Marking Trees - Aug 30 2025

 

Marking Trees

Aug 30 2025

Now that no one needs a watch

they are worn as objects of art

as well as desire.

In the ad, tiny gears

intricately fitted and precisely placed

are packed into a case

with exacting precision. 

An expert craftsman

is peering through an eyeglass

tiny instruments in hand.

So the appeal is also vicarious,

as if the engineering mastery

was also yours.

Mostly, though, it’s status;

the solid gold body,

the esoteric name

in French or Swiss,

the dial

that delights the eye

with its wheels within wheels

and fine calligraphy.

So all of it

in all the excess and immodesty

of lack of practicality 

worn for one reason alone

  —  to proclaim wealth;

so much money

you've run out of things to buy.

At least it’s not gold necklaces

clanging together,

with overripe jewels in chunky rings;

so ostentation,

but with testosterone

and better taste.

The way a virile buck

with a massive rack

is  advertising fitness

the watch is also Darwinian,

a not so subtle preening

posturing

showing-off.

But like the deer, head bowed under the weight,

the man’s wrist seems too small

for its gaudy ornament.

I can’t wait to see him impress

by lifting his leg

to show how high he can pee.

Leaving his mark

for all to admire,

women desire,

and jealous rivals to see.

This ad in today’s paper caught my eye. No point in explaining “the quest”, it’s self-evident:  this unattainable watch, and the status attached to it.

I frequently see similar ads from its better known competitors, especially in the more prestigious publications. And my reaction is invariably one of Old Testament judgement: at the superficiality of status-seeking, the crass materialism, and the ethos of consumption and excess it represents. And with my catastrophizing mindset, I also tend to see these ads as harbingers of the imminent end of civilization, or at least of our taken-for-granted prosperity:  done in by greed, luxury, and an unsustainable way of life that exceeds the carrying capacity of the planet. Too much empty indulgence; too many useless things we feel pressured to acquire and possess. 

My preferred aesthetic is minimalist and modest. So with that as my lens, a wildly expensive luxury watch seems almost offensive! (Also, I have girlishly thin wrists:  so even a cheap wristwatch has always looked ridiculous on me!)

It’s interesting how things made obsolete by technology don’t disappear; they simply transform into objects of luxury. Ironically, it’s not just their increasing rarity that gives them value, it’s their essential uselessness! 

But, to slightly redeem this wasteful thing,  a watch like this also celebrates — in an age of the virtual and digital, and instantaneous speed — the inherent beauty of material things: of the industrial and analogue, of meticulously hand-crafted, and of taking it slow.

I had some doubts about the title. Does it anticipate the turn at the end, give away too much? I decided based on how I read a new poem:  the title registers, but then soon drops out, and only when you get to the clincher does it suddenly resonate. For a bit, I wonder what this title has to do with anything, but then get immersed in the poem and that cryptic title soon slips my monkey mind.