When I learn about new things and find them interesting, I usually dive in and learn all I can about this new fascination. I did this in college too, I'd sign up for classes with 3-4 pre-req's that I didn't have, just so I'd learn more stuff more quickly and not be bored. Well my latest obsession has reared its ugly head, and that ugly head is horology.
Basically, horology is the study of timekeeping: how it's done, how watches are made, the science and technology behind watch movements, etc. I've been obsessed with watches since I was younger (bought a $250 Sector Chronograph after my Bar Mitzvah, aka, 13 years old, woot!) but recently I've gotten back into it after having poked through various watch magazines.
Why Expensive Watches Are Expensive
This question has been racking my mind for a long time now, as I'm sure it's been racking yours too (yeah right!). Why is it that you can purchase a Timex watch for $30, or a fancier Citizen/Seiko/whatever for $100-$200, but then a Rolex or Patek Philippe costs you $5,000 or more? What is the difference between the watches, and what justifies the price increase? I'm not an expert, but here's what I've learned so far:
How it works.
What makes a watch actually work and keep time is its movement. The movement is the technology inside the watch that produces a reliable sequence of events that can be turned into hands rotating or digits changing on the watch face to tell you the time. Cheap watches probably use a quartz movement as they're easy to mass produce, but mechanical movements are something special. Mechanical movements are produced by the artful work of a master watchmaker who places hundreds of tiny parts into a watch case in order to form a little machine that tells time. Here are some pictures of a mechanical movement that show off how complicated they are: one, two, three.
You're probably used to Quartz movements and little circular watch batteries as they're the norm with regular watches, but mechanical watches work differently — they don't use batteries. A mechanical watch retains energy in a few different ways: 1) by winding the watch, or 2) by the movement or swinging of your arm while it's on your wrist. Mechanical watches have sophisticated spring mechanisms inside that store the energy generated by your arm's movements (or the winding of the watch) and use that stored energy to power the watch's mechanical movement and timekeeping. The actual manner in which it turns this stored energy into the winding gears that tell time differs greatly across mechanical watch brands, and it is the innovation in this area that makes these types of watches so very expensive and sought-after. The mechanism that starts the gears turning from the stored energy is called the escapement, and there are dozens of different types of escapements. Think of inventing an escapement mechanism as "inventing the wheel". Usually people say they don't want to reinvent the wheel, but in horology, reinventing the wheel by engineering and designing new escapements is what keeps the science of watchmaking exciting. Different watch escapements basically do the same thing, but in extremely different and interesting ways, and it is these diverse ways of doing the same thing (transferring stored energy into gears turning) that make mechanical movements so very expensive and intricate.
Complications.
A complication is anything that the movement does besides telling time. Some common complications include calendar functionality, GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) calculation, multiple timezones, chronograph (stop watch) functionality, and more. These alternate watch functions don't just magically appear on their own, but need to be engineered carefully into the overall movement of the watch which makes complications jump the price of the watch up over traditional watches. Other complications include fancy or exorbitant escapements, where instead of just starting the gear movement they have additional (but unnecessary) pieces, or happen to rotate around the watchcase (Tourbillion escapement), or any other crazy things you can think of. Complications make the watch movement.... more complicated.... and a complicated mechanical process means that more labor is needed to design the watch and put it together so it makes it more interesting and expensive.
Material.
Horology is not about the jewelry aspect of watches but rather the engineering and science that goes into making them, however the material of the watch obviously makes it more expensive. Some watch enthusiasts think that a watch with a cheap Quartz movement but 10ct of diamonds on the bezel does not count as haute horologie, or a horological masterpiece of watch, and I agree. Just like some people buy a BMW 3-series not because they're fans of the 50/50 weight distribution or the German engineering, but because it's a fancy BMW they can show to their friends, many people spend 5 or 6 figures on a Platinum-cased, diamond-studded watch with a $5 chinese quartz movement. Some watches are expensive because they're fancy and are made of rare materials, others are expensive because they contain 400 different mechanical pieces and gears all assembled by hand, and others still are expensive because they exhibit both those traits. I personally would rather spend a few thousand dollars on a watch that is an engineering masterpiece than a cheap watch that's made more expensive by gems on it, but that's just my personal preference.
Some Fun Watch Links
After talking about all that horological craziness, you might be interested in learning more about automatic mechanical watches or just what kinds of watches exhibit these beautiful traits, so here's a quick list of some stuff to make you unproductive for the rest of the day. Enjoy!!
Panerai Watches: I love how these look, so very classic while modern at the same time.
Quartz vs. Mechanical: Diagrams and explanations better than what I've done here.
A Lange & Soehne: Absolutely beautiful watches, made in Germany.
Ventura Watches: Automatic movements attached to digital readouts, very cool.
