The Cosmic Forces Around Which Human Days Are Ordered

New York Times - "For Luxury Watch Buyers, One Just Isn’t Enough"

"One reason for this is that a mechanical wristwatch is only partly a timekeeping device, said Michael L. Friedman, official historian for the 140-year-old Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet. It is also a complex and nuanced object.

“Guys look at their watches as many as 30 times a day,” Mr. Friedman said. “They are not looking at them to tell time.”

They are, he suggested, regarding the timepiece as an article of jewelry (for most men, a watch is the sole piece of jewelry considered socially acceptable to wear) and equally a status symbol; or as an example of fine industrial design and advanced engineering; or as a link to horological traditions centuries in the making; or as a talismanic man-made symbol of the cosmic forces around which human days are ordered."