Wrist Watches Obsolete?

[Cattusbabe]

I still wear one on occasion but usually as a accessory when I feel like dressing up. (Or showing off) That watch, my favorite, is more a piece of jewelry. It has diamonds around the face that look great with my tennis bracelet.

The tank watch that I wore as my everyday watch is seldom out of the jewelry box but I cannot let it go. I've had that watch for over thirty years and it has sentimental significance. It was one of the first really nice things I bought myself after I got out of nursing school and got my first "real" job.

[kumquat]

I haven't worn a watch in 40 years. There are lots of ways to find out the time and I hate having things tied to me. No watch, no rings, no neckties nor other attached stuff, other than clothes.

I have a collection of heirloom watches. DF's, GF's, GGF's etc back 5 generations. Only DF's is a wristwatch, the rest are pocket watches wound by keys. I let megac-corp give me a retirement watch. This complete's the colection.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dex If you don't need a watch you are doing something wrong.

Easy to knock it if you haven't tried it...

[CyclingInvestor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kumquat I haven't worn a watch in 40 years. There are lots of ways to find out the time and I hate having things tied to me. No watch, no rings, no neckties nor other attached stuff, other than clothes.

Same here. I have never been able to wear watches, rings, etc. My bike computer told the time on rides, the sun was close enough on hikes, computers at work, etc.

[BigMoneyJim]

I quit wearing a watch for a while, but on my current job I frequently need to note the time while I'm on my cell phone, and the silly phone won't tell me what time it is while I'm using it.

I also find the countdown timer handy in my job, and my current watch can switch between two time zones easily, so it's handy when traveling a lot.

My phone also forgets what time it is when I put it in airplane mode, so I tend to leave the phone in airplane mode and use the watch while flying about.

Once or twice I took photos from the air with my phone camera, and the "taken" dates are 1980 or somesuch ridiculous date and time.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbamI I think a watch on a man's wrist looks sexy.

That's why I still wear one. Who 'da thunk a watch would be a chick magnet?

It's just easier than fishing for the cell phone.

For formal occasions, I still have my Micky Mouse pocket watch and fob.

[happy2bretired]

According to an article in the latest MORE magazine (Pamela Redmond Satran), entitled "How NOT to Act Old", wearing a watch is, well...old. "...a naked wrist is now as emblematic of youth as a perky butt." I don't have a perky butt either so I might as well continue wearing my watch.

[Rustic23]

Chocolate or Vanilla? Seems to me there is no right or wrong.

It was practically mandatory if you were a pilot, the Air Force even issued you one. It is a habit I never broke. I now wear a $50 Casio that gets a nightly time signal to keep it accurate.

I remember in a briefing a guy had a new Accutron, and he did not hack his watch at the start of the brief. When ask why he did not hack his watch he said "I give time hacks, not take them".

Also use to be a saying.
A man with no watch does not know what time it is.
A man with one watch thinks he knows what time it is.
A man with two watches is never sure!

[TromboneAl]

I like my Timex Datalink, and often use the stopwatch, countdown timer, event reminder, day-related alarms, and phone number database.

Let's say I'm out driving, and I know that I'll need to put a chicken in the slow cooker when I get home. I set the timer for 40 minutes (so it will chime after I get home), and picture a raw chicken sitting in the slow cooker looking at its watch.

I had one of the original datalinks -- the one that transferred data by looking at flashed lines on the computer monitor.

[bbbamI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 That's why I still wear one. Who 'da thunk a watch would be a chick magnet?

For this chick it is....

I think a wrist watch on a man enhances the muscles in his arm and makes his hands look larger and stronger. He can show his mood by wearing black leather or gold.

While we're at it...add a drop of cologne.....wooof...

[Dudester]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack From an LBYM perspective. I've never felt the need to own an expensive watch, but I always used to wear a watch. Nowadays since I have my cell phone on me at all times, and it keeps time flawlessly, I haven't worn a watch for over a year. Will probably sell or give away the ones I have, but I don't see the point anymore. The only remaining reason to wear one is the jewelry aspect, but that doesn't make sense from an LBYM perspective either. Newspapers, sandwich bags, big house, expensive cars, fancy clothes, showy vacations, household clutter, watches, what's next? LBYM is indeed liberating...

I wear a watch. My excuse is that it's my medical alert bracelet. I wear the latter because of a medication I take. I found an outfit that sells medical alert "thingies" that wrap around the band. I much prefer this solution to the traditional medical alert bracelet.

I have to admit that I've got my own idiosyncrasies. I would never own a cell phone for its timekeeping ability; I absolutely detest phones. I have a cell phone that I carry around for medical reasons, but it's always off (my medical problems are such that having a cell phone along makes sense).

Some of the other posters on this topic have made some rather dubious claims about not having a timepiece. For example, there's a roadside clock around the next corner. A few years ago, I had a connecting flight at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. I wondered what the local time was (my watch was on PDT and I wasn't sure what time zone DFW was in). I walked all over the airport and couldn't find a clock anywhere - at least in the areas away from the gates.

Some argue that a watch makes you look old. BS! I look old because I'm old.

Finally, I'm an individualist. In a crowd of people, none of whom wear a watch, the man with the watch is the individualist.

[Bimmerbill]

I wear one as an accessory to look professional. I try to dress professional at work. So far it has not helped me get a promotion tho.

I got a nice Accutron/Bulova from a web site sale for $250. Its close to a $1000 watch and is a thing of beauty. Its heavy, and has an open back so you can see all the internals. Pretty cool.

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

Its heavy, and has an open back so you can see all the internals.

You should wear it inside-out. Tell people you're a cyborg.

[Martha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cattusbabe I still wear one on occasion but usually as a accessory when I feel like dressing up. (Or showing off) That watch, my favorite, is more a piece of jewelry. It has diamonds around the face that look great with my tennis bracelet.

What is a tennis bracelet? I have always kind of wondered.

[Westernskies]

Does anyone really know what time it is?

Does anybody really care?

YouTube - Chicago- Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (1969)

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

What is a tennis bracelet? I have always kind of wondered.

It's not often that a piece of jewelry is named for an accident, but such is the case with tennis bracelets. Tennis bracelets got their unusual name from an incident involving Chris Evert during a US Open match in 1987. Chris had been wearing an expensive bracelet featuring an inline string of individually-set diamonds. When the clasp snapped, she asked the officials to stop the match until the jewelry could be found.

Since that day, bracelets featuring an inline array of diamonds have been called Tennis bracelets, and they are popular accessories for formal occasions due to their luster and sparkle.

[Westernskies]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl It's not often that a piece of jewelry is named for an accident, but such is the case with tennis bracelets. Tennis bracelets got their unusual name from an incident involving Chris Evert during a US Open match in 1987. Chris had been wearing an expensive bracelet featuring an inline string of individually-set diamonds. When the clasp snapped, she asked the officials to stop the match until the jewelry could be found. Since that day, bracelets featuring an inline array of diamonds have been called Tennis bracelets, and they are popular accessories for formal occasions due to their luster and sparkle.

Nice explanation, T-Al. Would you be able to clarify the origins of any other jewelry items, say for example a pearl necklace?

[RunningBum]

I wore a watch when I worked in an office, partly because that was before I had a PC with the little clock in the corner, and partly to get to meetings on time if I wasn't at my desk. I like nice watches (not those huge ugly things though), but I always found ways to scratch them, so I switched to Casios. Functional, but not a chick magnet.

Now I work at home and have enough clocks, and my laptop has a clock and calendar popups for the meeting or two a week I have. When I'm out and about I usually have my cell phone, or I just don't really worry about it. I used to be too anal about keeping track of time, now it's just not so important. Besides, I can often call the time within 5-10 minutes even if I haven't seen a clock in hours. When traveling I often take a watch, mostly for the plane and as a backup alarm.

When I run I often wear a Garmin watch to keep track of distance, and sometimes pace. And sometimes I watch the time to make sure I'm not going out too far and will lose the light, if I'm not prepared for that.

[DangerMouse]

Add me to those who never wears a watch. Even the past few years when I was employed I did not wear a watch. I used the time off my computer to keep on track for meetings etc.

Needless to say, even without a watch I always knew when it was time to go home.

[free4now]

It's been about 15 years since I stopped wearing a watch. I found that the carpal tunnel symptoms I was getting from typing all day at work seemed to be aggravated by having a watchband around my wrist, so it was at first a health decision.

But now it's a freedom thing. I most always have the time in front of me on my computer, clock, car, or cell phone.

The only times I wear a watch now are:

Travelling overseas in poor countries, where I don't carry a cell phone. I wear a $10 Casio to make me look poor and not worth robbing.

Dressing up, when I want to look spiffy and don't want a cell phone in my pocket. Also if I'm on a date it's awkward to constantly pull out my cell phone at dinner to make sure we're not late for the show. Better just to glance down at a watch.

Hiking in the mountains, where I bring my altimeter watch.

But it has often been a problem that because I use watches so infrequently, the batteries are often dead when I go to wear them. For that reason I'm considering trying to find one of the self winding watches.