Are you guys kidding me?......These stories are too sad for words!!!!! Man, this is like a 12 year old saying his dog ate his homework, just tell the teacher ya didn't do it -- everyone wins, lol.
Just buy what you want, if the wife/gf bitches about it, she's not right for ya!
Seriously, its only 200-300 for a rep watch (yea, its a hand full but compared to the gen???....Exactly, its peanuts), and if you're working day in day out at the office, then you MORE than deserve it. Life includes working hard, but rewarding yourself is part of life too, for BOTH sides of the relationship....If you get yourself a load of watches or whatever, and the wife get's nothing, that's not fair, but if she get's nice things too, theres NOTHING which justifies you not being allowed to.
Just my opinion.
-Floris