Nobody notices your watch is a Myth.
I have noticed something quite often both here and in/on other watch related conversations.
It seems to come up quite a bit in posts were some ask if "x" watch is appropriate for "x" activity, or what does "x" say about me, or i got this special watch and no one notices, why?
The common response is "no one notices your watch, wear whatever you want, whenever you want" etc., etc. Or if they do notice, i don't care what other people think.
While I whole heartedly agree you should buy and wear whatever makes you happy, the statement that no one notices your watch is false and it's in your best interest to care what other think.
Everyone you come in contact with notices your watch.
They also notice a myriad other things about you. From simple obvious thing like choice of attire, shoes and grooming, too slightly less obvious things like posture, body language, and mannerism, people pick upon it and make quick subconscious judgements about you.
Its called thin-slicing and it is incredibly powerful.
Facts
Other people do notice your watch.
There are appropriate and inappropriate watches for different activities and settings.
People noticing your watch and people commenting on your watch are two hugely different things.
Tell me I am wrong.
Noticing & commenting are different things. People notice & say nothing all the time. Look at the comments vs. views of almost any post here on WC and views almost always outnumber comments & always outnumber the count of people commenting.
Caring what others think though has a limit. Yes, I should not wear pajamas all day everyday & I should bathe & brush my teeth, etc.
But if I am judged because the watch I wore with my suit was a dive watch & not a dress watch, well, what else are they bigoted about? I don't want to be around those people.
I can't please everyone, so I'm not gonna try.
"There are appropriate and inappropriate watches for different activities and settings."
I do not subscribe to this idea.
There are millions of people who wear a "tool watch" Rolex, with a suite and tie or even tux.
There are millions of people who wear western boots with suites and tie, and I happen to be one of them.
I EFF'ing love these "tell me I'm wrong" threads!
Nobody notices what watch you're wearing, because by the time that person sees your watch and figures out what it is, they've long ago already evaluated 853 other aspects to you that have given them all the information they need in order to determine if you are friend or foe, cool or loser, worth talking to or completely ignorable.
It's called rapid cognition.
In the ancestral environment, Uatuud didn't have the time to calmly and laboriously evaluate Gorg's intentions. "Hmmmm... what cut of gazelle skin is that covering his loins? Why is his gait so long and loping? Perhaps he's come to converse with me about the impending mammoth hunt?" By then, Uatuud's brains would have been spattered all over the cave walls.
Instead, we would have evolved (or god would have made us) to be able to read others and others' intentions within milliseconds. Homo sapiens would have developed incredibly fine tuned abilities to immediately read others' status, intentions, intelligence, strength, etc., etc., via rapid cognition, and then act appropriately.
Here's the perfect illustration:
Watches provide onlookers with zero additional important information. Everything someone needs to know about you, they can gather via rapid cognition, and that takes place so quickly in the lizard brain that there is never time for the lizard brain to notice what's on your wrist, and for that information to influence the assessment from rapid cognition.
You are wrong. And, you are right.
We do make snap judgments about people using signifiers for many other attributes. We use weight, height, and grooming for stand-ins for other traits. Those are culturally pervasive, even if they can cut either way depending on the culture (I don't know of a culture that rewards poor hygiene. However, I once had a mother at my child's nursery school explain that her Nigerian husband appreciated her for her size and weight. She could have sat around the house, to borrow an old punchline.)
A half century ago you might be judged by your preferred cigarette brand or cocktail. People would make assumptions about you if your tie was too thin or too fat. I had a former boss give me the helpful advice that women were attracted to men with good looking shoes that held a shine. I think that noticing a watch back when everyone wore one was a thing.
Today, most people don't wear a watch or wear the smart version of a watch that is linked to their smartphone. I don't think that watches hold the same social currency that they once did. I will judge you, a little, based on your watch. But we are the oddballs here.
Watch people notice watches, but others generally don't. I've been wearing both an Apple Watch on one wrist and another watch on my other wrist for past 5 months. My wife, son, friends, and neighbors haven't noticed, but my (watch-fan) daughter noticed it immediately.
I've been wearing watches for 50+ years and for the most part,you're wrong. In all that time I've only had a handful of comments, mostly from sales people at an AD.
Whether or not people "notice" a watch without commenting is known only to the silent noticer.
I EFF'ing love these "tell me I'm wrong" threads!
Nobody notices what watch you're wearing, because by the time that person sees your watch and figures out what it is, they've long ago already evaluated 853 other aspects to you that have given them all the information they need in order to determine if you are friend or foe, cool or loser, worth talking to or completely ignorable.
It's called rapid cognition.
In the ancestral environment, Uatuud didn't have the time to calmly and laboriously evaluate Gorg's intentions. "Hmmmm... what cut of gazelle skin is that covering his loins? Why is his gait so long and loping? Perhaps he's come to converse with me about the impending mammoth hunt?" By then, Uatuud's brains would have been spattered all over the cave walls.
Instead, we would have evolved (or god would have made us) to be able to read others and others' intentions within milliseconds. Homo sapiens would have developed incredibly fine tuned abilities to immediately read others' status, intentions, intelligence, strength, etc., etc., via rapid cognition, and then act appropriately.
Here's the perfect illustration:
Watches provide onlookers with zero additional important information. Everything someone needs to know about you, they can gather via rapid cognition, and that takes place so quickly in the lizard brain that there is never time for the lizard brain to notice what's on your wrist, and for that information to influence the assessment from rapid cognition.
Mate, if I'd have gone in there too with the same question, I'd probably have been met with "sorry sir, but we do have a used Hyundai Accent that may suit your lifestyle. Only 4 previous owners"!
You’re a little right, but mostly wrong.
Do people notice your watch (in a literal sense)? Sure, people notice that you’re wearing a watch.
Do people have any clue if you’re wearing a MVMT watch or a Patek Philippe? Absolutely not.
There is a gigantic distinction between “noticing you’re wearing a watch” and ”noticing you’re wearing a luxury timepiece that costs 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars.”
i think some of your point is right. however based on my experience i can tell you this:
If I’m in a situation where I’m being judged by the watch I’m wearing, things have gone horribly wrong.
Mate, if I'd have gone in there too with the same question, I'd probably have been met with "sorry sir, but we do have a used Hyundai Accent that may suit your lifestyle. Only 4 previous owners"!
Totally!
agreed
most at a certain do care what others say/think
if not why u buying a Rolex when a GS flies under the radar and is much better built and quality
My watch is a myth? 🤣
I was aware that people do notice the watch I am wearing as one of a number of components of my appearance people use to judge my social position. As has been pointed out in other posts, notice does not always lead to commenting, although I have had that happen. However, I have found that most comments I receive are comments or questions about a watch with an unusual appearance, like my Computron or my Griffy. One person told me the screen on my Griffy was too small for a smart watch and it was a bad design. 😕
I'm with you until this part. My entire life I cared way too much what others thought of me and i can tell you it's a sure fire way for an unhappy life. Sadly it took me far to long to fix this and now at the ripe old age of 58, I've never been happier and can honestly say what you think of me is not my problem. Very freeing to wear a watch that others may not feel worthy of a collector and drive an old car where others might think you can't afford a better one. Looking back, being underestimated kind of worked in certain instances (i.e. I'm not as stupid as I look). lol
On a side note and a bit off topic, I have a friend that collects action figures and we were discussing my recent obsession with collecting watches and how I like the fact that I can have a piece of my collection with me 24/7 when I wear it. He didn't say anything, but I saw his wheels turning. The next day I saw him in the supermarket and he had a Spiderman action figure tied to his wrist. Talk about getting noticed.
I sometimes wear my talking watch with a suit because most people already know I'm a weirdo.
I can't tell if you agree or disagree with me. I am not talking about deep insights into people based on fleeting observations. We all have known people who do not display wealth or expertise.
When I was a teenager I worked in a fast food restaurant. Our restaurant was set up so that you came through the "line". You ordered your sandwich or burger, then fries, then drinks. When I worked the drink section I was able to overhear how the customers interacted with the other sections, how they ordered food. I could pre-make the drinks in the holding area. Our managers did not want food waste so we were encouraged to not put too many drinks in the holding area so that ice wouldn't melt. We had about eight or nine choices of drinks.
I learned that I could anticipate drink orders with pretty good accuracy based on how customers looked and how they ordered food. When we were slow I tried to track my success and I kept stats. For lunch and dinner I could guess with about 80% accuracy. It was little higher for breakfast thanks to coffee being a popular choice. I couldn't tell if they were good people, bad people, rich or poor. I just knew that they wanted a Diet Coke or an orange drink. Sprite was a wild card.
Citizen watches are like Sprite. They tell me something. I just don't know what.
That we're cool people hopefully.. 😁
Ha, just noticed a watch guy in the wild. He moved under a spotlight by the skee ball machine to take a picture of his watch. (white or cream dial, metal bracelet)
Now I have to check the watch of the day, if I maybe recognize the background.
Ha, just noticed a watch guy in the wild. He moved under a spotlight by the skee ball machine to take a picture of his watch. (white or cream dial, metal bracelet)
Now I have to check the watch of the day, if I maybe recognize the background.
lol now we result to stalking 😂
lol now we result to stalking 😂
Of course, if you so brazenly take watch pictures at work, it requires further investigation.
Of course, if you so brazenly take watch pictures at work, it requires further investigation.
Jeezus!! You made double check your profile ?!! I thought your my HR lol!!
I can count on two hands how many times someone noticed and commented on my watch. I think only "watch guys" notice watches and they'd be the only ones to comment anyway. Other than "how much was that Rolex"?
The last time someone noticed and commented on my watch was in April, I was wearing my Speedmaster on the velcro strap and it was mistaken for a MoonSwatch. He was rather disappointed to know it was an actual Omega and not a Swatch.
Wear what you want, where you want, if you purchased your watch for others to notice then that's on you....
Wowie
Thin slicing is very Malcolm Gladwell pop physiology. I think the finer point may be that we take notice of things we think matter so that being the only people who ever make mention of my watch are other “watch people” 💯 percent of the time.
This is a great example of wanting to refute something so badly you over-reach in the process. I think what you are wanting to convey is that people CAN notice your watch, the same as they CAN notice your shoes, etc. OK, great. I can agree with that.
But to argue it as, and I quote here, 'Everyone you come in contact with notices your watch.'
No, they really don't. Some people do. Some people don't. While it's impossible to split this more precisely into the two camps (and to some degree it also depends on the circles of people you're mixing with the most), it's assuredly not 'everyone'.
There are people who couldn't give a rat's what's on your wrist, your shoes, the whole nine yards. They don't even look.
So dial it back a bit to 'some' people notice this stuff, and I'll back you all day long. But dial it up to 'most' people or, worse, 'everyone' and... no, sorry, that's just wrong.
I EFF'ing love these "tell me I'm wrong" threads!
Nobody notices what watch you're wearing, because by the time that person sees your watch and figures out what it is, they've long ago already evaluated 853 other aspects to you that have given them all the information they need in order to determine if you are friend or foe, cool or loser, worth talking to or completely ignorable.
It's called rapid cognition.
In the ancestral environment, Uatuud didn't have the time to calmly and laboriously evaluate Gorg's intentions. "Hmmmm... what cut of gazelle skin is that covering his loins? Why is his gait so long and loping? Perhaps he's come to converse with me about the impending mammoth hunt?" By then, Uatuud's brains would have been spattered all over the cave walls.
Instead, we would have evolved (or god would have made us) to be able to read others and others' intentions within milliseconds. Homo sapiens would have developed incredibly fine tuned abilities to immediately read others' status, intentions, intelligence, strength, etc., etc., via rapid cognition, and then act appropriately.
Here's the perfect illustration:
Watches provide onlookers with zero additional important information. Everything someone needs to know about you, they can gather via rapid cognition, and that takes place so quickly in the lizard brain that there is never time for the lizard brain to notice what's on your wrist, and for that information to influence the assessment from rapid cognition.
Same. It’s like some want the sparing.
Twitter, Fight Club of social media, is littered with the “Prove me wrong” posts.
Simple rule: Where what you want where you want. No right or wrong.
I think I see it like you do AFChris. I would venture to say that very, very few “regular” folks out there notice or even remotely care about what watch I’m wearing.
I do have an inexpensive Victorinox INOX (I really like it!) and that was the only watch that got attention ( its big and shiny! 😂). I also have some watch friends, and yes, I will catch them taking a glance at what watch I’m wearing. But they are watch guys and are already interested. 🤷🏽♂️
OK, I also have an inexpensive Victorinox (Startech 1000 c. early 2000s?) that tends to get attention (so I mostly wear it as a beater to cut the grass, etc.) - and you can see why based on the shape & red anodization:
I am a really big guy...like NFL Offensive Lineman size! My wrists are very large...9".... and I wear larger watches. Not for anyone else...I am older...and my eyes aren't as good as they used to be. My wife likes them, and when I decide to wear one of my dress watches, she looks at it and says, " That's an old mans watch!" So I change watches! If people do notice my watch in public, they don't say anything. But, I wear what looks appropriate on my wrist! The watch below is a 45 mm, 50 mm lug to lug ( I think ).
Wikipedia?
Seriously?
The fact is 99% of none WIS folks do not notice or are remotely interested in the Watch you wear. Therefore delving and over analysing this topic is totally pointless.
The fact is most of the people will notice that you actually wear A watch.
But very few people will notice WHAT watch you are proudly wearing on your wrist.
Big difference.
My workmate made me a compliment monday on my 50€ Q&Q smile solar diver, made from ocean plastic.
Nothing yesterday on my Timex S1 38mm and its incredible case design
Nothing today on my Farer Resolute and its incredible lume.