Now that everything has calmed down a bit from the St-Valentine’s-induced haze of judgement-clouding oxytocin that suffused the whole of last week, we can return to a slightly more normal state of affairs. After all, when you’re all swept up in the tides of passion, even the most outrageous impulses (“yes, you do need another watch in your collection, and also a matching model for the love of your life, to symbolise your eternal devotion”) can seem like fate whispering in your ear, urging you towards your destiny.
Destiny is a cool word and everything, but it has a loftiness to it that makes us forget the quotidian — and equally important — realities of life. Hence those enthusiasm-dampening lines in traditional marriage vows, the richer-poorer, better-worse and health-sickness scenarios conjured up by Christian liturgy. Some of the sobering questions that we might be asking ourselves this week: Is that watch I’m about to sacrifice half my bank account to really The One? When am I ever going to wear a full-gold, multi-coloured gem-set sports watch, as beautiful as it is? Did I really just eat that entire box of chocolates all by myself? Serious, necessary questions.
This is something that applies heavily to what we do here at WorldTempus, as journalists — the key to our jobs is basically knowing what questions to ask. To a certain extent, however, I do feel that the world at large would be better served if everyone exercised their journalistic instincts and pursued knowledge and truth with some degree of rigor. Which is to say: don’t get all your facts from one source, be discerning about the information you receive and always challenge your own biases.
Recently, people have been bitten by something other than the love bug. The international spread of the novel coronavirus, freshly named COVID-19, has threatened the health of thousands all over the world and put the brakes on thriving markets. The industry’s reaction has ranged from drastic to measured, from event cancellations and exhibition withdrawals to messages of solidarity and reassurance.
Criticisms have come thick and fast over the different methods of crisis management, but I will say something about the general trend of negativity that I’m observing. I lived in Asia during the SARS crisis in 2003, in Singapore, which was quite strongly affected relative to other countries. It wasn’t as bad as international news made it out to be at the time, but there was a real and significant risk involved in travel and being in highly populated areas, especially with a pathogen that doesn’t discriminate by geographical boundaries or ethnicities. I respect the cancellations and withdrawals, inasmuch as they’re being made with genuine consideration for the health of event/exhibition attendees. The financial cost and inconvenience are not really that high a price to pay for public wellbeing.
Editorial tirade over, now back to our regular scheduled programming. We’re heading into our fortnight of perpetual-calendar focus, so watch out for our comprehensively researched and meticulously curated selections of timepieces featuring the best models and innovations associated with this beloved complication. These are watches you can count on, which means a lot in these unreliable times we’re living in right now. (Didn’t I say earlier that February would be a little crazy this year?)
