Orient Saturation Diver Owner Says It's Like Having Your Own Bodyguard

 

 

 

 

 

Funny, tongue-in-cheek article about the heftiness of the Orient Saturation Diver.

Comments

[jonnybardo]

That seems about right, but I suspect that you won't have that sense given that you're used to Invicta Monstrosities. The OSD is heavy but nothing like a Leviathan or SAS with bracelet.

With a Tuna and OSD you might find yourself never wanting to wear anything else. Maybe.

[herculodge]

"Never wanting to wear anything else." Now that's how I want to be all the time.

[jonnybardo]

Well here's the eternal question for the watch obsessive on the consumer treadmill: is there a point at which that "wantlessness" is attained? Does it have a monetary range? Is there an actual watch(es) out there that one thinks would accomplish it?

For me the ultimate grail is the Seiko SDBD001, aka the MM600. It looks perfect, with only one question mark: whether I would be turned off by the titanium. A close second might be a Breitling Avenger or Blackbird, possibly in blacksteel. The cheapest I've seen the Seiko new is ~$3,700, used ~$2,500. I've seen used Breitling Avengers/Blackbirds in the $3-5,000 range. Add in a blue dial of some kind, either an Omega Seamaster or a Kobold Soarway for ~$3,000 and my Dream Trio costs less than $10,000 if I'm willing to go used on at least a couple of them.

OK, $10K. I'm not a wealthy man (although its all relative) but $10K is do-able, especially for the "perfect" trio of watches. If I sold every watch in my collection for a decent but attainable return, I figure I could make at least $4,000. That puts me almost half-way. $6,000 is a lot of dough, but I've spend that much over the last two years on watches. So I sell everything I own, get the Seiko SDBD001 new and hold it in my grubby little hands. Then I stash away $400 a month and, after six or seven months, buy the Omega or Kobold. Then I do the same for another ten months and buy the Breitling. So there I am, with my Dream Trio - by the summer of 2015.

What now? Where to go? Will I be satiated, finally?

I honestly don't know, but I doubt it. Something else would emerge, perhaps as soon as I opened up the box of the SDBD001. I'd think, "Wow, what a gorgeous watch - I'm so happy I own it and get to wear it, but..."

It doesn't fill the void. It is a star shining brightly in the endless dark - but it doesn't "solve" it, even if the shine lasts.

In other words, the consumer treadmill, the quest for the grail, cannot be solved by "doing." Maybe I'm revealing my Zen bias, but that's how I see it.

Rather, it is "solved" through a kind of deep surrender, a turning around and "being the void" that we're trying to fill. Interestingly enough, the quest may go on - in fact, I'm pretty sure that it will. But where before the quest was to fill an aching need, now it becomes a playful game, an enjoyment of form and beauty.

This dynamic applies to just about everything. Actually, it is related to my Master's thesis, but that's another tale for another time and place. What I'm interested in is how our yearnings, quests, what-have-you, turns neurotic or even pathological and creates suffering, yet also how we don't need to throw the baby out without the bathwater. It may be that we can still enjoy the quest, but in a less neurotic (and painful) way.

But I've rambled.

[Angelo]

Jonny: I don't think you'd be satisfied forever. It wouldn't "solve" the need to buy more watches. Why? Because I don't believe any of this collecting/buying/selling is predicated on the fact that we're not happy with what we already own, or that there's "something better" out there. No, what it's really all about is that we're not happy being static----we like change----and there's something DIFFERENT out there. A car collector who has always wanted a '63 split window Corvette, in yellow----his/her dreamcar----might be fulfilled for a while after finally landing it. But rest assured, if they are a car COLLECTOR, they will soon decide "one in black would be nice" or, "Things aren't really rounded out until I get a 25th anniversary Corvette from 1978." Finding the Grail can slow things down, but can't stop them.

[jonnybardo]

Yes, I agree Angelo. Not only do we like change and newness, but we have a kind of built-in "evolutionary impulse" that strives towards some kind of attractor.

The problem, though, is when it becomes a problem (being unsatisfied with what one has), which leads to suffering. I'm interested in the psychological mechanism that turns this evolutionary impulse into a cause of suffering. What I'm NOT interested in is killing the forest to take out a few diseased trees, so to speak, which in this case would be (somehow/trying) negating the evolutionary impulse to get rid of the negative/pathological outcome, which isn't inherent in the impulse, but what happens when things get out of whack. Not only do I think its impossible to truly stifle this impulse, but it is a beautiful part of who we are. It is the spice of life!

To put that more prosaically, collecting (for example) isn't a bad thing - IF its in balance with the rest of one's life system; and if it is, it actually enriches our life immensely. The problem is that it is too easy to get out of balance.

To put this into another topic Jeff talks about on this blog, sugar in and of itself is not bad. In fact, it is a wonderful taste experience and should be enjoyed as part of our human experience. But too much sugar leads to serious health problems and the problem with sugar is that its very hard to moderate (believe me, I know!).