“Why spend $10,000 on a watch that cannot be identified from across the room?”

Michael Karam on the Lebanese attitude to luxury brands:

in the mind of the Lebanese buyer, Harley-Davidson is an icon. It’s the Hermes tie of bikes and that suits them just fine. What they want from it is to cruise around with other HOG (Harley Owners Group) members on a Sunday. In the same vein, ask a Lebanese about hi-fi and it’s more than likely he will blurt out “Bang and Olufsen”. He will know very little about NAD separates or Klipsch or KEF speakers. With watches, he may know a bit more but the outlet that was doing the most business in the downtown shopping area last month was the Rolex boutique on Rue Allenby. The shop selling the arguably more prestigious Girard Perregaux was empty, even the salesman had left. But why spend $10,000 on a watch that cannot be identified from across the room? A Rolex Submariner is unmistakable. It says, I’m sexy and I’ve made it. It also might telegraph the fact that I am a walking cliché with no imagination but the Lebanese are above such shallow pigeonholing.

So we don’t like expensive brands, we like brands that people recognize as expensive. I think Michael underestimates Lebanese knowledge of watches. I know many people who consider Rolexes to be vulgar and who prefer Cartiers or Breitlings, but in general his observations hold..