> No fluff, no marketing that bordered on propaganda

Your comment sounds a lot like propaganda to me.

> ... devices are treated as disposable, depreciating products.

I would argue that this shift really happened in the last 30 to 40 years. We can say it started earlier, but that wasn't true of the majority of goods until around then. Things became "disposable" when the functional innards were reduced to a blob IC. LED lighting taking over pushed it even further.

> Japanese consumer technology meant something incredibly precious to people in underdeveloped and developing nations.

I'm sorry, but I can't agree with this. I grew up pretty damn broke (like unreliable water kind of broke). Perhaps not as broke as you're describing, but there has always been some bittersweet resentment in the back of people's minds this whole time too. Casio watches are the poster child for exactly the decline you claim to be concerned about. Older people I grew up around were not so materialistic.

Yes, they are stylish in a very cool and functional way that deserves more credit. It's a very ethically justified and postmodern-inspired genre of design. It's like jazz. It's fantastically free of dogmas and tropes. People can fearlessly contribute their own cultural perspectives and elevate everyone's taste in the process. Let's keep it that way, by not hugging it to death.

> There is a beauty and a tragedy in those vintage Japanese watches.

Yes, exactly. That's the tragedy. We finally got what we wanted since the beginning of human history, but at what cost?