I’m sad to report that uber-horology has jumped the shark. This example of a concept by Urwerk proves that watchmakers are basically putting slips of paper into a hat (“tourbillon,” “digital,” “goat-powered”) and picking out permutations to sell. In this case they picked a random number, say $200,000, and said their “wind-powered” “digital” “lunar phase” watch is the cat’s pajamas.

How is this watch supposed to work? You basically blow into it to wind it and then wait for your wippet-thin, Italian wife to leave you for blowing into your watch.