What if money didn't exist, but watches did?
- Alvin
- Apr 5
- 6 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Welcome to a thought experiment, one that I feel is necessary for me to take seriously at this time. As I face a horological existentialist moment, I've just been thinking about watches a lot as I've added a few vids to YouTube. And I've also been looking at the new AI models close up and personal for the first time. I did a test to see if GPT/Grok could mimic my style - I asked it to write a review on the Rolex Explorer, the prompt/request I wrote was quite vague. The result was pretty bad, in terms of the content it was ok, Grok is actually better at this, and with a few adjustments might have sounded like a person wrote it, but that person is not me. I guess I'm inimitable, but we knew that already. With all the buzz around AI, it made me feel much better. It would have saved me some time if it had worked though, just kidding - I am a robot, beep boop. It actually made me laugh though when in relation to the size and wrist being skinnier it said, "there’s a lingering sense that this watch is wearing me rather than the other way around." While that's a bit excessive, it is funny - of course it is, it's mimicking my style! What it is very useful for though is research, it can obviously gather and present lots of info quickly and usually pretty accurately. I'm re-starting an old project and need all the help I can get. I think I am the Theowrist, therefore I must theorize.
Anyway, though AI does feature here, it didn't originally. What this post is about is a random thought, that was simply, what if, like in Star Trek we lived in a post-scarcity world, where poverty was eliminated and money was no longer necessary. In this world, Rolex could continue to do what they do, I'm sure they would retain their wait-list model for exclusivity and rarity, maybe become less automated for prestige and craftsmanships sake. Even in this future, where Rolexes were free I still wouldn't be able to get a Rolex. Obviously there would be no secondary market, but mayeb there would be more generousity and people could share their GMT Master II pepsi's with random blokes off the internet. Or if we're going full Star Trek then there would be replicators, and I could just ask "Computer, Rolex 1908, refernce 52506, model year 2024, platinum with blue guilloche dial - oh and move the Crown to replace the 12 o'clock marker. Thanks." Now, wouldn't that be cool, for me it wouldn't dull the experience, without the status and wealth aspect, it would enhance the experience, watches would be true art.
It was somewhat inspired by one of my favourite movie ideas (my mum really likes the movie - but that's because it's desperately tragic at times...), that is 2011 movie, In Time, starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried, I like her a lot, weirdly beautiful and excellent at her job. That film is about time as a proxy for money/currency - meaning, the more money you make and accumulate, the longer you can live - achieved via cybernetic augmentation built-into the body. This starts at age 18, when you get a certain amount of time assigned but then have to work to attain more. And so, results in the poor, literally time-poor and living day-to-day, as in they will die if they can't pick up an overtime shift cos they had an unexpected cost. An easy way to eliminate the perceived dreggs of society.
It's a fitting metaphor and quite cool an idea as dystoptian social commentary goes. So, this got me thinking, as I do, what if it there was no money but mechanical watches were the currency. Here's the premise, say some AI took over and money became obsolete, it fixed all our problems and scarcity, poverty etc was eliminated, but then it malfunctioned and blew up and the world became insane with war and mad shit. As a result technology regressed and a restart was hindered by failing infrastructure and wars. During the years of plenty however, watches became even more lauded than they were before, the antithesis of the AI tech that was taking over, it remained a bastion of human ingenuity and craftsmanship. Essentially watches became a form of currency, and yes, there were still waiting lists. And that's the idea for my novel, coming soon - that literally just happened on the page here - but I don't think I've got the bandwidth to develop such an idea, it's a cool one though!
Ok, we have money as a medium of exchange - you earn, inherit or steal money; wealth is an abundance of money or valuable possessions; and capital is wealth in the form of money or other assets. Components might become money, and watches would become wealth.
If money didn’t exist but watches did, the entire concept of value and trade would revolve around timepieces. Here’s how a society might function:
Watches as a Barter System
Since there’s no money, watches could become a primary medium of exchange. Different types of watches (mechanical hand wound, automatic, quartz) might represent different values, similar to how gold, silver, and bronze coins once did. The various elements like case material, complications, and size etc would factor into the whole deal as well.
A high-end Swiss mechanical watch could be worth a house.
A standard quartz watch might get you a week's worth of food.
A watch rotor might get you a meal.
It's a world in which chronographs would have to be used to time things. The issue in a messed up world would become access to materials and resources, this might also determine the value - quite similar to now I guess.
Status & Social Hierarchy
Without money, power could shift toward those who own or craft the best watches, ok so basically how it is now. The elite might be defined by their rare, intricate timepieces rather than wealth which is the same as status signalling via your Patek Philippe these days, the difference being the watch would bestow a status on you that you would lose if you lost the watch. I like that idea. Owning a handmade Patek might be the equivalent of having a billion dollars. New brands and watchmakers would emerge, the craft would flourish.
Work & Economy
People might work in exchange for watches or watch components (maybe during the good times there were so many watches made that it left loads of bits). A day’s labor could be worth a basic timepiece, while skilled craftsmanship could be rewarded with special components or high-end watches. The economy would be built around horology—materials, production, repairs, and innovations in timekeeping.
Technology & Innovation
The industry would advance rapidly, not just in watchmaking but in ways to make watches more functional and valuable. How? I have no idea, if I did I'd be working as a watchmaker. Perhaps watches would be more than just timekeepers—they could store information, act as security credentials, or even function as personal identity markers. The tech to make watches 'smart' will no longer exist but maybe the stored information could be miniscule markings/engravings that are deciphered by some kind of large computers.
Time as a True Commodity
If watches exist but money doesn’t, the perception of time itself might become the core of transactions. Perhaps services are measured in time—“I’ll work for you for a month, and in return, you give me a Rolex.” I guess this idea is the basis of 'In Time' but it could relate to watches without the immediate threat of death as in the film. It can't be watches and time though, it's oddly one or the other.
AI created the above image at my request - would Cyborgs exist in this alternate universe, I would like them too because I am really captured by this idea as well. I want to design Cyborgs and AI will help me - get me that Neuralink. I guess they'd have some kind of clock built in, but what if they were automatons, like made out of cogs and springs with minimal computing power!
That was a very random brain fart but a cool exercise in thinking outside the box and abstract dystopian potentialities. I have essentially created a very interesting potential future or alternate universe here. However, it's too hard and too complicated to write an actual novel about this subject, the detail required would send one around the tourbillon and out of ones mind. One could just write a novel about a couple of people having an argument about biscuits which would be a lot easier, one would imagine. I'm not sure why I'm referring to a third person 'one', but the idea of expanding on this universe is a fascinating proposition so maybe one should write a short story to start off.
Thanks for visiting me in the future.
Yours Cybernetically,
Alvin