wristwatches

[jayne lee wilson]

I'm always drawn to watches, especially analogue ones. Perhaps it's the resemblance to that ultra-analogue of timekeepers, the sundial. Like ancient stone circles, they seem to relate the anthropological to the cosmological.

This Classic Mondaine Swiss Railway design (dating back to 1944, by Hans Hilfiker) is the only watch I've worn for many years now, whenever I go out, or to time some fast cookery, like a flash-fry.
I wear one on each wrist - the smaller one that goes on my right wrist used to belong to my Mother.

[Pulcinella]

Do they need to?

In absolute terms, perhaps not, but I would consider it a fairly basic 'skill'.
Not everywhere has digital displays (even stations might have a classc old analogue clock alongside the digital display boards), and I can't imagine that the costly overhaul of 'Big Ben' is going to change its display format.

[Petrushka]

For 25 years I've had a watch that doesn't need a battery but works off body movement. It's kept perfect time until it started to falter last year and has now given up. As it seems to be impossible to find anyone to repair it and, as I feel naked without one, I must confess to still wearing it despite it being entirely useless! I now use the phone to check the time.

[Pulcinella]

For 25 years I've had a watch that doesn't need a battery but works off body movement. It's kept perfect time until it started to falter last year and has now given up. As it seems to be impossible to find anyone to repair it and, as I feel naked without one, I must confess to still wearing it despite it being entirely useless! I now use the phone to check the time.

It's right twice a day: just hard to know exactly when.

Are you sure it's not your own body movements that have stopped? All that airmchair listening to your concerts?

[Richard Tarleton]

Another vote for watches. They're hands-free - telling the time on my iPhone takes both hands, getting it out, pressing the button to wake it up, keying in my PIN.....I realise many people have their phones in their hands all the time anyway so don't have to do this

There's a lot to be said, for instance in a social setting, for being able to check the time with a discreet glance at your watch to judge whether you can politely leave (or hint that it's time for someone else to ).

[greenilex]

What about computers worn on the wrist to check exercise steps, messages etc.? Has any of those been really successful? I guess the space available is just too small for reading comfortably. An analogue disc is succinct.

[antongould]

What about computers worn on the wrist to check exercise steps, messages etc.? Has any of those been really successful? I guess the space available is just too small for reading comfortably. An analogue disc is succinct.

Can’t answer that but on my left wrist I have a Fitbit to participate in the family steps contest and on my right wrist a good old wristwatch. If I want to find the time guess which I go to ...... ?????

[Pulcinella]

Can’t answer that but on my left wrist I have a Fitbit to participate in the family steps contest and on my right wrist a good old wristwatch. If I want to find the time guess which I go to ...... ?????

Out of interest (nosiness, more like!) are you left or right handed, anton?
I see a fair few right-handed people wearing watches on their right wrists, which I've never quite understood. In the good old days of having to wind them up I would have thought that the position of the mechanism made that awkward!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

In absolute terms, perhaps not, but I would consider it a fairly basic 'skill'.

But not a necessary one - why waste all that time & effort learning something when there's an easier alternative?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QVPUIRGthI

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Another vote for watches. They're hands-free -

Only the digital ones.

[antongould]

Out of interest (nosiness, more like!) are you left or right handed, anton?
I see a fair few right-handed people wearing watches on their right wrists, which I've never quite understood. In the good old days of having to wind them up I would have thought that the position of the mechanism made that awkward!

Brilliant Holmes ........ left-handed

[Pulcinella]

But not a necessary one - why waste all that time & effort learning something when there's an easier alternative?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QVPUIRGthI

And the third hand is the second hand.


But how do you explain the lovely word widdershins if you have no concept/understanding of clockwise and anticlockwise in the first place?
OK: understanding the concept is not necessarily to do with actually being able to tell the time, I grant you.

[LMcD]

I recently replaced my old-style watch with a £6.99 digital model which is accurate to within about 1 second a month and also tells me the day of the week and the date. Apparently the battery which came fitted should last between 7 and 10 years. All a bit of a no-brainer really.

[Pianorak]

Snap! (I have four wrist watches, in fact, all used for different occasions. I love wristwatches - and the most reliable I own were the cheapest Argos had on offer: I've had them for over ten years, and have spent far, far more on replacement batteries - and leather straps - than I did on the things themselves.)

Batteries? I have one solar-powered and one kinetic plus an ancient automatic. Batteries are just a rip-off (worse than funeral directors). My sister gave me a Swatch watch (too big, never wear it). The shop wanted £15 to replace the battery. Opened the back (easy), looked at the battery number and got one online for £0.99.

[Pulcinella]

Batteries? I have one solar-powered and one kinetic plus an ancient automatic. Batteries are just a rip-off (worse than funeral directors). My sister gave me a Swatch watch (too big, never wear it). The shop wanted £15 to replace the battery. Opened the back (easy), looked at the battery number and got one online for £0.99.

You might have ruined any water-resistant property though: the shop should guarantee ensuring that/replacings seals etc.