What it means to wear a watch

Wearing a watch means much more than checking the time. For hundreds of years, men and women relied on pocket watches, and wrist watches after the 1930’s, to tell the time. During the 21^st century, wearing a watch has become less about relying on it (after all, we have phones in our pockets and laptops to tell the time) and more about the statement wearing a watch presents.

Some people choose to wear a smartwatch such as an Apple Watch or Samsung Gear. Although these devices tell the time (obviously,) they also connect you to your phone and show information such as incoming texts, emails, and notifications. But what about the rest of the watch-wearing population? Why would you wear something as archaic as a watch?

Well, as someone who considers himself somewhat of a fashionable young person, I wear a watch because it shows attention to detail. It shows that despite having a device in my pocket that can answer virtually every question in the world, I choose to “unplug” from technology by wearing a watch (most of the time, a vintage watch, or something from the Égard watch company.) Watches come in all shapes and sizes – and internally, can house a quartz movement (battery powered,) or an automatic movement (which is wound without a battery, and by the oscillation of a rotor.) It may seem like a simple act to put on a watch every day; but for me, it is usually the first thing people notice about me. (That, or my glasses.)

There is a subsection of the population that is obsessed with watches – the type of people who stay up until 1 a.m. to outbid someone on eBay…that sort of person. But for the rest of us, wearing a watch is a statement about our population, a population that is far too reliant on technology. Some of the greatest style icons in history (think Steve McQueen or James Dean) wore some killer watches – why not join their ranks?