the radar" -- you'd have to be one of us to give any of them a second glance -- so perhaps I feel slightly smug and superior to the horological hoi polloi but honestly that's the least of it.

It shouldn't take a nice watch to have some sort of self-elevating epiphany on the state of inequality in UK

It just reads as a 'look how philosophical I can be'.

I'm struggling to put it into words- but I cringed as I read it.

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Originally Posted by stefmcd

The no. of members health problems I've read about since I've been on this forum has also been a timely reminder not to take my health for granted.

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Your health is your wealth.


It's been a very interesting thread.

I do think about most of what has already been said every single day.

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Originally Posted by kevkojak

That's another discussion for another thread. There's a strong, strong argument that grocery prices have been inflated the past couple of years through corporate greed, and energy companies are scalping us to the bone!
There's also an argument that the "heating/eating" thing is a myth and mostly down to poor choices. Last year (2022/23 tax year) I earned on paper less than half the "living wage" and I didn't have any benefits or handouts, or use food banks. I did sell off some of my unnecessary 'things' to make ends meet in the tighter months I suppose, but that's something anybody can do. I feel comfortable making this argument because I've lived it, I survived the closing of my business and a separation while living on a few hundred quid a month.
So no, not "very bad". The ones using food banks still have a telly and a bed and hot running water. They might be the lower end of the socio-economic ladder in the UK but they'll still be in the top 20% of the world in terms of comfort and luxury.

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All of them? You know this for certain, how?

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Originally Posted by kevkojak

They might be the lower end of the socio-economic ladder in the UK but they'll still be in the top 20% of the world in terms of comfort and luxury.

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Being in the top 20% of the world when those around you are in the top 4 or 5% will make you feel poorer than to have average comfort and luxuries in a much poorer society.

Here is the (short) article that I referred to earlier, in case anyone is interested:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/...uide-to-dying/

- - - Updated - - -

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Originally Posted by j111dja

Your health is your wealth.

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Agreed.

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Originally Posted by blackal

It shouldn't take a nice watch to have some sort of self-elevating epiphany on the state of inequality in UK

It just reads as a 'look how philosophical I can be'.

I'm struggling to put it into words- but I cringed as I read it.

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I think you've missed the point, whereas every single other commenter on this thread hasn't.

That speaks volumes about you, and nobody else, or me. Thanks for your meaningless input.