How to buy a watch, part 3: Why pay more?

Indeed, why pay more than $50 for a wristwatch? A gawker.com article from 2013, Why Do Assholes Love Watches, helped me clarify my thinking on this. It declared this truism:

You can get a perfectly serviceable watch for about fifty bucks. All watch prices in excess of fifty bucks are due to the vanity of the wearer.

Pope Francis wears a $75 Swatch because Vanity

Rather than argue the validity of that point, I'd like to highlight what else it applies to:

You can get a perfectly serviceable pair of pants for about fifty bucks. All pants prices in excess of fifty bucks are due to the vanity of the wearer.

You can get a perfectly serviceable briefcase for about fifty bucks. All briefcase prices in excess of fifty bucks are due to the vanity of the wearer.

You can get a perfectly serviceable pair of shoes for about fifty bucks. All shoe prices in excess of fifty bucks are due to the vanity of the wearer.

You can get a perfectly serviceable pair of eyeglasses for about fifty bucks. All eyeglass prices in excess of fifty bucks are due to the vanity of the wearer.

You can get a perfectly serviceable wedding ring for about fifty bucks. All wedding ring prices in excess of fifty bucks are due to the vanity of the wearer.

Appreciating a quality piece of personal apparel or an accessory that costs more than $50 does not make you a snob or a fool -- though you might be a fool or snob just the same. You're not obligated to care about it, but you're not obligated not to care about it, either.

If you want to cap what you spend on a watch that does not raise your vanity quotient, you can choose the price of an equivalent accessory -- something you can wear most days -- as a guideline: the shoes you wear most days, your eyeglasses, or briefcase. You can spend more, you can spend less, it really depends on what you like and what you value.

You don't have to be a snob or an asshole to have a nice watch. Again, Idris Elba wears $40 watches and $16,000 watches. You callin' him an asshole? I didn't think so.