10 Reasons To Wear A Watch

Back in the days, watches were essential tools that virtually everyone used. And they did so because it was the only real way to keep track of time.

People couldn’t just take up their phone and look at what time it was like you can today, and therefore, be carrying a watch was crucial for living a smooth life – from showing up at work in time – to perfect timing and synchronizing a military attack.

In terms of watches as we know them today, with movements and hands, it all started with pocket watches, and during world war 1, it was found that wearing watches on the wrist was much more effective than having them in the pocket and trying to find them to check the time mid-battle. The soldiers synchronized their watches to plan for attacks, and could easily check the time, but until the second world war, wearing watches on the wrist was only something that women were doing.

Today, the reasons people wear a watch has significantly changed from the time when the first watches debuted. At the same time, the number of people wearing watches, percentage wise has decreased significantly. Of course, this isn’t very surprising now virtually everyone carries a telephone with them which can tell them exactly what time it is, down to the very thousandth of a second. This is also the argument of many people who choose not to wear a wristwatch. Many of them say ”why to wear a watch when I can just look at the time on my phone?”, but the fact of the matter is that apart from just checking time, there are far more reasons to wear a watch, and that’s exactly what we’ll be looking at in this article.

1. Watches are great accessories

Today, for the vast majority of people who are wearing watches, they wear it as an accessory – a piece of jewelry that enhances their style and appearance.

The watch is to a large extent considered to be the only real piece of jewelry that men can wear without risking coming off as feminine.

Women have plenty of accessories and pieces of jewelry to choose from, from rings, bracelets, handbags, and much more, but men, generally speaking, of course, struggle more to pull that off, but a watch is an accessory that always works, no matter what.

A good looking watch can significantly enhance your appearance, as well as be matched to the outfit you’re wearing, and this is, as mentioned, probably the most common reason people wear a watch.

Back in the days, people cared very little about how their wristwatches looked. Sure, a few selected individuals eventually started wearing golden watches etc. but for a very long time, wristwatches were seen as a tool, not a piece of jewelry.

2. They are convenient

How many times have you heard people argue that they don’t need a watch because they have a phone?

Probably a lot.

But the thing is that it is much more effortless to look at your wrist for the time than to try to fish in your pocket for your phone. What’s more, looking at your watch is effortless and can be done in a matter of seconds, but imagine fishing for your phone and then pulling it up whilst in a  meeting just to check the time. THat’s something that would be seen as highly rude. Of course, this doesn’t just go for meetings, but I am sure you can come up with a number of places and occasions where it would be considered inappropriate and rude to take up your phone, even if you’re just going to check the time, but wearing a watch eliminates that problem.

Another way that wearing a watch is convenient is when you don’t have any pockets or for some other reason can’t carry your phone with you. Your watch, on the other hand, is always securely fastened to your wrist, no matter what.

3. Watches are amazing pieces of craftsmanship

Most people underestimate the immense craftsmanship that goes into creating a high-end timepiece – and even into some lower-end watches.

A watch is not just a watch, but it is a piece of art which someone, depending on what watch you wear, has been working on for hours. Furthermore, due to the immense craftsmanship, wearing a watch allows you to carry art, history, and a symbol of tradition, and when you realize just how much work that has gone into a nice timepiece, you tend to appreciate a lot more. Compare that with a phone that has been manufactured without all of that. Some watches can take hundreds of hours to make – others even more than that, and the number of years that go into developing an advanced timepiece to achieve the precision and reliability is absolutely mind-boggling.

There are many ways in which a timepiece can be appreciated as art and a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. What we most often hear is the appreciation for advanced mechanical movements that have tiny parts in it to ultimately make it tick, and then we have stunning dials, crafted with great attention to details, all the way to perfectly designed bracelets and cases.

4. Watches Are Functional

While watches aren’t tools that are crucial to us today, they are tremendously functional and offer a number of different helpful functions that can improve your everyday life.

In the 19th century, wristwatches were used to synchronize maneuvers during a war, but since then, wristwatches have evolved a lot in terms of functions, and now, there are wristwatches that offer whole arrays of helpful features.

Since first being used in the military for synchronizing maneuvers, watches have been developed to help divers in the ocean, as well as pilots in the sky and everything in between.

Today, there are wristwatches dedicated for usage within a large number of areas such as diving, racing, exploring, flying, and much more.

You can purchase watches with moon phase functions, chronograph features, a GMT hand, and much more.

Of course, the most fundamental feature of a watch is that it tells the time, and that itself is a great feature. But if you want more functions (also known as complications), there’s a large selection out there.

The most common complications of watches are firstly the basic time-telling. After that, we have the date feature which tells you the date, chronograph which introduces a stopwatch feature, moon phase, which displays the lunar phase, and much more. A popular feature of a watch is diver bezels, which work as a countdown T-60 minutes which is supposed to indicate how much oxygen you have left when diving, but this complication can obviously be used within a number of other areas as well.

The bottom line is that a watch is so much more than just a piece of jewelry. It is a practical tool that, depending on what type of watch you wear, gives you an easy access to helpful tools which can be used in your everyday life.

5. Watches offer simplicity

Have you ever took up your phone just to check the time, and then found yourself sitting on the phone for many minutes because you fell back on your phone as a distraction?

One of the reasons to wear a watch is, therefore, the simplicity it gives its user. A watch is less likely to be a distraction than a phone, even though if you have a beautiful watch you might admire it for a while.

Each time you take your phone, it’s a distraction and a risk of getting stuck, but by wearing a watch, you eliminate that problem.

6. Watches reflect style

It’s no secret that watches are often used as a reflection of style or as a statement.

You might have noted that some people only use vintage watches, others only dive watches, and so on. That’s because it reflects their style.

As mentioned earlier, the accessories that men ”can” use is limited, and watches give men the ability to express themselves, their personality, and style. Wearing a watch is a form of self-expression, and if you look at the watches that people who have an interest in watches wear, you might be surprised at how well they reflect their style and personality.

In other words, with a watch, you can express yourself without saying a single word. That’s quite powerful.

Some people wear watches as a statement, which, in a way, also is a way for them to reflect their personality and style. In some cultures, it is especially common to wear things that work as statements, such as gold and diamond watches.

7. Watches make great Heirlooms

This is one of the most interesting reasons you should wear a watch because watches are among the most iconic and appreciated heirlooms there are.

Old watches carry a lot of history, and this is an important reason why collecting vintage watches has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years.

Owning timepieces that have been passed on through generations is a remembrance of your relatives, the history of what the watch has been through, and where and how it has been used, and the story it tells. Patek Philippe’s motto is ”create your own traditions”, and that is because high-quality watches are wonderful pieces of craftsmanship that can withstand time and be passed on from generation to generation. If serviced regularly, watches have a long life length and can be passed on from generation to generation. Remember Patek Philippe’s slogan  ”You never actually own a Patek Philippe watch, you merely look after it for the next generation”.

Collecting watches and passing them on to future generations means not only being a part of history, but also being a part of the history through your watches, and then passing the history on.

8. Respect and appreciation

While some people don’t care about respect and appreciation, watches are great conversation starters and can be the start of a lifelong relationship with someone who loves watches. High-end watches is a huge industry, and there are many of groups and communities of people where watches are the subject of discussion and thereby is the topic that helps build relationships between individuals as they are gathered around a common interest and passion.

In terms of respect, if someone asks you the time, it looks much more stylish and classy to look at your wrist than to take up your phone from your pocket. There’s still a certain charm and elegance to checking the time on a wristwatch.

9. Reliability

We can’t forget one of the most important reasons you should wear a watch: that they are incredibly reliable.

Wristwatches existed long before electricity did, and this means that mechanical watches can operate without any electricity.

Furthermore, quartz watches that have batteries in them are also highly reliable, and despite being dependent on electric from a battery, the battery of a quartz watch holds a long time, normally for about a year.

If you have your phone to check the time, when it runs out of battery, you’ll stand there all helpless, and when that happens, you have your mechanical timepiece on your wrist that just keeps on ticking, and gets energy from either movement of your arm (automatic watch), or from you winding it every now and then.

Despite the society moving into a more technological society, the very best and most advanced watches are powered by a different type of technology – one that is automatic and self-winding. These watches keep ticking when your phone runs out of battery and is something you can always rely on, as it keeps ticking year after year.

Most modern smartphones can’t even last a day’s usage, but when wearing a watch, you don’t have to worry about that.

10. Watches remind you about your relationship with time.

Humans have always been fascinated by time. It all started with the sundial when humans tried to estimate time and find a way to measure the time. Our time here is limited, and watches work as a reminder of this, and that we should embrace and appreciate every moment.

For many people, wearing a watch can have a positive effect on how you spend your time, as it reminds you that you only have 24 hours in a day.

That’s not all, though. Watches not only remind you about your time, and that you need to value it greatly, but watches also gives you the opportunity to share your passion for time with likeminded people who also carry the passion for timepieces.

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