With all due respect you don't know what you are talking about! The watch comparison doesn't work because this camera actually has quantitively better results than a cheap camera.

It has significantly larger sensor than a cheap compact which means has significantly lower noise at higher ISO. This camera also has a very good quality lens with a fast aperture which lets you shoot at lower ISO than you would need to with a cheap camera. The sensor size and fast lens also lets you achieve shallow depth of field shots.

If you compared this camera and a cheap £50-£99 camera in bright sunlight outdoors taking landscape pics if you don't view at 100% then the results similar. If you "pixel peep" and look at 100% you will see much more detail though. At the other end though in low light this camera lets you take good pics when the cheap camera would only give you an unusable mess.

I have this camera and the results are stunning, it's not an overpriced status symbol it is a marvel of engineering cramming high end equipment into such a small device.

I am not sure the Sony will give much higher image quality over the TZ100 as they both have the same 1" sensor. However, some will prefer the longer zoom of the TZ100, the 4K video and LCD touchscreen. It is not always practical to simply "walk closer" to a subject if it might mean frightening off wildlife or could involve walking on water!

This will give a much higher quality picture but you will forfeit reach. Can use your feet to zoom

nice, heat added

Is the TZ100 at £469 worth the extra for its 10x zoom or can you crop the photo from RX100 to get the same reach?

This will give a much higher quality picture but you will forfeit reach. Can use your feet to zoom

Its a good price. Some reviews:
https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/2017-roundup-compact-enthusiast-zoom-cameras/11
https://www.dpreview.com/articles/7237085229/spoilt-for-choice-which-sony-rx100-is-right-for-you

you can crop it to get the same reach but it will be lower quality
its a tradeoff like everything else
within its range rx100 > tz100
the further out of the range you go the better tz100 is vs rx100

If you are not so concerned about a viewfinder then the original RX100 is still a good buy. It has a longer reach than the M3 and with clear zoom on will give you a 28 to 142mm zoom (at 10MP). It's smaller and lighter than both the M3 and TZ100 but similar image quality.
There's some info here..
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/42393275
This is available for £244 at the moment (with free case).

I am not sure the Sony will give much higher image quality over the TZ100 as they both have the same 1" sensor. However, some will prefer the longer zoom of the TZ100, the 4K video and LCD touchscreen. It is not always practical to simply "walk closer" to a subject if it might mean frightening off wildlife or could involve walking on water!

Have to agree but the Sony has the better lens F1.8-2.8 vs F2.8-5.9, it's also quite a bit smaller.