Jaeger, yeay girl!

Peeped into Lucerne today with my friend, rbt, who bought his wife a Philip Stein Small for her birthday – what a sweety – and had the shock of my life. The Patek Philippe Aquanaut has just zoomed out of mortal reach. The Small Aquanaut (Quartz, remember ...) is now selling for an already-discounted, unbelievable price of Php450,000!!! And the Medium, Php600 f@#gg$in’-thousand!!! Horrors. How can anyone afford this and sleep well at night? Who in the world has such a conscience? Just thinking about forking out that much cash makes me want to pull out all the recently-dyed hair on my head ... and then some.

Good news is I just found a suitable (and, arguably, equally fabulous) alternative. Check out the Jaeger LeCoultre Master Compressor Automatic (Ref: Q172 24 40), seen here with a tan leather strap (I personally prefer the black strap – sorry, couldn’t find pics fast enough). Nar, the Lucerne salesman, says it’s a lady’s watch (and so do some sites that sell it online) but Jaeger official site says it’s a “medium-size” watch that suits both women and men.

I have these good things to say about it:

1. 36.8 cm case diameter is small enough to be feminine but is large enough not to be girly, and to look and mean business. Think Elizabeth Bennett meets kick-ass Lara Croft.

2. Movement is automatic (Hooray!!), Caliber 960, 28,800 vph, 72-hour power reserve. Monster!

3. Bi-directional rotating bezel under the crystal manipulated through outside screw crown. Clever!

4. Patented compression key system on crown and button which makes it water resistant to 20 atm.

5. Selling at Lucerne at the cash price of Php190,000+ (or Php204,000++ by credit card at 0% interest courtesy of Citibank). Not bad for a Jaeger.

6. It’s freaky gorgeous to me (Hubby, on the other hand, thinks it too plain; though he adds, "Then again, it's a Jaeger ...") and, according to my good friend, rbt, the sporty but serious look is so suited to my “lifestyle.”

Ahhhh…. Am deliriously happy but confused. Another Php85,000 and I'd have a Rolex. Yet ... might not sleep at all tonight just dreaming about this watch. Help meeeeeeeee