Will Watches ever become obsolete?

‘What’s the time?’ my Wife asked. I reach into my pocket and take out my mobile phone, ‘just gone 3pm’ I say, ‘we had best be off home soon’. She couldn’t believe it, just that week I had spent a considerable sum of money on the watch I had been eyeing up for some time. ‘You have your watch on, and you go straight to your phone. How silly is that?!’.

It is strange isn’t it? Of course, I am not the only person that does this, but it beggars the question ‘Do I really need this watch?’. It’s 2021, there really is no need for anybody to wear a wrist watch anymore, at least not to tell the time. Everywhere we go, we are all working to a schedule, but there are plenty of things all around us to remind us if we are on time or not. Good Morning Britain with its clock in the corner, the radio news tells us the time, even the church bells down the road still chime on the hour. My wife can actually tell the time nowadays based on our baby’s bowel movements, ‘must be 10am’ she says. I’m not going to pretend she is spot on every time, but give or take 10 or 15 minutes she is certainly there or thereabouts.

And yet worldwide, the luxury watch market in 2021 is set to top $7.5 billion. That’s a lot of watches to bypass to go into your pocket to reach for your phone. What is apparent is how watches are changing. The world is becoming ‘smarter’, and with that we are seeing wrist watches change.

A colleague of mine recently showed me his new golf watch.  Filled with features, it included everything he could wish for – an interactive screen, distance to the green, progress tracker, hints and tips, he described it as a caddy on his wrist.  It even tells him the optimum time to stop and have a wee break (just kidding with that one). All very impressive, but as he chatted away, I couldn’t help but find myself thinking of what I was having for dinner that evening, it just didn’t do it for me. I gazed down at my watch ticking away, and said ‘wow, look at the time, I’d best be getting back to it’. My trusty quartz watch had saved me, not that I took any notice of the time when I looked at it, but that simple raise of the wrist had helped me to escape.

I am one of those people that won’t go anywhere without a watch on, it is like an extended part of my wrist. We have all reached for our pocket before and realised that we can’t feel our phone, keys, wallet etc. Shortly followed by that feeling of your stomach dropping until you realise you left it in your car, it’s the same when I have a bare wrist.

Let’s not waste any more time on this question then. No, watches will never become obsolete, quite the contrary. A watch is like a piece of art that tells its own story, and whilst some may look the same, the wrist they sit on and the time they have kept is different for every individual.

When a father or mother passes their watch on to their child, the value of that watch becomes immeasurable. My Dads watch is older than me, he tells me stories from back in the day and I picture him wearing the watch as a younger man. Its monetary value is non-existent, but one day it will be handed down to me, and then to my son. Sure, you will get watch snobs. There will always be someone to look down their noses at your watch because they have one that is shinier…. more expensive. Don’t take any notice of them, it is likely they are wearing it for the status

So, in my humble opinion, watchmaking is here to stay and there will (and always will be) a watch out there for everyone. Maybe next time, leave the phone in your pocket, because they also tell the time!