Aurelius Valtieri
Mechanical watch symbolizing enduring craftsmanship

ESSAY | CULTURE

Why Watches Endure in a Disposable Culture

By Alexander Moreau

In a world built for speed and disposal, the mechanical watch remains one of the last great symbols of intention and permanence.

In an era where almost every object in our lives is designed to be replaced, there is something quietly radical about choosing to own a watch that was built to outlive you.

Horology has never celebrated disposability. It has celebrated the opposite: the slow perfection of a mechanism that measures time with mechanical precision, assembled by hand, often over months, by artisans who view their work as a legacy rather than a transaction. A watch is more than a device; it is a connection between the wearer and centuries of tradition.

In a disposable culture, that connection is not nostalgia. It is resistance.

32 | TIME & TRADITION