The time of love

What a strange idea, to offer watches in lieu of a romantic bouquet followed by a candlelight dinner. But that is the way life is construed. You often see people with a certain passion offering gifts that come from their own universe, obsessed, as they will be, by objects that they are familiar with in their everyday life.

For watchmakers or specialists in the discipline, the best idea might be a handful of watch hands packed into a nice case.  

Of all the watches to offer for Valentine's Day, the women's version of the "Power of Love" made by Maurice Lacroix is, amid all the possible ladies' watches, the most amusing one, because it contains a mechanism that sets the word "Love" in motion. Admittedly, the somewhat kitsch style of the dial may not really incite one to wear it every day, but what does speak for this timepiece is the fact that it does something with hearts, an element brands tend to have trouble with. They often make heart-shaped holes in the dial or apply pink decals that are more liable to frighten girls, even those who are the least resistant to love. Let us say this in passing, the idea was well worth trying out, and many seemed to prefer this mechanistic and slightly poetic vision to the square wheel that no one really knew what to do with once the first flush of astonishment had passed.

Maurice Lacroix Power of Love

As it happens, for the masculine version, no watchmaker has ever thought that a woman might have the weird idea of offering a watch to her lover. Since women tend to be being more pragmatic than men, one might suspect that they would use the all-to-steady rise in prices as a pretext to make no present at all, but instead to contribute to the acquisition of a bigger gift for themselves. But this is perfectly logical, since with girls, giving to a boy for the sake of love – this is a cultural issue – is not part of the system. Dowries have long been abandoned, and ever since we got rid of them, regrettably, our equals in all and for all do have a little revenge to take. Here is what they might say: making a present that is disproportionately big for the occasion would be tantamount to an expression of weakness on their part and, therefore, offering a watch can only be done within the very formal framework of a marriage (or at worst, an engagement), where the man pays for the ring when madame, or the future one, brings the watch.  

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller

In sum, monsieur – should the love he is the object of not materialize as a gift – will choose the one he would have liked to receive from his beloved one all by himself (we are own best friends). As the descendant of hunter-gatherers, he will never be able to accept spending without counting as well, so he will look for a reference that can last years without ever developing a wrinkle. Convinced that there is no harm in doing something good for oneself, the lover  boy who is master of his wallet, will go to his favorite retailer and pick up an Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller made by Rolex. Because this is a model that impresses him, he always dreamt of it, it is a timepiece that will maintain its value through time, and clearly it is not the one that his better half would have chosen… QED