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The $10 Watch and the Dish Duty: Gates's Frugal Streak
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For one of the world's richest people, Bill Gates is famously unflashy about everyday things. He has long worn inexpensive Casio watches — once cheerfully noting a roughly $10 model — even as he paid more than $30 million for a Leonardo da Vinci notebook. Gates has also said he still washes the dishes himself most nights at home. The contrast — a $10 watch and a Codex, dish duty and a Gulfstream — became a favorite illustration of his idiosyncratic relationship with money.
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Related Accomplishments
1990s
Gates keeps a collection of rare and classic cars
Despite his reputation for frugality in some areas, Bill Gates has long indulged a passion for cars, assembling a collection that has included several Porsches — among them the 911 he has owned for decades and the storied 959 — as well as other classics. His automotive tastes, and the saga of importing the then-illegal 959, are among the more colorful footnotes of his personal life.
1990s
Gates retreats for solitary, twice-yearly 'Think Weeks'
For years Bill Gates retreated twice a year to a secluded cabin for a solitary 'Think Week,' during which he read stacks of papers, books, and employee proposals with no interruptions, emerging with strategic memos that shaped Microsoft's direction. The ritual became famous as a model of deep, focused thinking by a busy executive, and was credited with helping spark major pivots — including Microsoft's embrace of the internet. Gates carried the habit of voracious, deliberate reading into his philanthropy.
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