Well? What’s your excuse?
Ever heard of the Apple Watch? Yeah, the whole world has. Apple being Apple, has somehow managed to revolutionize an existing product catergory while simultaneously creating (or shall I say, popularizing?) a new one. As a tech nerd, I was on the Apple Watch train and bought one as soon as it came out in 2015. Now, it’s on every wrist spanning children to grandparents.
The advancement in tech is undeniable. But now I choose to daily a “real” watch because it provides far more value than a smart watch. And yet, I’m met with the constant question - “why don’t you wear an Apple Watch? It can do so much and it improves my life in xyz way”
Do you wear an Apple Watch? How often? In what situations? If not, then, what’s your excuse?
Welcome to my WatchCrunch profile.
I don't wear a smart watch because I don't need another device trying to distract me, or keep me "connected".
I don't use Apple specifically because I hated my iPhone 4 and the silliness of iTunes.
I have an Apple Watch but don’t wear it cause of the battery life (or lack thereof). Lightning cables are ubiquitous but not so much Apple Watch chargers. Wouldn’t it be silly to be charging your watch in the middle of the day?
I work in and around a high tech environment and everyone sports an Apple Watch but no one hassles me about why I’m not wearing one. In fact, I think it helps me stand out without me shouting it front the rooftops.
The Apple arm computer is also plagued by the fake industry. The fakes sell for around 30 bucks. Analog wristwatches are a legacy thing that is not going to go away. i'm not comfortable with the electronics on my wrist because everything smart is always broadcasting a signal from your skin area. Like wireless earbuds that communicate with each other through your head. Back when cell phones were 6 wat instead of .6 wat cancer was a real threat.
I work in an environment where smart watches, cell phones etc are banned. I will not own a smart watch so I do not wear it by mistake.
Too big, too disposable, too common, generally hate Apple.
Is it that Time again for Apple Watch bashing ??!! Jeezus…
It used to be my only watch until I got sick of constantly being connected. Now I’ve seen the light and ended up here 😆.
I still wear it to track heart rate during workouts.
I don't get why people who love watches with their infinite designs, complications, bracelets and finishes would put on something that's so unrefined in it's execution that it looks like an oversized slab of very cheap plastic. Even if they made it in gold it would still look like coloured polyethylene.
And it gets worn with a suit, with an evening dress, with the family diamonds and pearls. It's just so bizarre.
Maybe counterintuitive but I use it when I don’t want to be disturbed by notifications. You can have different notification setting for Apple Watch from iPhone. I minimise the notifications on Apple Watch and put iPhone in the bag so I’m only notified with critical ones.
I also use it to do digital detox, going out with Apple Watch and leave iPhone at home. Apple Watch (cellular model) works as basic phone /messenger.
Ironically, it was the Apple Watch that got me back into this hobby! I had stopped wearing watches all together, but bought an Apple Watch for activities like hiking and bike riding, because I could download trails / maps.
After a few months on the wrist it made me realize how much I missed wearing a proper watch. Now, it collects dust unless I’m doing one of those activities or traveling (where it can’t be beat).
An Apple watch?
Nope.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooope.
Lifeless black mirror.
Everything I want is in my phone. Anything the Apple Watch can do that my phone can't, is stuff I'm not interested in. So basically my wrist is left free for a nice watch, which doubles as an accessory/jewelry, whatever you want to see it as. A soul-free tech device that looks rubbish and has built-in obsolescence doesn't fill that criteria at all. I recognise they give tech types a woody, but I couldn't care less.
I tried the whole smartwatch thing. I could never remember to charge it.
I have a Timex smart watch. I found the continual buzzing annoyed. And if I turned it off I couldn’t see the point when I have lots of beautiful traditional watches. I wear it of a night to monitor the sleeping.
But for those who love them, I encourage them.
Why do you need to track your sleep? Serious question. I’m almost 70 and never thought of tracking my sleep. I usually sleep at night.
I'm almost 60. For cycling, I track my HRV (heart rate variability - measured during sleep) as a measure of my recovery (or overtraining). I also sometimes have trouble sleeping, so I like to keep track to tell when I'm getting behind on my sleep (and my urologist is always asking how many times I get up in the middle of the night to pee 🙄).
As an aside, I have two friends whose Apple Watch detected their afib (one in her sleep).
Yes exactly!! $400-$800 every few years is the same as a couple thousand for a nice Swiss watch😂 it definitely evens out depending on your preferences
That's about what you have to budget just for recommended servicing of your Omega or Rolex.
I track HR during cycling for multiple reasons. For most people, like me if I'm training, it helps keep the activity in the correct HR zone for the workout. After the activity, the HR data lets me know how hard a workout or ride was, and allows for much more accurate estimates of calories burned. I initially detected my asymptomatic COVID-19 when my HR was 10-15bpm higher than normal during a workout. When I race, the HR data keeps me from going into the red.
Nope, no smart watch in my collection. Probably never will be either for a variety of reasons. I don’t get the appeal. The screens are to small for my poor eyesight. I already have an iPhone. And I don’t like the idea of paying a monthly fee to my cell phone provider for the watch to be on the network.
They will eventually be obsolete, or more precisely the software/iOS will be unsupported by Apple. Meanwhile my “real” watches, be they mechanical, automatics, battery or solar powered quartz will still work decades from now. Can a brand new 2023 model smart watch say it’ll be 100% functional (and hold a charge more than half a day) in 2033? 2043? I doubt it given the way the tech industry works. Anyone still using the iPhone 5 they bought when it was first released in 2013?
No small concern for me at least is smart watches are strictly verboten where I work due to security reasons (along with smart phones, cameras, recording devices, etc, basically any personal electronic device that can record data and/or wirelessly send/receive data).
And finally, to put it politely they are aesthetically challenged. More bluntly, they’re ugly.
I can see wearing a fitness tracker while exercising or for other health reasons (if needs be) though.
I do doble wrist, mechanical watch + apple watch. Apple watch is for monitoring my heart and health during the day and at the gym. People who have heart problems, it's a good to have. In the same time I can enjoy my automatic watches.
Never had one, I think they are cool and high tech. Honestly though i barely wear my Garmin. PRX Chrono has Stolen my wrist so far this Summer
I did better. I turned off the smartwatch and ditched it. It's extraordinary how my life got simplified since people realized they had to actually dial and call me if they had something to tell and how this extra effort on their side pared down useless communications.
Now you can just get rid of the phone and make people write your letters! What about carrier pigeons? I hear they’re cool! Or as the young people say OK boomer.
Now you can just get rid of the phone and make people write your letters! What about carrier pigeons? I hear they’re cool! Or as the young people say OK boomer.
Let me get it straight since I'm just an old boomer, aka member of the generation that actually started the whole digital tech revolution. Because I didn't like spending my time in the notification hell that was getting my work intruding upon my private life, I also have to rid myself from every other pieces of technology just to justify some kind of distorted view you have of myself?
Never had one, I think they are cool and high tech. Honestly though i barely wear my Garmin. PRX Chrono has Stolen my wrist so far this Summer
Smart(looking)Watch
I don't even own one, let alone wear one. Just not interested in letting technology colonize my person like it has colonized my home and office. I am well more than connected enough for my needs. 🤣
We've all lived with computers, cell phones, and Apple watches long enough for everybody to make their own assessment. Here's mine. High tech electronics should be nothing more than a very cool toy used for trivial fun things. I don't want my medical records on a computer, or banking records, or my state's electrical grid controlled by one. And it seems nobody much considered the downside of easy 24/7 connectivity. And now are we considering the downside of so many jobs we want replaced by computer and robot technology? I think the only thing a computer should ever completely replace is last year's computer.
It would be revolutionary if it would not have any bugs
Everyday Double Wristed! GALAXY 4 for Health. Watch of the Day for Joy. You have 2 wrists. Use them.
I don't have an Apple Watch. And this is (still?) America. I don't need no stinkin' excuse!
Never had one, I think they are cool and high tech. Honestly though i barely wear my Garmin. PRX Chrono has Stolen my wrist so far this Summer
Now MAN that is a seriously good looking Tissot.
I have an iPhone. I have notifications silenced on all apps except for Email and iMessage / Text. My phone sits on my desk all day, on the charger, in a little cradle, where I can see the screen at a glance. If a notification comes across, the screen lights up, I notice, and then I move on.
Conversely, at home, the phone sits on a charger as well, on the kitchen island. Same deal. I see the notifications.
Lastly, in the car, my phone sits in a cradle that hangs from the rearview mirror, so that I can operate it hands-free. Again, I see any notifications that I need to see. It stays charged, because (like the kitchen island and my office desk) I keep it plugged up to the car's battery.
Thus, ALL DAY, in all situations and scenarios, I am ultra-connected. My phone is always charged, and always visible. WHY ON EARTH WOULD I NEED ANOTHER DEVICE? 🤣
If I want to know my heart rate, or map my jogging route, I can use my FitBit; but let's be honest, I'm a middle-aged, overweight desk jockey. Not much jogging going on here. 😎
Plus, I am at the age where I am tired of being so connected all the time. I enjoy seeing my phone's screen completely black, dormant, waiting for notifications that never come. 😎
I realize the irony of being on an internet social media platform, posting about watches, reading about watches, etc., as I am complaining about my need to disconnect. But WatchCrunch is different. For one thing, it's hyper-focused on one topic. For another thing, it's ad-free. And lastly, it's far friendlier, and slower-paced than any other social platform out there, such as Facebook and Instagram. As weird as it sounds, I don't feel "connected" when I am on WatchCrunch.
Besides my aversion to the tech world (therein, another irony: I work in the tech field. I manage databases for an academic library) I am also adverse to anything that is UGLY. And the Apple Watch takes the grand prize in that category. As others have said, it's cheap-looking, and has no soul. (Caveat: The new 8-series AWs have Aluminum, Stainless Steel, and Titanium case options, and those come with either Ion-X glass, or synthetic sapphire crystal displays, so we can't say "cheap hunk of plastic" anymore, LOL 🤣 But in my opinion, they're still ugly. 😎)
But who would want to wear an Apple Watch when they could be wearing a Tissot Classic Dream?
Oh no, another drop-dead gorgeous Tissot. I know just how you feel. I like my Tissot so much I wrote a story on WatchCrunch that you might enjoy called "My Conversation with Mademoiselle Tissot" if you are a Tissot fan.
Man you have a good looking watch. And I don't even like Roman numerals. But I wouldn't change a thing.
I have one that I won playing bingo at work. I wear it when I run so I can track my mileage and my heart rate. Otherwise it sits in a drawer. It’s ugly and I don’t like being pestered by notifications all day.