Opinion on "watches are not necessary anymore"

Batteries drain, mechanicals and solars can go decades potentially

I hate using the phone for the time, in fact I can't remember the last time I did it. I prefer to leave it in my pocket as much as possible.

I haven't found a smart watch that looks nice enough to be on my wrist (and that's ignoring the built-in obsolescence problem, or the email etc alerts).

Also I do a lot of timed performance testing, much easier with a one push chrono.

So, as well as being a pretty piece of jewellery it's very much required.

I am not allowed to have a smart watch or phone at work and I enjoy having the time easily accessible when away from my desk thus what got me back into watches after being away from collecting for a time.

Of course any general statement is subject to exceptions. For you, they may be necessary. For a large portion of people (myself included) they may be not strictly necessary but still convenient, and beautiful of course!

I work in IT and love technology. Having a minor in Sociology, I'm keenly interested in how technology influences society and how society drives technology. Being a gearhead, I love how technology has improved the safety and performance of our vehicles. As an amateur photographer, I really love how technology has influenced photography and absolutely love the digital photography revolution that occurred. And finally, I love the convenience of a smart phone and the various apps that solve problems or make our lives more convenient.

And after all that, I still love having a watch, old-school style. And how many of us have clocks on our walls at home? Did you get rid of them because you now have a smart phone? Nope.

I don't think smart watches will take over completely, just as quartz watches didn't. There will always be a market for those of us who appreciate a mechanical timepiece versus having a computer on our wrists.

I want to say these are the same idiots that think putting a paper check in the literal mail is hopelessly outdated, but for the general populace, watches have always been conveniences.

First of all, exactly how many times per day really matter? I doubt I'm special in just wanting to show up and leave work at about the right time, and maybe have a lunch or some other meeting at a specified time. I'm not dropping off ransoms at timed checkpoints or anything. Secondly, time displays are pretty common. Every modern car has them readily visible, as does any computer monitor or other electronic device. Worst case, one can use a cell phone. If I'm outside of civilization, I'm not sure why I'm so concerned about the time.

One can quibble about how great of a convenience a watch is, and that varies greatly, but I doubt anyreal hardship is typically endure when a watch stops. As one with several quartz watches, this happens a few times a year. Typically I notice, am mildly irked, and life goes on. No hostages die or anything. Also, my phone has a compass, GPS, maps, alarms, timers, etc.

I think "watches aren't necessary anymore" is one of those statements people make that reflect their lifestyle, more than some broader truth. If you work indoors in an office or retail setting, having your phone at hand all the time might make sense, but lots of people don't work in that world.

Definitely not necessary. Mostly use mine as jewelry. It's convenient not to have to pull my phone out all the time but honestly I am rarely out of line of sight of something that tells the time whether that is a clock, computer, work phone, microwave, etc.

They are talking in the macro view

There are always exceptions to the macro view.

Could I get away without wearing a watch? Absolutely. Do I want to wear a watch? Absolutely.

Lifestyle item. We like to comfort ourselves by imagining that the most adventurous and hardworking people in the world are still using mechanical watches, but they're mostly not. I do a lot of sales to wealthy farmers, and that world certainly doesn't share a lot of preferences with the enthusiast world (it's mostly solar Citizens out there).

I work a freelance desk job and set my own hours, so if anything my life is marked by a distinct lack of any need for precision. What's my excuse? It just makes me feel good to set an automatic to atomic time every morning.

Is that a Christopher ward?

Spot on Pallet_Fork, it is interesting to see how the social minds work and goes up and down in history. Industrial versus handmade. For a lot of people, they run on gadgets (a wristwatch once was😋) the technology you can have at hand is superb, but not for everyone.

I had/have an Apple Watch ⌚️. But had it with all the check ups and whatever. So it is in the bottom drawer.( One day it will be next to my broken watches. )

I do check my watch from time to time, to check the time.🤪 but since I’m a geek on watches. I just stare at the dial or hands🥹.

I did an observation test for a while in the past. -If someone checked his watch, ask the person what time it was.. they didn’t?!

It was a reflex.-

The new symbiotics will arise, connected analog watches.

The phone is intrusive enough, a nice watch brings me joy!

Many things are not “necessary”, but still interesting or important. 🤓

Yes it is.

That's exactly correct. The need must be imagined by most.

I think the OP phrased it wrong - a watch beyond a $20 Casio is not necessary - everything else is jewelry that happens to tell the time.

I have worn watches as long as I remember. I'm not a smartphone guy, even though I can get them for free through my wireless carrier. I don't like pulling my phone out of my pocket to check the time. That's just annoying. I collect watches because they are unique in their own way and at least in my case, they are conversation pieces. Watches will not die. For example: Early civilizations had sundials and now we have watches that use the sun and artificial light to power the watch. Awesome 👌

In my experience? Lots of truly mind-boggling vehicle collections, made possible by the large amount of garage space available to a rural business. There are also a lot of conspicuous property improvements and pieces of machinery that serve the same signaling function as jewelry. I suspect that their $500 Eco-Drives are still very much also a status purchase, they just don't know that Citizen isn't a favourite enthusiast brand. A few boomers do wear Rollies that have been visibly beat to hell, but I find this is a common trait among all men in that age bracket. (Note: I love Citizen and some of their Japan-only models really are Grand Seiko killers, but they aren't doing themselves any favours by keeping all the best stuff domestic.)

Lots of interesting things to note about farmer style... the pendulum has swung far towards casual and leisure wear. But, similar to Silicon Valley, it's easy to wear sweatpants when you own a multimillion-dollar business. I always dress more conservatively than my customers as a sign of respect, similar to the strategy employed by young lawyers. (And don't skimp on getting a good pair of boots!)

I definitely think that depending on the person, a watch can still be a necessary thing just based on the simplicity and reliability compared to a smart wearable. I used to own an Apple Watch at a time when I was working a lot of 24 hour shifts, and often it would run out of battery before I got back to my bed to charge it. Just having something you can quickly glance at and do nothing day to day to maintain makes a lot of sense to me. Now, recently buying a Casio AE-1200 for fun has really emphasized to me that everything fancier I wear instead of it is a downgrade in functionality, and definitely most of what I wear is not at all out of necessity. But I still like them!

A watch is definitely a convenience, a very quick way to tell the time, with the least amount of effort.

Other than that it is jewelry, one of the few forms of jewelry for men that is almost universally accepted.

I think this kind of statement ranks up there with: "How many watches does one person need?", or "Nobody needs 500 HP!", etc. There is a story out there that relates to us that Albert Einstein didn't wear socks. When asked why he answered "they aren't necessary, I have shoes." I don't know if this is true but I do know that he was smarter than most of the people I know. I also know most of the people I know wear socks. I guess we're just not smart enough to abandon our watches so we have one more reason to look at our smart phone.

How is my definition absurd?

You reduced necessity to the absurd(world altering), ergo your definition is absurd. The internet is far from a necessity, it's handy, but people lived long and full lives well before it ever came around.

Just because you can't imagine a situation where watches are requires does not mean they don't exist.

I guess Teddy's argument was about watches being unnecessary as time-telling tools, and it's a very valid point: You can tell time in many different ways without resorting to a quick check on your wrist.

Nonetheless, this funny thing happened the other day and made me reconsider that statement: The current Mexican government (which, even for our low standards, is a complete and utter catastrophe) decided to abandon the practice of "daylight savings time". I'll save you the ridiculous explanation they gave to justify the measure, but in the end they told the population that nobody had to wake up at a different time on the usual time-changing date. No big deal, right?

Well, the day when we were supposed to adjust the time on our watches, a great deal of Android-based devices didn't quite get the memo and went ahead with the adjustment anyway. Social media went bonkers with people wondering which was the correct time… While most of us watch collectors just smiled smugly during the entire ordeal. 😉

I understand that it might be unnecessary to use a watch. However, it's a massive pain to pull out the phone to check the time only to be distracted. A watch does it's job quickly and it's gets out of the way just as fast. That's worthwhile

As I pointed out, you have chosen the most ridiculous definition of necessity to justify your position.

By your definition, as I stated earlier, nothing but food, water, shelter, and air are necessities. Rice isn't a necessity, it can be replaced with other food sources. Humans lived before agriculture. The internet is about as far from a necessity as something can possibly be...

You have successfully demonstrated exactly why this discussion is pointless, because someone will always reduce it to the absurd, just to claim victory for their point of view.

I’ve just always enjoyed wearing a watch. Maybe I grew up in another era that watches were the way you knew what tone it was. I also enjoy all different types and styles. I have several timex with 4 complications all analog and I have several that are ProTreks that have quad sensors and are mechanical and digital together. I’m an outdoors man and my watches are my tools. Plus all of mine are great conversation starters for people that don’t know that much about all types of watches.

Not necessary? Neither is an iPhone. I like being able to glance at my wrist to quickly tell the time. It's faster than taking my phone out of my pocket and unlocking it...