# Wrist watch garrote **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445 "2014-11-23T23:23:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445/21 "2014-11-25T21:00:31Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You need a mechanism inside the watch that allows you to extend, say, 18 inches of wire or whatever, with which you have to apply a substantial amount of force. **There’s a reason garrottes are normally constructed with handles**. That would be the big hurdle, yeah. You can use the wristwatch’d wrist as an anchor point, but your other hand needs something in order to be able to pull the wire hard enough to strangle the dude. Your fingertips clinging to a fake adjustment knob aren’t going to do the trick ; a single finger’s ring will break that finger. I suppose you could loop the string around 4 fingers of your other hand, but you’re going to hurt yourself a lot doing that. Also the guards will only have to look for the guy with the big red line across his knuckles 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445/22 "2014-11-25T23:44:23Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Are there legitimate stores that sell garrottes? Maybe _Bob’s Garrotte Emporium_ or _Garrottes “R” Us_? Yes, down in the Garotte District. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445/23 "2014-11-26T00:08:11Z")
Rear naked chokes are easy and effective. I can’t imagine that the risk of getting caught with a concealed lethal weapon is worth the slight added benefit. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445/24 "2014-11-26T22:30:47Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > The wire-cutting-through-the-neck effect seen in movies and novels would reqire a ridiculous amount of force. I’m not sure it could even be done manually. Really? I would think messy, partial decapitation would be nearly unavoidable with a length of piano wire applied as a garotte. Given a forearm is far more inconspicuous and a sleeper hold reasonably quick, it seems a bit of nastiness is about all the garotte would bring to the game–otherwise why bother? ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445/25 "2014-11-26T22:46:57Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > It keeps one time accurately. > > “Time to die!” “Either he’s dead or my watch has stopped.” ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445/26 "2014-11-27T00:18:12Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > Really? I would think messy, partial decapitation would be nearly unavoidable with a length of piano wire applied as a garotte. Given a forearm is far more inconspicuous and a sleeper hold reasonably quick, it seems a bit of nastiness is about all the garotte would bring to the game–otherwise why bother? Try it yourself on a raw roast or animal carcass. I don’t think you’ll report much success cutting meat and bone with wire. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445/28 "2021-05-17T15:27:18Z")
I prefer the bolito from “The Counselor”. It’s a battery operated garrote that you slip over someone’s neck and it tightens by itself. I think we had a discussion about it back then. > **[Bolito device from The Counselor movie (Cartel) | Cartel, Technical...](https://in.pinterest.com/pin/648799890041689642/)** > > Aug 12, 2014 - The Bolito is a battery-powered strangulation device from The Counselor movie (Cartel) Ridley Scott (2013) adapted from Cormac McCarthy's book. After seeing the Ridley Scott movie I did not find any information about the Bolito, so I... ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445/29 "2021-05-17T17:18:54Z")
Something similar was used in an episode of The Saint in the UK (with Ian Ogilvy as ST) in the 1980s ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445/30 "2021-05-17T19:53:53Z")
Assuming the user wants it to retract back into the watch afterward, she’s left with a lot of the victim’s DNA coiled up inside it. Surely, it would scrape some skin cells even if it doesn’t cut the skin enough to get bloody. Maybe Breitling provides a cleaning kit. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2021, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445/31 "2021-05-18T13:24:37Z")
You know what bothers me about “Red” Grant’s wristwatch garrote in _From Russia with Love_? It retracts, with that nifty pawl-and-ratchet sound. Even after being used to very forcefully strangle someone wearing a Bond mask. I have tape measures that no longer retract, and my seat belts frequently flop around rather than properly spooling up. I swear,. if I was an international assassin and had one of those wristwatch garrotes, it would stop self-spooling after the first five times I used it. I’d end up simply winding the excess around my wrist and tucking the little handle thing underneath. And I’d always be making up lame excuses for why I had a nylon cord wrapped around my wrist. “Oh, this? It’s just my dental floss. I floss a lot.” ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445/32 "2021-05-20T07:05:49Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > But wouldn’t you only need to cut off the blood supply to the brain? In the UFC, for example, people get put to sleep on a regular basis with a forearm. I assume that the sleeper hold presses the sides of the neck, to cut off blood flow. A garrote doesn’t do that, and it’s always been suggested that garroting requires much more force - enough to crush the throat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrist-watch-garrote/705445.md?page=1)