Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is building a massive clock inside a mountain in West Texas, but he’s unlikely to be caught wearing one of the world’s more popular luxury watches.
Back in 2018, Bezos tweeted that construction on a clock that will be able to tell time for 10,000 years was underway. The billionaire has spent an estimated $42 million on his project but no amount of money in the world is going to buy him enough time to see his giant timepiece through to its final tick, as he’s well aware.
When you have as much money as Bezos and you can’t imagine a time when income will slow, you’re probably going to want to do something memorable. The Texas clock will outlive Bezos, as well as an unthinkable number of his descendants – if all goes according to plan, it will stand the test of time. While he’s here, though, he isn’t flashing an expensive Rolex, although any number of wristwatches can be bought off Amazon. Bezos can actually afford to purchase his own watch – the Ulysse Nardin – 11 million times as it costs just under £10,000. You don’t have to be a millionaire to be able to afford a £10,000 watch and, with Rolex and Patek Philippe models dominating the list of top 10 most expensive luxury watches – no other timepiece breaks into that list – you’d think a man of his wealth would go for one of them.
As it turns out, Bezos isn’t unlike those he rubs shoulders with when it comes to watch choice. Microsoft founder Bill Gates wears a Casio Duro that costs just over £50 and can afford to buy 1.6 billion of the nifty devices. The late Steve Jobs also wore a very modest Seiko model and current Apple CEO Tim Cook typically goes for an Apple Hermes.
Meanwhile, Barclays’ Jes Staley can buy his Panerai Luminor Marina 534,892 times over at a cost of £3,488.35 per unit.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is another such entrepreneur who isn’t a fan of the Rolex. Musk has often been seen wearing the limited edition Carrera Calibre 1887 SpaceX Chronograph produced by Tag Heuer and SpaceX eight years ago.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t even wear a watch, which is no surprise given his unlimited lineup of t-shirts and jeans. But when you’re that rich, time isn’t as big an issue for you as it is for most people, right?
While Bezos isn’t particularly concerned with what goes on his wrist, he’s clearly time conscious enough to spend $42 million on a giant clock. The idea, though, came from computer scientist Danny Hillis, who thought up a 10,000-year clock way back in 1986. Of course, it is a pretty big project, but he can probably get away with some mistakes as no one’s going to be around long enough to give him any stick over it.
The clock will be 500 feet in height and will be mechanically powered by day/night thermal cycles, according to Bezos, and is going to be synchronized at solar noon. It’s supposed to tick once a year and chime once every millennium. There’s no timeline as it pertains to the clock’s completion but people can sign up for a mailing list for an alert whenever construction is over.
Bezos says he wants his mega-clock to serve as a reminder that the future is really going to be that far ahead. Whether he decides to try on some more luxurious watch brands is left to be seen, but for now, the magnate looks set to stick to his choice Ulysse Nardin.
