Since this has turned into a watch thread this one is only $31 million :
And I thought audiophile cables were expensive...
Martin
And I thought audiophile cables were expensive...
Martin
The fictional James Bond hasn't worn a Sub since the deeps of time (Sean Connery). Since that time, it's been a Hamilton QED and a range of others, until Omega bought their way in. They've owned it ever since.I believe that part of the Submariner mystique is that the fictional James Bond supposedly had one. BBQing isn’t popular in the UK so he probably didn’t use it for that purpose.
Absolutely not snake oil. Excessive, assuredly. Poor value? Well, that depends on how one judges value (particularly for a historical piece). But it does everything it claims to do, and does with with an extreme level of craft.Since this has turned into a watch thread this one is only $31 million :
And I thought audiophile cables were expensive...
Martin
Well - is like "decimation" and "underrated" - do not really mean what many people think they mean - Even in my own post before re the Melco thing, I fully know that is not snake oil in the strict sense. It is the ridiculous price for the kind of function performed that makes it snake oil IN SPIRIT if not in the letter... IMHOAbsolutely not snake oil. Excessive, assuredly. Poor value? Well, that depends on how one judges value (particularly for a historical piece). But it does everything it claims to do, and does with with an extreme level of craft.
Rick "wondering if people know what 'snake oil' actually means" Denney
No one can hear anything anywhere near -115dB. It's one of my pet peeves with ASR that technical improvements with no audible benefit are emphasized as much as they are.What about SINAD? Do we need electronics with a SINAD of over 120 dB? Amir sets his threshold at 115 dB, but I'd be willing to bet that even those with experience couldn't benefit from a threshold that high if tested blind.
Ah, no. 99% of people buying a new DAC think it actually sounds better. This might go down to 50% for ASR members.Yet people sell their 118-dB SINAD DAC to buy a 122-dB SINAD DAC. Why? Sheer appreciation for what it takes to attain that level of performance. That appreciation is part of the hobby.
I don't think it needs justification, but I do think it needs honesty.Does this need justification? I think many here believe it does
Hey, me too! (I am Avo at WUS.) But I do know that my ~20 or so mechanical watches are all less accurate than the $20 quartz I could buy at the drugstore, and that 200m WR is easy (every G-shock with its plastic case has it). I dislike the attitude that mechanical watches are "better" when, in fact, they are demonstrably worse at their primary function (measuring time). I still love them, I just have no illusions about what they are, which is nostalgia for anachronistic tech + jewelry.And so it is with dive watches. I do swim in my divers, but I don't dive and never have. I still like to have a few dive watches in my collection, for the sheer appreciation of the engineering
My Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometer (cal. UN118) has been running within 15 seconds/month, which is the standard performance for quality quartz movements. But that is very much the exception. All my chronometer-rated watches do meet chronometer requirements, though (-4/++6 seconds per day in each of five positions and two temperatures)....
Hey, me too! (I am Avo at WUS.) But I do know that my ~20 or so mechanical watches are all less accurate than the $20 quartz I could buy at the drugstore, and that 200m WR is easy (every G-shock with its plastic case has it). I dislike the attitude that mechanical watches are "better" when, in fact, they are demonstrably worse at their primary function (measuring time). I still love them, I just have no illusions about what they are, which is nostalgia for anachronistic tech + jewelry.
Let's understand: Patek Philippe does not sell that complicated watch at all these days, but if they did, it would not be $31M. This particular watch was one of eight that used that movement and the only one in a steel case. But the price that was paid for it was not set by Patek, it was the price multiple bidders ran it up to in a public auction, because they knew there would never be another one. It was expensive for precisely the same reason a Picasso is expensive (and people don't spend millions on a Picasso just because the art "moves" them). The other seven examples sold originally for far less, under different market conditions.Well - is like "decimation" and "underrated" - do not really mean what many people think they mean - Even in my own post before re the Melco thing, I fully know that is not snake oil in the strict sense. It is the ridiculous price for the kind of function performed that makes it snake oil IN SPIRIT if not in the letter... IMHO
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Those go perfectly with the gold and black whatever that is. But it sure is hard to vacuum or sweep up dust around all that...junk...isn't it?Presented, without comment: View attachment 161420
Presented, without comment: View attachment 161420
Snake oil is not about being expensive at all, let alone ridiculously expensive. It's about worthless crap being sold to the unwary on the basis of false claims. Actually "snake oil," as hawked by traveling con artists in the 19th Century, sold for relatively small sums so that people of little means could afford it. Wealthier people were more wary of such scams and were also more able to enforce their revenge when the placebo effect wore off and buyers realized they'd been conned.
A $28,000 power cord is snake oil--it provides absolutely nothing of value. It is not a complex product, it does not require a craftsperson with decades of experience to make, it is not made in any way that would limit its availability, and the company making it has no heritage for consistently producing products of high quality. This Patek is no more accurate than any other good watch of whatever technology, but keeping time simply is not it's reason for existence.
Rick "snake oil is not about high prices, but rather about false claims of efficacy" Denney
Hmmz..lolA $1600 audiophool-grade 2.2uF capacitor:
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