In Defence of Marxism

How would you describe a $300,000 watch? A scandalous luxury? Or perhaps an essential fashion accessory? It is all a matter of taste - and income. But how would you describe a $300,000 watch that doesn't tell the time and that sells like hot cakes? Yes, you read that correctly. Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome has just launched the Day&Night watch.

This is a watch with a difference. It won't tell you what time it is. After all, everybody has one of those! What this watch does is tell you whether it's day or night. 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."

Like other Romain Jerome watches, the Day&Night is made in part with steel salvaged from the sunken Titanic, along with material from the shipyard where it was built.

The watch is a highly complex (and utterly useless) object. It 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." Naturally, for the kind of individual who owns such a watch, the first function is entirely superfluous.

Chief Executive Yvan Arpa cited statistical studies to explain how the watch accurately reflects the time-philosophy of today's wealthy. "When you ask people what is the ultimate luxury, 80% answer 'time.' Then when you look at other studies, 67% don't look at their watch to tell what time it is," he told Reuters.

How did the launch go? The watch sold out within 48 hours.