Man Buys Dress Watch, Wears It Exclusively with Gym Clothes to Assert Dominance

Software engineer turned fitness enthusiast Ryan Gage, 36, has worn his $12,000 Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin exclusively with athletic wear for six consecutive months, a sartorial choice he describes as 'a deliberate subversion of horological dress codes' and which everyone else in his life describes as 'confusing.'

The Master Ultra Thin, a 39mm dress watch measuring 8.8mm in thickness and featuring a hand-wound movement visible through a sapphire caseback, was designed for formal occasions. It has a leather alligator strap, a silver-tone dial with dauphine hands, and the kind of restrained elegance that assumes its wearer owns at least one blazer.

Gage owns zero blazers. He wears the watch to the gym, to CrossFit, to grocery runs in basketball shorts, and to his standing Sunday brunch appointment at a diner where he arrives in a tank top.

'The horological establishment tells you that a dress watch belongs with a suit,' Gage said, performing a bicep curl. 'I reject that. This watch looks incredible against a sweaty forearm. The contrast between haute horlogerie and moisture-wicking polyester creates a tension that I find aesthetically compelling.'

His watch-collecting friends have staged two interventions. 'We showed him photos from the JLC catalogue,' said friend and collector David Chen. 'Every photo: suit. Tuxedo. Formal setting. Ryan looked at them and said, That's their vision. Mine is different. Then he went to do deadlifts in a $12,000 watch with a gator strap.'

The alligator strap has absorbed significant perspiration. A JLC service advisor estimated its remaining lifespan at 'weeks, at most' and recommended a rubber sport strap. Gage declined. 'Rubber would defeat the point,' he said. 'The point is the alligator strap at the gym. That's the whole thing.'

Gage has been banned from one gym for 'making other members feel underdressed.' He has joined another.