I just use my cell phone. I’ve got a good sense of time and I usually know what time it is within fifteen minutes anyway, even if I haven’t checked in a couple hours.
Before I had a cell phone, though, I had a series of cheapo digitals. The last one’s cheap plastic band failed, but I still have it sitting here on my desk so that I can tell what time it is while I’m playing computer games.
I have an Omega from 1947 that is the oldest watch I own.
I can’t imagine ever wearing a watch again, except as decorative jewelry on special occations. Since I began carrying a cell phone I don’t need another time keeping device.
I see them as a bit of an anachronism. I think they will eventually go the way of typewriters.
… about 10 years for my Casio G-Shock. It replaces a previous G-Shock that was hit by a bus.
My secondary watch is an Auto East Orient self-winder that’s… 1968? Something like that.
I don’t really wear it much, or ever really, but the watch I own is only about 2 years old… Still tickin’…
I gave up wearing a watch a few years ago, except for special occasions. Therefore, most of my watches are in need of new batteries. These are the ones in the bottom of my jewelry box:
Steel Mickey Mouse - 20 years old (favorite)
Gold Mickey Mouse - 10 years old
Steel Sharp Ladies’ - 10 years old
Gold Bulova Ladies’ - 30 years old (gift for my sixteenth birthday, wind up, still wear for dress)
Gold Bulova Ladies’ - about 50 years old (nice piece of estate jewelry, wind up, wear for dress)
Silver Cat Pendant - 15 years old (I wear this as a pendant, the watch is hidden and needs a battery)
Silver Mens’ Pocket - 100+ years old (belonged to my g-grandfather, grandfather and father, has my late uncle’s watchmaker’s mark inside where he performed repairs, still runs when wound)
It’s easier to check my cell or computer most of the time.
I don’t have a watch, but I do have an electric alarm clock (it’s a General Electric), that I’ve had since 1976, and it’s run almost constantly since then (except during power outages) or if it’s unplugged. The alarm still works and it keeps great time.
That is seriously cool.
The watch that is currently on my wrist a TAG Heuer Carrera that is only about a month old.
Before that I wore a Navy Seals watch that was about 10 years old.
(Truth be told I love my TAG but in the middle of the night the Navy Seals watch is way easier to read)
I have an old Shark sports watch which I guess were pretty trendy back in the mid 90s. I got it in '96 for a school field trip, and have worn it every day since. I have it on in the pool, in the shower, everywhere, and only take it off to replace the battery. I’ve gone past the point now where I’ve worn this watch for over half my lifetime!
Got my Casio in 1986. Had two new straps. It’s done 10 years dairy farming. It now only tells the time, the other functions are corrupted and at it’s last battery replacement, I was told the seals are shot. So perhaps I’ll get them replaced, or hunt out a new one, but the new ones are so bulky. Why?
Got two wristwatches, a Timex I’ve had for about five years that’s been dead for probably three (Indiglo doesn’t work either - can that be repaired?) and a Lorus that is about a year old whose battery died two days ago. Also have a Russian pocket watch I bought new in St. Petersburg in '96 which runs fine when I remember to wind it.
Off-category I have my Swedish great-granddad’s pocket watch which was a wedding gift in 1895. It still runs when we wind it and I am deathly afraid of taking it to a watchmaker. I don’t wanna kill it.
Dublin11 that is tres cool!
I’ve had my watch since 1971, a self-winding Omega. My Dad gave it to me after his father died. I used to think of it as a memento of my grandfather - who never saw it. Lately I’ve taken to thinking of it as a memento of my Dad, who is thankfully still with us.
I used to have my watch cleaned every few years, but now Omega wants $500 just to look at it, and no local jewelers will touch a sacred Omega :rolleyes:. It has not been keeping good time lately. When I get tired of setting it every day, or when it needs repair, I’ll replace it with a cheapie electronic watch.
Since my regular watch has so much emotional meaning for me, I got a $20 Coleman brand electronic watch for camping. It died earlier this year, but I’ll replace it soon. I’d be very upset if my Grandad/Dad watch got damaged or lost. However, for a sawbuck I can get a watch that keeps good time, I can read in the dark (the glowing dial on my Omega wore off years - and at least one crystal - ago), has several other useful features, is essentially disposable, and has no emotional risk. All my Omega does is tell the time (just the one time zone, and 12 hour format only!), the date (just the day of the month), has a sweep second hand, and winds itself. State of the art for 1971, but I’ve seen more accurate watches free in cereal boxes.
I’m of a generation that wears watches. I like knowing what time it is, and I can turn my wrist much faster and easier than I can fumble out my cell phone. Few people under 30 wear watches from what I can see. Yet the spammers still want to sell me one! :rolleyes: x 419.
My watch is exactly as old as my latest cell phone, so 9 months.
I have a heart monitor for the gym that looks like a watch. that’s it.
I noticed wrist watches on display that were at minimum 2x2x.5 inches without the band. Who wants one that size? 500 pound men?
Mine is a little Timex; I’ve had it for about four years. I’ve gone through three or four of them since high school, I think.
I have high acidity in my skin - i literally stop time if i wear it on my wrist. So I’ve joined the cell-phone-as-your-watch group.
But I used to love pretty watches . . .
If I’m wearing clothes, I wear a watch. I have several.
My oldest and most beloved is a windup Turler, with a white face, silver lettering and silver body. My mom bought it as a gift in the early 1950s while traveling in Western Europe, but put it on the shelf and gave it to me almost 20 years later. It’s a really nice watch, although it’s now starting to show its age. The very experienced watch repair guy I took it to most recently says he only sees two or three Turlers a year. There’s no listing for the company (which I believe is/was Swiss) on Wikipedia, and Google shows no company website, just links to eBay and some other sites selling apparently second-hand or antique Turler watches. Dunno - is the Turler company still in business? Anyone know anything about it? Any other Dopers own a Turler watch?
I also have a black Swatch, and a no-name Japanese watch that a friend gave me; I wear those when I don’t want to risk the Turler getting bonked or wet.
Those would be my G-Shocks. I repeat, the last one got hit by a bus. While I was wearing it. (I pointed across the street just as a bus ducked into the lane. Bad timing. Saved my wrist, but the liquid flowed out of the left side of it, lost the single digit minutes counter and the seconds.)
It had been previously driven over by a car (Took it off while washing a car, someone knocked it off the wall, and then someone moved the car, backed it right over the watch), bounced off the floor to show it off a few times, been used to measure the temperature of a freezing pond a few times (No, it was designed for that. Don’t ask.), survived a number of bicycle wipeouts… been painted, been plastered, been shocked…
Never had a scratch on it I couldn’t buff out. Good watch. I picked up the habit from my dad, I guess. He was Air Force.
I have the watch from Stranger than Fiction. I got it after seeing the movie, so it’s a few months younger than that.