PSA: The Best Watch You'll Ever Own, Dirt Cheap

The mechanical watch business is past due for a big contraction. While the number of potential customers for a $10k-and-up watch has never been higher, there's a super-saturation of product on the shelves and the West Coast elite is increasingly choosing the iWatch, the Pebble, and similar disposable garbage over traditional Swiss automatics.

So if you have $3500 in your pocket, and you'd like to own a truly top-notch Swiss watch, with all the prestige and provenance you could possibly want, then today, my friend, is your day.

Jomashop has the Zenith El Primero Stratos Flyback at what amounts to one-third of retail price. You might not be familiar with the Zenith brand, but it's one with a distinguished history that stretches back over a century. El Primero was the fastest chronograph movement ever built at the time of its delivery. Rolex used it when they reintroduced the Daytona as an automatic-wind chronograph in the Nineties; the original one was manual-wound the same as its contemporary, the Omega Speedmaster. The major change Rolex made to the El Primero to fit it for Daytona duty was to... wait for it... slow it down.

This modern El Primero is actually a reissue/tribute to a 1997 El Primero Rainbow model, which had something to do with French aviation. It's not the best-looking El Primero ever made, but it's unique and distinctive. You can read a very glowing review here. If you have the cash, then I recommend picking it up. I can't say you'll make money on it, or even get your money back some day... but if you've waited your whole life to have the very best of something, here's your chance.