Everybody I know (except my sister who is only just starting to use the remote for her telly) has a mobile thingy somewhere about their person. And the younger they are, the more complex their devices. Something to do with apps and uploads – whatever they may be. So as I was noticing yet another Rolex ad on t’telly the other day, I thought, “Why do people bother? ‘Cos I don’t.” OK, I’ll modify that. I realise that fashion victims have to display bejewelled time-pieces as a mark of their wealth/coolness/superiority, but normal people really don’t need one, do they, even if they work at two hundred fathoms? Just nudge your ikit and check the time in every time-zone imaginable. And the same goes of course for alarm clocks, grandfather clocks and Big Ben himself. Surplus to requirements, redundant, as useful as a chocolate teapot, if Christopher will allow me.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Môre Janus
Haven’t worn a watch in years, my cellphone has one as does my car, I get by quite comfortably thank you. I have noticed that the first thing that Lewis, Jenson, Tiger, Andy look for before receiving their cheques / trophies is a watch (and apparently BIG is better when it comes to wrist adornments!)
I recall receiving a watch years ago (pre cellphone era (B.C. perhaps!)), good for a depth of 100m it had on the back, I recall saying at the time that the only time it would get there was if it fell off my arm 😉
Good morning Janus. I have not worn a watch for many years. But even before the ubiquity of the mobile phone, I often went for long periods without one. I was often surprised by how accurate I became at estimating the time.
A friend of mine was involved in a business importing luxury watch straps. He maintained that many people changed theirs every 6 months. And these were not cheap. But the business had begun to decline about 10 years ago, so increasingly people are apparently not wearing watches. Nevertheless I am always amazed by the number of companies with watches on sale, especially in the duty free areas of airports.
Yes, I gave up my watch before the electronic revolution. Businesss was so ruled by time that when I moved on, I consigned my watch to the T-shirt drawer. While I was teaching the school had clocks all over too – so I could remain timeless.
Janus, back end of 2011 I had an interview with the LOCOG people for a 3 month job in connection with the Olympics. The day before the interview, and quite unplanned, I bought a Rotary black ceramic watch, not cheap either. I thought it would be a useful clothing accessory at the interview, expecting to be asked a question on the importance of timing or punctuality. I would then have disclosed that the watch was especially bought for the job. It was an informal interview and I allowed my sleeve to roll up up a bit to show off this rather chunky piece of engineering. However, the question did not materialise. Nonetheless I was offered a job with LOCOG some months later but at that time I was already working in a school. As we are not allowed to use mobile phones on duty I rely on the watch continuously to check the time as I move from class to class AND have playground duties as well. From my experience, many teachers do not wear watches at all and I am constantly asked the time by teachers and support staff on duty in the playground. I love the watch but prior to last year had hardly ever worn one for 30 years or more.
Like others, I gave up wearing a watch a while ago. I used to live by it with such tenacity that the ubiquitous mobile phone notwithstanding, most of the time I can tell what the time is, give or take a few minutes.
Oh Dear! I love my watch… it’s small, neat and looks like a gold bracelet. I don’t wear it around the house – but I’m lost without it when I go out. It is far more convenient to look at my wrist than to drag my mobile phone out of my handbag.
There are times when knowing the right time is important like meeting my daughter, who’s on a very tight schedule, for lunch or catching a train which only runs every half-an-hour.
Good to see you here, Shermeen. 🙂
Hi, Shermeen! 🙂
I wear a watch: it helps me take a pulse or two. 🙂
I wear a small bracelet watch all the time these days, don’t even bother to take it off at night it is so comfortable. I never used to wear one at business being self employed but now I find I do so many visits and elderly people get very upset if you are late etc, best to be on time! Plus so many meetings.
I can easily understand that people who were employed and at other’s beck and call remove time when they retire, I’ve just reversed it all. I used to have a mobile phone when at business so staff could get me, now I don’t bother, there is one old cheapo in the house but nobody has bought it any call time in the last couple of years. As for an I-phone, not likely! Nobody’s business but my own where I am at any point in time, and as for maps I carry them in my head.
I have a suspicion that people that rely on technology like that instead of their brains are likely to get alzheimers far more quickly than those that actually still think. No app for that!!!
Salaam, Shermeen!
I wear a watch. Yes, I am old-fashioned. Call it what you want. I’m frequently amazed at how many people
stop to ask me the time. Their mobile phones are often stuffed deep down in their purses, their rucksacks, or they just can’t be bothered. There is also a more fundamental reason for my habit. I need to keep time, but I also want to be unreachable. I do not want to have my mobile phone number out so that people can call me whenever they bleeding well feel like it. And Janus, you are strictly forbidden from handling chocolate teapots unless I get some amusement out of it.
CO: you expressed my sentiments better than I did, thank you. Most people in my generation are no longer able to write in cursive. I can still do so with ease. In fact, that’s usually how I write. Most people in my generaion also do not have respect for proper writing implements. My ferret pens serve me well.
I wear a watch – quick glance at the wrist is much easier than taking out my iPhone, pressing the button to start it up then squinting at the little numbers at the top of the screen.
On Rolexes. Theres an old piece of wisdom that points out that a poor man spends more money on boots than a rich man…
Same thing with watches. Once in the not too dim and distant past I was talking to a mate from the Army catering Corps about his Rolex. (Stainless steel, no diamonds or other sparkly stuff,) and he pointed out that since he bought it in 1970-something, (the conversation would have been in the late 80’s,) it had been dropped, pounded, immersed in blood and guts, (of the animal-prepared for food variety,) scummy, sudsy water, mud, oil, sand, swamp… and was still going strong. Then he asked me how many watches I had owned in that time…
On not wearing a watch. I am always careful to be on time for meetings, appointments etc. It seems to me that it is rude and arrogant – my time is worth more than yours – to do anything else. If someone turns up late to a meeting which I am managing, they find that it will have started, on time, without them. If someone turns up late for an appointment with me, they will find that I have moved on and they have the choice of buggering off and re-arranging, or hanging around until I can find time in my schedule to do a bit of a re-wind. They may be lucky…