My larger theory is that as adults, giving ourselves or being given a totemic trophy (such as luxury wrist watch) is a crucial part of us as productive adults being motivated to stay productive. We need to be rewarded for successfully doing things, or else we will not likely spend the same effort to do it again. It is my opinion that this mental reward system is a key part of what pushes us to keep trying harder, doing more, and feeling positive or at least confident in our abilities.

What becomes interesting are the types of accomplishments we like to receive a trophy for – as they aren’t all just about rewards for making money. I’d like to posit the idea that we acquire watches as trophies for successfully accomplishing something, then the type of watch we acquire (or even the manner in which we acquire it) is related to the type of accomplishment we want to reward.

Let’s look at two distinct examples of how a person might reward themselves with a trophy watch for two very different types of success or accomplishments. Rolex timepieces are well-known to many people around the world as an expensive item which tends to mean that if you are wearing one – you can afford it (which is actually the reason there are so many fake Rolex watches – since people want this status so much they are willing to lie about it). While Rolex makes excellent timepieces, to many people, their primary value is in the fact that they easily communicate the fact that you needed to earn enough money to wear one, before doing so. Thus, the trophy value of a Rolex watch to the owner is in their ability to be able to afford it. “I make so much money I was able to spend $10,000 on something that is mostly just pretty and reminds me of my level of disposable income” is a rather direct but probably accurate summation of what many people who buy a Rolex are trying to say. Yes, there is of course the value of the design, craftsmanship, etc., but my argument is that even more important to the decision making process of buying the watch is the timepiece’s trophy value.

With the example of a typical new Rolex watch, the trophy value is often directly related to some manner of financial success. Let’s look at an example where a timepiece can act as a trophy of an entirely different type of success. Actually, some very direct examples of watches indicating a less direct monetary success are the many instances in which timepieces (Rolex among them) are rewarded to people who succeed in various types of competitions like sports or other challenges. Rolex actually directly promotes the value of their timepieces as trophies also for mental or physical accomplishments by offering Rolex watches to the winners of a range of things from musical performances to winning a car race.

Getting even more nuanced are very personal forms of trophies that commemorate success types, which is more difficult to define. Consider for example the watch lover who spends years studying about a particular rare vintage timepiece and then looking for one. In this instance a collector finds a story related to a watch that they find compelling, and are further intrigued by the exclusivity and rarity of the item. For them the appeal of this rare watch isn’t just in the story, but that to own the watch, many difficult steps may be necessary.

Such steps include the time and effort required to study and appreciate a watch’s history, finding someone who might have one, becoming sophisticated enough to determine the watch’s quality and authenticity, and of course potentially expending great levels of time and resources to traveling around the world in search of one. Upon finally getting said particular rare watch, the collector often quickly loses interest in the actual timepiece they were so keen to acquire. What happens is that the watch in this instance serves as a trophy of a successful hunt. It would be an analog to a stuffed animal head placed on the wall of hunter seeking to tame the world’s biggest game. If that hunt involves studying, searching for, and finally successfully “catching” a watch, the watch itself is clearly a trophy to commemorate the successful accomplishment of what can easily be an endeavor spanning several years.

I challenge fellow watch lovers to examine particular timepieces in their collection and ask themselves what accomplishment each of their watches are meant to commemorate as a trophy. The list of potential items is long ranging from business success to personal life milestones. Sometimes a watch lover simply has an “itch” to buy a new luxury watch – without knowing the reason why. I would argue that in most instances that person has something in their life they feel requires rewarding or commemorating – even if they can’t pinpoint what that thing is.

What particular watch you choose as the trophy you want to wear is entirely up to your tastes and (as discussed above) the type of accomplishment you are seeking to reward yourself for. Having said that, I think even veteran watch collectors will benefit from thinking about their new watch acquisitions as trophies, which is a mentality they may have not specifically considered before. Such cognizance might help us not only make better, wise watch purchase decisions, but can go a very long way to help rationalize our desire for watches. Rather than thinking of buying a new luxury timepiece as a guilty pleasure whose value is something we’d be hard-pressed to justify to others, it might be far more beneficial to consider what you are trying to commemorate with a “watch trophy,” and ensure that we are reasonably matching the accomplishment we are proud of with an appropriate reward. I’m confident that if people are more comfortable rewarding themselves, they will do more things in life that are worth rewarding.