Beauty IS As Beauty DOES ..

 - Some stuff is beautiful.

My Precious gollum-gollum - All Mine:

Other stuff can be 'bricks and mortar' damaged - worn out - and plain ugly, but still performing faithfully -  the inner beauty shining through.

The father of my old mate Mick was a case in point. - He was a short heavy bloke with white hair - a pink saggy face, - heart disease and a prosthetic leg that he stomped on heavily - as after work he wearily wheeled his pushbike down the passage from the front door - gasping for a cup of tea in his Irish brogue .. He was a LOVELY man - solid gold glowing from inside his mucky work clothes. 

- His WWII bomb damaged & amputated stump caused such pain that would have him drop into a kitchen chair pulling-up his work grimed trouser leg to unstrap and ease the heavy ugly prosthetic limb that enabled him to work long factory days and to pay the mortgage in 1960s London. A good Man.

Victory Model S&W - Old & Abused But Still Working 80 Years On ..

I'm introducing watches into my scribbling because I can see ahead well enough to know that my legal guns are soon going to be banned out of existence and I will need different toys to collect for playtime ..

- Of course all the criminals and 'nutters' will still be armed and dangerous ..

'THEY' taught me how to shoot a Lee-Enfield SMLE at school as a fourteen year old. - Governments then needed to maintain military power by 'upskilling' selected grammar school boys as potential 'Officer Material' to maintain their Colonial Possessions in remote lands.

Governments have less need for skill-at-arms today, outside of law-enforcement - as they've got various nerve agents, nukes, missiles, and remotely-directed loitering drones in their tool-boxes .. so lawful guns largely are 'OUT'.

I guess the appeal of watches is from the same area as firearms, motorcycles, performance cars, SCUBA diving and shooting machines, - mechanical "man stuff"  with the added pleasure of  acquisition, possession and customization. You can fettle, fondle and caringly polish them whenever the Significant Other is elsewhere.

Watches .. to be honest .. are also 'man jewelry' justified by their utility. 

Incredibly Shiny Machine In the Light .. But Not From The puny Lume 

Virtual or Notional Lume 'cos It's Not Really There.

This Pagani Design "Daytona" Panda quartz watch is the shiniest, most well made functional low cost value-for-money toy that you can strap onto your wrist for around nz$100 - it looks pretty much like the Rolex mechanical 'prototype' .. that might cost you more than $30,000 more (or more again) to own .. but some reviewers say that this Chinese made homage with a Japanese SEIKO meca-quartz movement works as well as the prestigious one - and it might keep better time. 

Perhaps you do have to be a near millionaire to pay US $20,000 to wear a Rolex for it's investment-status .. but I'm told they are excellent quality machines - that the watch marketers are sadly playing the same EXCLUSIVITY game with, - as DE BEERS are with their diamonds .. there's no availability shortage excepting the deliberate under supply.

 Meanwhile .. remember that there is hope as long as there is lead in the air ..

Marty K.