4735 Watch Watchers

 

Would you be seen in public with something like this on your wrist? 

 

Does anyone still wear a watch?  Do you remember when you wouldn’t leave home without one?  When you felt naked if you did?  Or lost?  It really wasn’t all that long ago.

 

Do you now have a drawer full of these things… with dead batteries, or lapsed self-winding mechanisms or which haven’t been wound since forever?

 

Do you open the drawer as you used to and contemplate which watch to put on?  Or do you just go there out of habit and stop yourself from pulling it open because “Hey wait, there’s nothing in here I need today.”

 

Yes, there still are people who wear watches.  Some of them just like the reminder on their wrist.  Some STILL feel naked without them. Others think of them as jewelry… necklaces or rings for your wrist.  

 

There are showcases in every jewelry store filled with beautiful watches.  Catalogue companies show you watches -- plain and fancy -- with their own brand names on them, making them forever unusable as collectors items.

 

And there’s a TV shopping channel that remains on the air only because it is financed by a watch making factory. (Their most recent ex-benefactor was a goat farm and two guys who made lotions and potions from the milk -- but who have since moved their advertising to another channel.)

 

They don’t call themselves “The Watch Channel” but they could.  Of course, that would bring down the Wessays Legal Team for stealing our long-running Clock Channel which displays world time interactively and plays background music using only songs about time and its measurement.)

 

But the onslaught of the smartphone has pretty much killed the mass market for watches and is making a dent in the alarm clock trade, too.

 

It’s also killed big chunks of the camera industry. Who needs to schlep a heavy and clunky box when your iPhone or Samsung has six lenses and takes pictures far beyond your own skill level -- and fits in your pocket?

 

The only thing the phones don’t do is make and receive calls well.  And they may have solved that problem with the new system under construction, 5G.

 

There’s an old joke we’ve reworked for the new age. “The restaurant is terrible. The good news is the portions are small.”  New version:  The phone is terrible. But the battery lasts forever.”

 

OK, back to watches.  Ever try to get a battery changed?  You need two people, a body builder and a brain surgeon.  This is a tough combination of people to find.

 

The muscle guy may be able to get the back of the watch off if he or she tries really hard.  The brain surgeon will be able to fish out the tiny battery and insert the new one.  Oh, and health insurance no longer covers reclosing the watch. You have to do THAT yourself.  

 

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Any Questions? wesrichards@gmail.com

© WR 2021