Ewan, I applaud your restraint 😀
Seriously, I think tariffs have put a damper on a lot of buying. “Swiss Made” at the bottom of the dial turns a £4,800 (about $6,400 US) bargain into something much less enticing. I wouldn’t call it a bad deal at $9k US, but neither would I be distraught to have missed it. As a guy who doesn’t even like to pay sales tax, the deal would have to be remarkable for me to even contemplate coughing up another 39%.
Your comments about economic uncertainty, tariffs, and gold bullion feel about right to me. Here in the States it is a scary time to be looking at anything involving discretionary spending. The stock market is roaring along, but some of the people I know who would normally think nothing of a $10k (or more) watch purchase have told me they believe that we’re in a bubble fueled by unsustainable investment in AI. As a believer in the emerging-technology hype cycle, I tend to agree. Maybe I’m wrong, and we’ll see how it plays out - but in the mean time, the uncertainty is real.
