We are prisoners of time. The exigencies of daily life, often one long domino effect of delays, make a mockery of any device designed to keep us punctual. Yet men remain defiantly shackled to the wristwatch, as revered in the canon of masculine connoisseurship as cars, bars and cigars.

While there may be elements of testosterone-charged combativeness and high-end hoarding involved, there is no logical reason why men continue to collect watches. After all, even if we could keep our lives on schedule, a watch is no longer a necessity when telling the time is a smartphone or dashboard away. But if the booming global market for new and old watches is any indication ($US83 billion combined, according to Swiss research firm LuxeConsult, and despite significant gains in the women’s market, men continue to make up most of it), deeper male psychologies are at play.