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The Cult of the Clock
Time Is Money
Recently, I was looking through an issue of the men’s magazine GQ and I noticed an overwhelming number of advertisements for watches. I would guess that there was an ad for a watch every maybe three or four pages, or close to it. Why the preponderance of time-pieces? Why is a fancy watch considered a status symbol?
The watch pictured at right is valued by Forbes magazine at around one million dollars. Can you imagine that? Paying a million dollars to have the luxury of being chained to time?
What is it that watches really do anyway? They keep time, obviously. But by doing that, they give us a way of measuring internal experience: “Oh my god! Only fifteen minutes have passed? It seems like way longer.” But more importantly, they give us a means of synchronizing our inner experience with those of other people, of society as a whole: “Can you come in at 9:30AM for an interview?”
Certainly, this standardization of the experience of time creates a number of benefits for the smooth functioning of society. But part of me wonders if it isn’t just one of many hooks planted deep into your mind by the scientific-technocratic society. How many times during the day do you look at a clock just to find out what time it is, but not because you have to do anything at a certain time? Do an experiment next time you’re bored at work. Keep a little tally running of how many times you look at a clock. It can be a watch, cell phone, wall clock, alarm clock, car radio clock, computer clock.
Also make a list of all the clocks you have in your life. How many are in the same room as you right now. Then start to think about your experience of time. Do you feel pressed for time? Do you feel like you’re running out of time? Do you wish you had more time?
Look at events in your daily routine which are linked to time. Do you set your snooze on your alarm clock ahead exactly 6 minutes, so that you can still make it to work on time? Do you count down the hours until you can go home, or until you eat lunch, dinner, pick up the kids or go to sleep?
The cult of the clock is ubiquitous, especially the more hooked into civilized society you are. Meetings and appointments require a constant connection to time and the constant realization that time is money. Is time money? Do you get paid by the hour? What is your hour worth? What do you do in an hour you give to someone else versus one you give to yourself? Which is more valuable. Perhaps all this is why watches are so highly valued as jewelry, simply because they show how happily addicted we are to the demands made on us by the world.
PS. While you’re thinking about all this, check out this chaos magick ritual designed to free you from the bonds of the Chronos, Lord of Time!
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August 5th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
Check out this collection of movie watches.
August 5th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
You were looking through GQ! I think my pinko friend would call that magazine bourgeois.
The space age luddite (named Deman) and Zen people are always saying time is an illusion. So in conclusion I love watching movies and i just adore illusions!
August 6th, 2006 at 2:32 am
I think mostly those overpriced watches are for people to show that they’re Important People. They don’t really get them to keep track of the time; they’re just for status.
I have 3 clocks at home - the one on my desktop computer, the one on my laptop, and an alarm clock. I rarely look at any of them. I don’t even really use the alarm clock to wake me up, unless I’ve stayed up later than I should and I need to make certain I’m awake at a certain time (like to get to work on time, that sort of thing). I look at the clock at work only to see if it’s close to break time or lunch time. I don’t wear a watch. Or truthfully, I can’t wear a watch. Any time I have tried to do so, the watch has broken in some way not that long after I’ve put it on.
I don’t really have a concept of time, to tell the truth. I perceive things as a progression of events rather than a progression of time. For me, an hour ago and a year ago are basically the same - the only difference being the number of events that’s happened between the two. If you ask me what time something occurred, I really have to stop and actually calculate it out. I tend to drive people crazy, especially if I say I’ll do something “soon.” They expect it to happen within some time frame, but I really don’t have a time frame. Soon for me really doesn’t mean the same as soon does for most people.
Oh, and apologies, Tim. I’ve been away from the site for a long while (again). Life and such. Are you still interested in those stories of mine for the experience site?
August 6th, 2006 at 3:40 am
Okay, maybe you don’t have a concept of time, but I bet you’re pretty clear on gravity.
August 6th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
i have a few pricey watches and they aren`t for status so much as the simple sheer joy of looking at such amazing tickers. i have a submariner that i rarely wear, a daytona which i`m afraid to wear and a couple of orises and a chunky sieko diver that wear biking, working and playng with the kids because it`s tougher that they are. my daily wearer is a titanium breitling avenger which, to me is the watch of all watches. i feel like a real tough guy wearing it. it`s made of the same stuff as fighter jets…………..
i recently sold a couple of my other watches to pay for my lawyer`s bills.
regarding status……..i really don`t think people are that impressed by watches or cars or whatever. they more likely resent it.
status is a game that slaves get drawn into so we work harder.
the friends of mine that like my watches share my love for what they are. masterpieces of the horological art.
August 6th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
My buddies and I were talking about this one drunk’n night and we figured that the only jewelry that is really “acceptable” for a man to wear (though its different with some subcultures, like hip-hop) is a watch. So guys, being just as vain as the other half of humanity, go buck wild with it. Personally I like a nice watch. I’ve also never really had a problem with being “chained to time,” maybe a little because its a way of being connected to everyone else (as you mentioned).
Funny story, there’s one of those sayings that you can tell who a man really is by looking at his watch and his shoes. Some girl mentioned this to my brother one time, so he looked down to see what he was wearing…which turned out to be flip-flops and a rubberband around his wrist. I laughed my ass off…
Ronin
August 6th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
A great Lewis Mumford quote which has a bit about clocks in it. From the Pentagon of Power, p. 30. He is talking about how the Sun became God again:
August 6th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
That doesn’t explain what’s at the root of that joy.
That one we don’t even need to pick apart!
August 6th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
the root of the joy? i am staggered by how such a complicated series of mechanisms are collected inside a small case and provide such precision. the earliest chronometers of the modern age were the very hieght of military technology. they were cabinet sized clocks that were used on ships to navigate. as they became more accurate so did the navigation.
the fighter jet thing? i was sitting with my boys and we were watching the top ten jets of all time and they had the sr-71 blackbird on and i remarked that it was made of titanium like my watch and they just thought that was amazing. and i get like a little kid about fighter jets. my dad used to take me to the air show in england in the sixties when the jets would come 50 feet above the crowd and hit the afterburners…………..
or maybe i feel like the terminator standing beside the boy in t2 when the female character is saying “it was then that i realised that the machine would never leave the boy…………..”
and the feminists want to take the boys from thier fathers. i like the subtle message that t2 gives in that scene to all the fems……
all that in a watch? who knew.
August 6th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
I think the point is that you’re supposed to get like a little kid about fighter jets. We just had the misfortune of the Blue Angels practicing and performing over our fair city all week. I will write about that later on though…
August 7th, 2006 at 12:31 am
i get you. the adult reality of war………..
in that sense every tool, toy and gadget was once developed by the military for killing. we are eating, sleeping and playing with death. i guess in many ways i`ve reconciled that. more of the deep ironic pain of being alive.
guilty? no. we`re all going to die one day. it`s the great denial. humans are good at it. we have to be or we`d go crazy from the thought.
August 7th, 2006 at 10:41 am
What did you say? I can’t hear you! LOL
August 8th, 2006 at 9:12 am
In “Island in the Sea of Time” by S. M. Stirling, the island of Nantucket from the 20th century is sent back in time to 10,000 BC. The natives are fascinated and horrified at the way the Americans chop up and number their lives. It unnerves them. The series is interesting to read, simply for that observation.
I was talking with my friend the Rocket Scientist, about black holes, and how as you work in the normal universe, there are 4 dimensions: x, y, z, and ti, where i is the imaginary number forcing t to move in only one direction. As you approach the event horizon, the possible dimensions change to ri and t, where you’re always moving physically toward the event horizon, but it’s apparently possible to move any direction in time.
Interesting stuff. Those of us who are perceptually focused regard time as simply another factor in perception. Those of us who are objectively focused see time as a literal dimension, capable of movement along an axis.