Lifestyle choices are defined as certain habits or ways of doing things, lifestyles, behavioural methods, which also include the way one uses or cares for personal objects. Most movable goods lend themselves to an example in this sense: we take care of watches, but other objects such as cars, motorbikes, cameras, bicycles, boats, computers are similar: like watches, they must be cared for, used, enjoyed. After buying them, the behavioural choices of each owner of the object come into play. At a recent Harley Davidson rally in Rome, it was easy to come across the same model of motorbike that was maintained differently depending on the owner: there was the shiny one, the over-equipped one, the original one without a single screw changed, and there was a guy who had one that was a pile of rust... That's right, there wasn't a part that wasn't rusted. It had a certain effect, it certainly left one incredulous, but it was... a lifestyle choice. The owner had enjoyed it, never washed, never polished, always on the road rain, shine, snow. He didn't really care about taking the time after each outing to remove dust, gnats, mud, rain residues: he always went to rest, maybe in front of a beer, listening to music and thinking back to the free ride with the bike. An extreme choice, it is true, but certainly free of anxiety. Let us now come to the watch: here too there are those who live it to the full in the various phases of their daily lives, overlooking the accidental scratches and signs of wear, and those who look at it with anguish a hundred times every hour, terrified at the mere thought that it might suffer the slightest damage. I personally am for full enjoyment - without exaggeration and without ever exceeding the operational limits of each individual object - except for then restoring the timepiece to its original splendour when the periodic maintenance is due. I do this with watches, cars, motorbikes, fountain pens and everything else I collect. I am not a 'scruffy' person, if anything the opposite, but I am for absolute enjoyment as a way of life, I would not put up with or buy something if I had to live it in 'terror'. I would never match the guy with the Harley all rusty (but with the engine running perfectly), but I'm also not like a gentleman I know as a customer and friend, who doesn't wear the watches he buys because they might wear out. He contemplates them, winds them up, but never puts them on his wrist... He thinks of them as paintings or sculptures! It seems exaggerated to me, but he is not the only one. If you share his lifestyle choice, the important thing is that this too is a way of enjoying the watch and not an existential problem, a stress or a strain.
