Is time running out for the wristwatch? BBC Wonders...

Pompidou · Oct 29, 2010

Here's the link. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11634105

I have to agree. I don't know why I wear one. My phone keeps better time, doesn't leave tan lines, and I don't have to manually adjust the date every other month because the unvarying 31 day dial is only accurate a month at a time. My phone can do everything. I like watches. I'll wear one regardless, but I'm a growing rarity. My friends don't wear watches. What do you think?

MisterGrey · Oct 29, 2010

The phone's become, in that regard, a retread of the pocket watch. Even if the wristwatch ever wanes in popularity, ultimately, a group of people will tire of the annoyance of having to fish out their cell phones to check the time and the wristwatch will begin to rise in popularity for the reason it did in the first place. Granted, "atomic" wristwatches with digital displays that set themselves may overtake the classic hands-around-the-face design, but wristwatches as an accessory/tool that you can look at by casting your eyes a certain direction are simply more convenient than something you have to cart around in your pocket.

DesertDan · Oct 29, 2010

I wear a wristwatch almost every single day, always have and always will.

conrad5157 · Oct 29, 2010

I'll always wear one. I like the way it looks and feels and it just doesn't feel right to leave the house bare wristed. Funny though, when I get home it's the first thing that comes off.
Yeah I can see time running out or at least until the i-wrist i-cell i-pad i-phone is readily available. Then I guess they'll make sort of a comeback.

Geesie · Oct 29, 2010

A cell phone is a cheap plastic gadget that fills a function.
A watch is a classy piece of jewelry that also fills a function.

I know what the masses will choose and I know what I prefer.

Smithy · Oct 29, 2010

You won't catch me not wearing a wristwatch and that's not going to change!

To be honest I don't really like mobile phones. I have one but only use it for the odd text message and call. I certainly don't use it to organise my life, play games, go on the internet, order a pizza, tell me where I am, etc.

This is another over-reliance by people on their mobiles. Honestly if all the electronic gadgetry packed up, 80% of the population in western countries wouldn't have a clue what to do and would be completely lost.

scottyrocks · Oct 29, 2010

I will continue to wear a wristwatch for the same reason I dont use either my phone or pocket watches nearly as much - because the wristwatch is so much more easily accessible.

Widebrim · Oct 29, 2010

DesertDan said:
I wear a wristwatch almost every single day, always have and always will.

:arated:

Pompidou · Oct 29, 2010

Smithy said:
You won't catch me not wearing a wristwatch and that's not going to change!

To be honest I don't really like mobile phones. I have one but only use it for the odd text message and call. I certainly don't use it to organise my life, play games, go on the internet, order a pizza, tell me where I am, etc.

This is another over-reliance by people on their mobiles. Honestly if all the electronic gadgetry packed up, 80% of the population in western countries wouldn't have a clue what to do and would be completely lost.

That last paragraph reads a lot like me. I would be hopeless without Google maps - one of my phone's most used features. Where can I get something to eat? Where's the nearest gas station? Then there's the internet. What movies are out? Back to Google maps to find the nearest theater. Wikipedia/Google for those questions people ask that bug you till you get the answer. Games to pass the time when I'm stuck waiting around. Music instead of carrying CDs. I don't know how I ever lived without one. It's my entire social life inside my pocket. I'd sooner give up my laptop and my wristwatch than my iPhone - especially now that I figured out how to text message and email facebook and twitter statuses. My watch is cool - a Citizen Ecodrive with lots of extra dials to make people say "ooh", but it can't tell the world my latest thought every 30 seconds when I have something new to announce.

I understand the whole fishing out of pocket vs conveniently on one's wrist argument. It should be true 90% of the time. That said, it's pretty rare to see a cellphone not clasped firmly in one's palm. I often walk with it out, ready to go. I usually drive with it in one of my truck's cup holders, plugged into the cigarette lighter to stay charged. Considering how many people seem to have the phone out at any given time, I think the phone may rival the watch for convenience in a significant number of cases. In fact, as a complete counter argument, there are times, in winter primarily, when I have so many layers to fight to gain access to the wrist watch, that it's faster just to grab my phone.

James71 · Oct 29, 2010

Wrist watch?

I still carry a pocket watch.....

(and a phone)

Michael Carter · Oct 29, 2010

I'm more apt to forget the phone when leaving home, but I would never forget to wear a watch. I'm rather fanatical about time, so a watch is a must for me.

ScionPI2005 · Oct 29, 2010

DesertDan said:
I wear a wristwatch almost every single day, always have and always will.

Simply put! Wristwatches are faster and easier to look at, and allows for a sense of personal style and taste.

Tomasso · Oct 29, 2010

Home....car....watch....these are long held cultural signifiers that I don't see changing anytime soon. The article has been an annual retread for the last decade. If and when these youngsters who eschew watches become high earners they will buy a Rolex. Also, the elite Swiss watch makers have had record sales (unit and price) for the last twenty years.

theinterchange · Oct 29, 2010

I have zero zilch absolutely no clue why people think CELL PHONES are replacing watches. I never look at the time on my phone, I look at my wrist. I don't have to flip something or hit a button to see my watch face.

Having said that I have a deep and abiding loathing for cell phones. I cannot stand the things, yet I've owned one for years for "emergencies". [which have only once or twice occurred in that time period.] It's my personal belief that texting has broken down the intelligence of conversation. l o l [had to break that one up so it doesn't go to the laughing smiley], rotfl, lmao, do u no wut I meen? I hear these phrases uttered in SPOKEN conversations.

Pompidou · Oct 29, 2010

theinterchange said:
I have zero zilch absolutely no clue why people think CELL PHONES are replacing watches. I never look at the time on my phone, I look at my wrist. I don't have to flip something or hit a button to see my watch face.

Having said that I have a deep and abiding loathing for cell phones. I cannot stand the things, yet I've owned one for years for "emergencies". [which have only once or twice occurred in that time period.] It's my personal belief that texting has broken down the intelligence of conversation. l o l [had to break that one up so it doesn't go to the laughing smiley], rotfl, lmao, do u no wut I meen? I hear these phrases uttered in SPOKEN conversations.

I like to remain optimistic and believe that texting is simply evolving the language in its natural progression, as things have changed from Beowulf to Canterbury Tales to Romeo and Juliet to Huck Finn to your neighbor's little boy's text message to his pals. Does it put a smile on your face imagining cuz, wut, u, ur, b4, lol, etc - in the Oxford English Dictionary? It certainly makes me chuckle. I think it'll be the case before I die. I also think that 5-6 generations from now, old folks who used cuz, wut, u, ur, etc as every day proper vocabulary will bemoan the further evolution of the language, as it further simplifies into a form I can't fathom at the moment - perhaps a language composed entirely of smilies, as I notice I should've separated my l o l earlier, like you did.

B.J. Hedberg · Oct 29, 2010

I’d say the good old wristwatch as a basic timepiece, without all the expensive doodads, gizmos, and gadgets, is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

But then I personally see non-basic cell phones as the fad du jour - this era’s Pong. I can’t stand them myself. I’d rather have a pretty secretary and a landline that lets me understand who is calling without all the static.

Of course right now I have neither!

Yeps · Oct 29, 2010

I never wear a wristwatch and haven't for years. Between playing various sports, spending most of my time as a teenager in dance studios, and throughout it performing all the time, I just had to take it off too much, and I could never keep track of one. Now I am just uncomfortable wearing it.

I do largely use my phone to keep time, but that is only because the cheap pocketwatch I had been using has recently decided it does not like keeping accurate time.

Most of my peers do not own, or ever plan on owning a wristwatch. They are going to be carrying a phone anyway, why have something else just to tell time?

I do like wristwatches though, I just am not comfortable wearing them.

B.J. Hedberg · Oct 29, 2010

Yeps said:
Most of my peers do not own, or ever plan on owning a wristwatch. They are going to be carrying a phone anyway, why have something else just to tell time?

A few years back when I was in retail management, my younger employees – fresh out of school – would say exactly the same thing. Of course they were all soon wearing watches when they learned the dress code forbade cell phone use during working hours for any reason, even for looking at the time! I always enjoyed enforcing that particular policy.

Gilboa · Oct 29, 2010

Although I like wrist watches to look at, personally I cannot wear them. As soon as they are arround my wrist, they stop working and I have given up trying.

Generally, being surrounded by clocks/watches, makes me feel 'scheduled' and 'rushed'. When using public transport, I rely on public clocks or sometimes my mobile phone, or other people's watches

Otherwise, its my inner clock, which seems to be ticking nicely so far.

Spitfire · Oct 29, 2010

Smithy said:
You won't catch me not wearing a wristwatch and that's not going to change!

To be honest I don't really like mobile phones. I have one but only use it for the odd text message and call. I certainly don't use it to organise my life, play games, go on the internet, order a pizza, tell me where I am, etc.

This is another over-reliance by people on their mobiles. Honestly if all the electronic gadgetry packed up, 80% of the population in western countries wouldn't have a clue what to do and would be completely lost.

I am totally with you on that one.
A watch is more than just telling time. Maybe it's a historic peace - or has a personal history attached to it. (Pulp fiction!!! - and when my son got my old Rolex when he graduated. A watch he always rembered on my arm - ever since his childhood.)
Or maybe it's one of the only pieces of jewelry us men can wear without feeling out of place.

Cellphones are for telephonecalls - or short written messages. If I need to take a picture I have a camera. If I need to listen to music, I have a perfect hi-fi set in my home.
And I seldom get's lost - and if I do, I enjoy it.

To be off-line, un-plugged and un-reachable is the new black!!!!!

Is time running out for the wristwatch? BBC Wonders...

One Too Many

Practically Family

One Too Many

One of the Regulars

Practically Family

I'll Lock Up

I'll Lock Up

I'll Lock Up

One Too Many

A-List Customer

One of the Regulars

Call Me a Cab

Incurably Addicted

One Too Many

One Too Many

Practically Family

Call Me a Cab

Practically Family

One of the Regulars

I'll Lock Up

Similar threads

Log in

Forum statistics