This. I never did like wearing something around my wrist, and usually kept some sort of watchlike thing in a pocket instead if I was feeling the need to have ready access to the time.
But since I almost always have a cell phone on me when I’m away from the house, and the cell phone has the correct time in easy view, there’s no need to carry another timepiece.
Some people like wearing wristwatches and/or having the time right where they can see it without reaching into a pocket; those people will continue to wear wristwatches regardless. But others dislike wearing wristwatches and are happy to give them up. And still others don’t feel strongly about them one way or the other, and when they inadvertently stop wearing one for one reason or another, many of them don’t bother to resume wristwatch use. And those last two groups is where the diminishing use of wristwatches comes from.
I can dive with mine to 200m. I mean I’m never going to do that, but at least I can.
Well clearly you don’t have to do what I do. I wouldn’t want to pressure anyone to do anything cool.
But I think a man should have a watch for the same reason a man should have a nice suit. There are occassions like job interviews, wedings and so on where you are expected to look put together. A nice watch is a fine piece of craftmanship that IMHO has a certain heft and permanance that a plastic cell phone doesn’t.
I don’t think Christopher Walken would have spent 7 years in a Viet Cong prison hiding an iPhone up his ass so he could give it to his best friend’s son.
I have a clock on my computer at work that tells me the time all day long. I have a clock in my car that tells me the time when I am away from the computer. If for some reason I’m away from both of those sources, I have my cell phone.
A watch is another thing to remember to grab in the morning only in the sense that my pants are another thing to remember to grab: It’s unthinkable for me to leave the house without it; I’d feel half-dressed. I’m far more likely to leave the house without my phone, which is still seems kinda new-fangled.
I’ve never left my house without my watch in maybe forty years.
I don’t have a watch because my last one broke several years ago and things like that I buy because of an inconvenience. I’m not inconvenienced in regard to the time because my phone adequately fulfills that function.
The only time I do miss watches is when I am putting together a classy outfit and want something decorative to wear to add some zing. Societally, mens choices in jewelry are limited and I don’t always feel like breaking gender barriers. (I would also totally get behind a hat wearing movement but only if it’s non-mandatory. If everyone has to wear a hat to work, it’s boring. If only I and a few others wear a hat to work, it’s stylish and daring.)
I stopped wearing a watch about 25 years ago. The straps irritated my skin and made me break out in a rash.
I didn’t get a mobile phone till about 5 years ago. In the intervening time I just developed a good sense of time, and remembered the positions of all the public clocks in my area. This worked pretty well.
I couldn’t imagine going back to wearing a watch now - even if I didn’t break out in a rash it would just annoy me - especially in summer. And I think if I were growing up now I’d never get into the habit, and I suspect that’s what’s driving the decrease in watch wearing - younger folks just never taking up the habit. I know if, for some reason, I do need to ask someone the time I find more watch-wearers among the mddle-aged and old than the young.
It’s simple. For many people, the only purpose of a watch was to be able to know what time it is. The fact that it was on the wrist was much less important. People wore them that way, so they did, too. However, with cell phones, there is another way, albeit slightly more inconvenient, to check the time.
Yes. It’s a fashion accessory for men. You don’t NEED to have a watch. And if you have a watch you don’t NEED an expensive TAG, Breitling or Rolex watch that costs thousands of dollars. But some people like them.
Then again some people enjoy living a life that is not completely based on functionality and practicality.
You laugh, but on the rare occasions that I forget my wristwatch, I do feel like I’ve left the house naked. Never mind the fact that I carry two cell phones, have a proper analogue clock in my vehicle, and sit in front of a computer with a clock half the day; I need my wristwatch.
Actually, every smartphone sold today has an excellent built-in altimeter inside it in the form of its GPS unit. You just have to find an app that will display that info.
I use a free “GPS Status” app on my smartphone that I’ve downloaded from the Android market and right now it’s telling me that I’m 182 meters above sea level. When I walk downstairs it tells me that I’ve dropped three meters.
The interesting thing is that when I type “altimeter” in the Android Market search box it tells me that it has six apps with that word in their descriptions - but my “GPS Status” app isn’t one of them. I guess the fellow who wrote this app didn’t think to add it in his app description.
I like wearing a watch, and probably will for a long time. I don wonder what people who only use phones do when they go somewhere without cell reception. I know there are places like that as I own property in one. With no cell reception my phones have never told me the time. No time, no alarm no nothing like that.