The thing about being super rich is that you eventually run out of things to buy. You can only live in so many houses, or invite so many supermodels for dinner, or own so many islands, or invite so many actresses to your yacht, or pay to have so many enemies killed.
Fortunately, before you ever get so desperate as to, say, give money to the poor, there are entire industries devoted to inventing ridiculous things to waste it on.
I was a “victim” of one such industry – watches.
I used to buy watches that cost an arm and a leg.
Since I’ve never learned how to drive, I don’t buy big ticket items like cars.
Instead I buy watches.
So far, I’ve had at least eight Rolexes – several of them solid pink gold and solid yellow gold; you name it – I’ve got it; from the über Ah Beng solid gold Day-Date President to the Daytona to the Sea Dweller to the Submariner to the GMT-Master to the Explorer.
Now I find them crass.
The problem is Rolexes are the cheapest watches in my collection.
There are others with unpronounceable names – some can easily cost up to a hundred thousand dollars – A Lange & Söhne, IWC, Corum, Graham, Audemars Piguet, MB&F, Chronoswiss, Frédérique Constant, Ulysse Nardin, Jaquet Droz, Movado, Greubel Forsey, Chaumet, de Grisogono, Daniel Roth, Panerai, FP Journe, Avakian, Dewitt, Gérald Genta, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Montres Breguet, Fitya, Franck Muller, Omega, Orient Star, Blancpain, Glashutte, Concord, Urwerk, Parmigiani, Patek Philippe, Bell & Ross, Bvlgari, Poljot, Breitling, Hublot, Vacheron Constantin, etc.
I have them all.
A collection that costs a bomb.
Now I find them crude.
I also have other watches – limited editions of this, that and the other.
Now I feel self-conscious wearing them.
Yup, those days I didn’t just wear mere watches, I wore only chronographs and tourbillons.
In these last couple of years, I’ve become uncomfortable wearing a watch from my collection and I cringe when people talk about their thousand-dollar torchlight-looking watches.
That’s why when I was in Jakarta recently and saw them selling the Casio Telememo, I jumped with glee and bought myself two!
I consider them the ultimate anti-status symbol status symbol.
The “cool” factor of these Casios is priceless.