Every year, a few days before Diwali, India collectively decides to spend money, and for once the decision comes with theological sanction. Dhanteras, the first day of the festival, holds that whatever is bought now, whether gold, silver or a gleaming new utensil, invites prosperity into the house for the year ahead.
It is the rare occasion on which extravagance is indistinguishable from piety, and the jewellers of every Indian city know it. By evening, the shop floors are a hush of velvet trays and negotiated weights.
The traditional shopping list was a modest one: a gold coin, a gold bar, a steel vessel to be carried home like a trophy. But the modern buyer, particularly the modern man, has grown more ambitious, and a little more sceptical of the inert. Why should an investment sit in a locker when it can sit on a wrist like a watch, that most defensible of male indulgences, has quietly become the Dhanteras purchase of the discerning: an object that holds its value, rewards its owner daily, and can be handed down with a story attached.
Not only watch, there are plenty other gold standard items to add to your shopping cart. Here is a guide for those who intend to buy well rather than merely buy. Some of the choices are sacred, some are sensible, and a few are frankly splendid. All of them, in the spirit of the day, are meant to outlast the season.