Wise investments are not limited to real estate, stock portfolios, gold bars or a whopping bank account. Your wristwatch can be of equal value, and its ticking may be as important as that of your heart.

I was enjoying afternoon tea, replete with delicious petit fours, with an old friend at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. We went back and forth with tidbits about people we knew between mouthfuls of the little cakes. My friend then told of a watch connoisseur who recently paid a fat US$200,000 for a limited edition model. Of course, he had to have the first in the series.

For once, I was speechless, almost choking on my strawberry jam-laden scone. All that money for a timekeeper, I finally blurted out. “Why not?” my friend replied blithely. Why not indeed. Perhaps if I have zillions of rupiah in the bank, and made it onto the recent Forbes’ list of Indonesia’s wealthiest of the wealthy, then I would certainly utter why not as I sipped my French tea that my friend also pointed out was more expensive than the average.

But having to fork out a bank-load of cash for a watch is no given that it will make a wise investment. A source told me of a regular watch brand that recently launched a super-expensive series, costing more than a billion rupiah and of a limited edition. Guess who were first up as the buyers? Indonesians, although he demurred on naming names.

“It wasn’t a good investment, it was just throwing money away to feed their egos.”

Select models of Piaget, Jaeger Le Coultre, Vacheron Constantin and Audemar Piguet are sought after as good investments. They qualify as the latter because they are ultraexpensive, few are made (from 50-300), they require sophisticated technology, do not bear gemstones as decoration and, generally, are men’s models. He named as an example the Girard Perregaux Enzo with limited production of 399 watches. And try to guess who was the lucky buyer of watch number one? Yes, an Indonesian.

I shook my head at the story. When would I as an Indonesian be able to fritter away billions of rupiah to soothe my ego?

“You already are. That cup of marriage frere you’re drinking is already expensive,” my friend said. Then she gave me some words of advice.