A bit of consumerism

What with all the talk of profligacy below, let me offer a shopping tip. Yes, the most beautiful men's watch in the world is the IWC portugueser (so I say). I will not, however, spend even the $4000 one needs to spend on Timezone to get one (much less the $6,800 new, or $10,000 + for the rose gold Automatic).

Lots of research for things that look like the IWC (I wanted something in the 38mm plus range in terms of diamater, and a main face and two smaller faces, whatever they're technically called), and offer some craft and originality lead me to an unexpected place - Poljot, a Soviet era manufacturer which makes wonderful watches with an interesting Russian made movement for less than $500, and specifically Poljot's Strela (mine is much plainer, but the picture I found online on a dealer's site isn't great). On ebay, where I found mine, the price drops much lower than that.

The chief downside at this point is that the Strela is a mechanical watch, meaning it needs to be wound. I have not figured out how much, as yet. Also, you can really only buy it from a German dealer for a fair price, so there is some execution risk to the deal.