pointless poll of wristwatch wearers

In My Humble Opinion
81
  1. Your gender (I assume wristwatch wearers are mostly men, but I see women wearing them now and again). Male
  2. Your approximate age (to the decade, if you don’t mind) 55
  3. right-handed
  4. left
  5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist (back-of-the-hand side), or the bottom (palm-side)?Top
  6. You know that little knob on your wrist (the condyle, I think)? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)? Above
  7. Analog or digital? analog
  8. What is the band made of – stetchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic? Leather
  9. Do you sleep with it on? No

I have a cell phone and an iPod, but the watch is far more convenient, since I can look at it without fumbling for the device.

82
  1. Your gender (I assume wristwatch wearers are mostly men, but I see women wearing them now and again). Female
  2. Your approximate age (to the decade, if you don’t mind) 36
  3. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right
  4. Which wrist do you wear your timepiece on? Left
  5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist (back-of-the-hand side), or the bottom (palm-side)? Top
  6. You know that little knob on your wrist (the condyle, I think)? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)? Below
  7. Analog or digital? About 40 analog and 1 digital
  8. What is the band made of – stetchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic? **I mostly prefer a metal bracelet band (no stretchy metal) but have several leather bands as well.**9. Do you sleep with it on? Comes off as soon as I get home. I feel naked without it if I go out though.
  9. Anything else you want to share? I collect watches. :slight_smile:
83
  1. Your gender (I assume wristwatch wearers are mostly men, but I see women wearing them now and again). Male
  2. Your approximate age (to the decade, if you don’t mind) 57
  3. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Left-handed
  4. Which wrist do you wear your timepiece on? Left
  5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist (back-of-the-hand side), or the bottom (palm-side)? Top
  6. You know that little knob on your wrist (the condyle, I think)? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)? Above
  7. Analog or digital? Analog
  8. What is the band made of – stetchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic? Snap-closed metal
  9. Do you sleep with it on? Yes
  10. Anything else you want to share? ** It’s an 18 year-old Rolex Datejust. It was my father’s service award for 25 years with the same company. It’s stainless steel, and he doesn’t like stainless steel watches, so he gave it to me. Our names are the same, so my name is engraved on the back of it. Prior to him giving the watch to me in 1990, I wore an Omega Seamaster Deville for 16 years. I think I paid $300 (new) for the Omega in '74.**
84

You’re not alone, I’m right-handed and wear my watch on my right hand. It doesn’t feel “right” (heh) on my left hand.

  1. Your gender: Male
  2. Your approximate age: 35
  3. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right
  4. Which wrist do you wear your timepiece on? Right
  5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist (back-of-the-hand side), or the bottom (palm-side)? Top
  6. You know that little knob on your wrist (the condyle, I think)? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)? Below
  7. Analog or digital? Digital, with “virtual” analog hands though
  8. What is the band made of – stetchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic? Plastic (leather?)
  9. Do you sleep with it on? Never
  10. Anything else you want to share? Hardly ever wear my watch any more
85
  1. Your gender: Male
  2. Your approximate age: 27
  3. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Left
  4. Which wrist do you wear your timepiece on? Left
  5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist (back-of-the-hand side), or the bottom (palm-side)? Top
  6. You know that little knob on your wrist (the condyle, I think)? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)? Above, but I have skinny wrists so it slides a lot. Also, if my watch slides below, it is no longer on my wrist but at the base of my hand.
  7. Analog or digital? Analog
  8. What is the band made of – stetchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic? Snap-closed metal
  9. Do you sleep with it on? Yes, unless Flanderchick is in bed with me.
  10. Anything else you want to share? This is my watch. I’m a man with skinny wrists. About 7 inches around. It’s VERY hard to find a watch that fits me. Either it fits because it’s a woman’s version of a nice watch or the face is larger than my wrist is wide (looking at YOU Breitling!! WTF!!) I get lots of compliments on it anyway. Flanderchick will wear it sometimes, too. We have about the same size wrists.
86
  1. Your gender (I assume wristwatch wearers are mostly men, but I see women wearing them now and again). female
  2. Your approximate age (to the decade, if you don’t mind) 34
  3. Are you right-handed or left-handed? right
  4. Which wrist do you wear your timepiece on? left
  5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist (back-of-the-hand side), or the bottom (palm-side)? top
  6. You know that little knob on your wrist (the condyle, I think)? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)? below
  7. Analog or digital? analog
  8. What is the band made of – stetchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic? leather
  9. Do you sleep with it on? yes
  10. Anything else you want to share? **I never take off my watch or my wedding rings. I sleep in them and shower in them. **
87
  1. Your gender (I assume wristwatch wearers are mostly men, but I see women wearing them now and again). Male
  2. Your approximate age (to the decade, if you don’t mind) 25**- 20 or 30? You decide!**
  3. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right
  4. Which wrist do you wear your timepiece on? Left
  5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist (back-of-the-hand side), or the bottom (palm-side)? Topside
  6. You know that little knob on your wrist (the condyle, I think)? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)? Above
  7. Analog or digital? Analog
  8. What is the band made of – stetchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic? Today, leather; I have a couple metal ones and a couple more leather ones plus one rubber one.
  9. Do you sleep with it on? No
  10. Anything else you want to share? Buttcheeks. I just wanted to say that. “Buttcheeks”.
88

ETA too late: This is my “everyday” watch http://oakley.com/pd/1283/2814

89
  1. Your gender : male
  2. Your approximate age: 34
  3. Are you right-handed or left-handed?: Right
  4. Which wrist do you wear your timepiece on?: Left
  5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist (back-of-the-hand side), or the bottom (palm-side)?: Top
  6. You know that little knob on your wrist (the condyle, I think)? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)?: **Above **
  7. Analog or digital?: Analog, digital watches are no longer a pretty neat idea
  8. What is the band made of – stetchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic?: Snap closed metal.
  9. Do you sleep with it on?: No
  10. Anything else you want to share?: I constantly fidget with my watch, and I’m uncomfortable if I don’t have it with me for long meetings.
90

**1. Your gender - **Female
2. Your approximate age (to the decade, if you don’t mind) 36
3. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right
4. Which wrist do you wear your timepiece on? Left
5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist (back-of-the-hand side), or the bottom (palm-side)? Top of my wrist
6. You know that little knob on your wrist? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)? I move it around because it annoys me if it’s in one place too long or if it sticks to my wrist
7. Analog or digital? Analog
8. What is the band made of – stretchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic? Snap-closed metal.
9. Do you sleep with it on? Yes. I only take it off to shower and I feel naked without it.
10. Anything else you want to share? Couple of things: I have to wear a solar watch because every single wind-up or battery-operated watch I have ever had has died for no apparent reason. I brought them to a watch maker and he said some people just kill watches and I am one of them. Solar watches are exempt from this watch destroying power of mine, so I have a Citizen Eco-Drive.

My 7th grade students cannot tell time on an analog watch anymore. I know this because when they write passes for themselves they get it wrong at least half the time or leave it blank because they can’t figure it out. I’m not kidding. They also never know the date, so maybe there is a larger problem here.

91

OK, we’ve had 79 respones. Please feel free to continue participating, but I’m not going to count any more. There were a few surprises for me. Here are some of the numbers. They don’t always add up, because I excluded answers that didn’t express a clear preference, or answers when the respondent wasn’t clear on the question (sorry if I wrote bad questions). And, sometimes, I fudged. If you have a collection of watches, I might have counted your first reply, or I might have not counted you at all. This ain’t Gallup.

Responders: 79
Male: 45 (57%)
Female: 34 (43%)
This really surprised me. For some reason, I rarely see women wearing watches. I wish my wife would wear one so we could be on time for things now and again, but that’s neither here nor there.

Age breakdown:
10-19 y/o: 1 (1%)
20-30: 19 (24%)
31-40: 20 (25%)
41-50: 24 (30%)
51-60: 13 (16%)
61-70: 2 (2%)
The under-30 crowd is well represented here. Maybe the death of the watch is not just around the corner.

Hand dominance/watchedness:
right handed, wear watch on left: 61 (78%)
right handed, right watched: 5 (6%)
left handed, right watched: 4 (5%)
left handed, left watched: 8 (10%)
I thought this was very interesting. We righties heavily favor our left wrist for watch wearing. But lefties are more likely to wear it on their left than their right. I wonder why. I wear mine on the left so it will be out of the way and because when I wore a watch with a buckled band, it was easier to fasten and unfasten with my dominant hand. Is there a cultural expectation that a watch goes on the left hand, and even lefties are influenced by it?

Which side of the wrist
Top: 75 (94%)
Bottom: 4 (5%)
Not a surprise to me. It seems awkward to me to have it on the bottom of the wrist, but the medical folks made a good case for it.

Which side of the little wrist knob (styloid process):
Above (closer to elbow): 46(62%)
Below: 28 (38%)
My dad wears his above the knob, while I’m a below man myself. it just feels tucked in nicely there between my palm and the knobby thing. I would have guessed I was in the majority on this one. Hmm.

Type:
Analog(ue): 65 (81%)
Digital: 15 (19%)

Band:
Stretchy metal: 7 (9%)
Snappy metal: 33 (43%)
Leather: 21 (27%)
Plastic: 7 (9%)
Fabric: 9 (12%)
I find the snap-closed metal bands kind of clunky. I’m surprised they’re the clear favorite among Dopers.

Sleep with it?
Yes: 19 (24%)
No: 60 (73%)
Wow. Nearly a fourth of us are intimate with our watches. I would never have guessed such a large number of folks sleep with their watches. This is evenly split between the sexes – 8/34 (23%) of women and 11/45 (24%) of men. But 2/4 (50%) of respondents who wear the face of the watch on the bottom (palm side) of their wrists wear their watches to bed. There is surely some sociological truth in that factoid.

A watch has always been a sort of “occasion” gift in my mind. My parents gave me one when I graduated from 8th grade. I got one when I graduated from high school, and one when I graduated from college. This last one is still my everyday watch. I doubt it’s particularly valuable, but watches received as gifts always seem special to me. When I got my very first watch, it was like I was crossing some kind of line. I was becoming a Young Adult, the kind of person expected to Be Places On Time. It was a nice feeling.

You can have my watch when you slide it easily off my cold, dead wrist!

Thanks to all who answered!

92

Hey, you shooed away all the non-watch-wearers. Maybe watch-wearing babes are contrarians and you sucked them out of the woodwork. Don’t jump to conclusions, the world may very well be exactly the one you observe.

93

  1. Your gender FEMALE

  2. Your approximate age 30’s

  3. Are you right-handed or left-handed? primarily Right

  4. Which wrist do you wear your timepiece on? RIGHT

  5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist (back-of-the-hand side), or the bottom (palm-side)? It’s a loose fitting bracelet style watch so it slides around

  6. You know that little knob on your wrist (the condyle, I think)? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)? see above

  7. Analog or digital? ANALOG

  8. What is the band made of – stetchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic? METAL

  9. Do you sleep with it on? YES

  10. Anything else you want to share? glad to see I’m not the only one who wears their watch on their dominant hand

94
  1. Your gender Female
  2. Your approximate age 23
  3. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right
  4. Which wrist do you wear your timepiece on? Left
  5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist or the bottom ? Top
  6. You know that little knob on your wrist (the condyle, I think)? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)? the tan line suggests below
  7. Analog or digital? Analog
  8. What is the band made of – stetchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic? Leather
  9. Do you sleep with it on? nope
  10. Anything else you want to share? Not really, other than I go through watches like crazy and rarely have one last more than a year
95

Have to keep my sword arm unencumbered in case of zombie attack!

96

I’ve tried to figure out how I ended up that way, and there are a couple of possibilities. I think the cultural influence is probably strong. I saw people put watches on their left hand, so I’m sure I imitated that at some point.

However, I also think that, at least in my case, it’s because my right hand is dominant when it comes to any type of sports throwing motion. This is where a watch would really get in the way for me. I write and eat with my left hand, but I don’t find that my watch interferes with that at all. In fact, my wife just observed tonight that I’ve got some kind of rash on my wrist that almost certainly is a result of the knob on my watch, but I never notice the knob making contact with my wrist.

97
  1. Your gender: Male
  2. Your approximate age: 45
  3. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right
  4. Which wrist do you wear your timepiece on? Left
  5. Is the face of the watch on the top of your wrist (back-of-the-hand side), or the bottom (palm-side)? Top
  6. You know that little knob on your wrist (the condyle, I think)? Does your watch rest “above” the knob (closer to your elbow) or below it (closer to your hand)? Above
  7. Analog or digital? Analog
  8. What is the band made of – stetchy metal, snap-closed metal, leather, fabric, plastic? Snap-closed metal
  9. Do you sleep with it on? Never. It would bang on the headboard and wake me up.
  10. Anything else you want to share? I spent years looking for the watch I wanted - got several as gifts, never really happy. My “nice” watch for years was a $100 Pulsar I got at Whole Earth Access; it looked sort of like a Movado Museum watch, only thinner. For daily wear, I wore multi-functional digital watches. When I escalated to management, I began to wear a nice watch every day; by this time, the Pulsar had gone out, and I eventually got my Seiko Sport watch, which has a very nice THIN construction, and a clasp that doesn’t extend past my very narrow wrist. (It’s thisone, in gold)
98
  1. Male
  2. 25
  3. Right handed
  4. Watch on left wrist.
  5. Watch face on top of wrist.
  6. Closer to my elbow
  7. Analog
  8. Snap closed metal for my regular watch/leather for my work watch.
  9. No
  10. I wear a much smaller and lighter watch to work because I work with my hands.
99

[ol][li]Male[/li][li]46[/li][li]Right-handed[/li][li]Left wrist[/li][li]Top[/li][li]Below[/li][li]Digital[/li][li]Plastic[/li][li]No[/li][li]Sharing:[ul]Has an alphanumeric ‘note’ function that I use to note the floor number where I park my car at work; when I wore an analog watch, I’d dial the ring around the face so that it pointed to the floor number. People mock me, but I never have to hunt for my car at the end of the day.[/li][li]Most (if not all) watches have their control knob on their right side, so if you wear your watch on the right hand, you’d need to curl your left hand around to use it. Is that difficult? Or do right-hand-wearers just not futz around with their watches that often? (My watch has 100 alarms (useful for reminding me of weekly meetings & such), the previously-noted note function, a monthly calendar display function and a few other miscellaneous functions, so I probably futz with it more than normal people.)[/li][li]There might be some people who wear their watches upside-down. I wouldn’t know the reason, but maybe it would be so they can show other people the time. The (3) people I know who wear two and three watches at a time usually have reasons that make sense in some twisted way, so I assume there are upside-down watch wearers out there. For this reason, I think you need to restart this poll to include this question, as well as asking about whether their watches are waterproof to 50 meters, and whether or not they’ve actually verified that.[/li][/ul][/ol]

100

[QUOTE=groo]

[li]Most (if not all) watches have their control knob on their right side, so if you wear your watch on the right hand, you’d need to curl your left hand around to use it. [/li][/QUOTE]

Not only that, but if your watch is retrofitted with a high powered laser that shoots from the control knob, there’s no way to aim it? You don’t want to be in a tough situation where you need some heavy fire power but simply end up shooting yourself in the face like a retarded Space Ghost!