I used to wear the cheap-o digital watches but couldn’t stand the resin watch bands; they were hard to keep clean, and they always broke after a year or two of wear and tear. Replacing them was a hassle.

I much prefer the metal watch bands; easy to keep clean and they last forever.

For the past five or six years I’ve been addicted to Casio G-Shock Wave Ceptor Tough Solar watches (can’t recall their model numbers; there are a lot of them). These are very tough, durable, solar powered, and synchronize their time wirelessly with the atomic clock in Colorado. I can wear these watches forever and never have to worry about having to correct the time. Perfect.

Modern tech is all well and good, but the right tech for the job is better.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/8131

The caption reads “Wristwatches, which saw widespread use during the First World War as ‘trench watches’ were entering the mainstream as the era of the pocket watch began to wind down.”

but as a generalization, i find the “cellphones already display time, therefore watches are redundant” too simplistic. if this was true, then the wrist watch should never have been invented because we already had pocket watches. it’s really just easier to glance at your wrist than to dig out some timepiece from your pocket or watch.

Mine is “stainless steel case” model, but it turns out the steel is only fraction of a millimeter thick, so I have scraped it off while climbing. Now my “stainless” model looks exactly like this one: gray plastic case.

I really can’t understand this love for analog over digital watches, though. It’s less efficent to have to figure out the time than just have it fed to you.

i ended up wearing it for about five years until the strap snapped. great little watch.
the strap can end up getting a bit sweaty in hot weather though.

You’d think the anti-terror people would realize that this watch was used by terrorists because it was extremely common, not the other way around. These watches are very common all over the third world because they are reliable and cheap.

It’s cool because it’s good technology that does its job insanely well. And so cheap you could replace it every month for less than the cost of a fancy jewelry watch. (FD, I have some fancy automatics, and I love them, but none of them actually KEEPS TIME as well as this little wonder.

Don’t you have a phone?

Not everyone carries a phone. Not everyone wants to.

Thanks for posting this. I am going to get this watch – it’s exactly what I need.

wrist watches were introduced in the first world war to replace army officers’ pocket watches as having a small chain hanging across the front of one’s uniform was thought of as a hazard.

i rarely need to know time quickly enough when i don’t have a cellphone to warrant a watch. exceptions are while exercising, and my wristwatch doubles as a heart monitor. for those who do check the time often, i get them wearing a watch. i also understand wearing a nice watch to go with an outfit. i wear a tie because it goes with my suit(s), not because it has any functional purpose.

I had a friend who didn’t wear a watch but seemed to treat me like his personal timekeeper because he was always asking me what the time was. Should’ve gotten him one of these.

(I’ve been rocking an analogue watch forever, but these babies do have a utilitarian cachet that makes them a design classic.)

I’ve been using wristwatches a lot longer than I’ve been using cell phones, and if you ask me for the time I’ll give it to you while the kids are still fumbling with their power-on menus.

And anyone who complains of the additional weight on their wrist needs to get out in the sun more often.

Saying that wristwatches are useless is an incredibly poor criticism. Watches like the one in this post are actually required equipment for most emergency services jobs, so there are reasons why people might take the time to consider their specific merits. That discussion might not apply to every reader on Boing Boing, but there is an opportunity for insight here that can still be meaningful to non-participating observers.

why does anyone still use a camera when you can take pictures and video with a wrist watch?

why does anyone still use a gps… etc etc

I *know* that some people use their phone as a watch, but that requires 1) digging around in your pocket 2) pulling out the phone 3) If you have an iphone/android, pressing a button to activate the screen 4) turning the screen back off to conserve battery 5) putting away the phone. Why do all this? Isn’t the point of new technology to allow us to do existing tasks faster, not slower?

You’ve just made my day.

So: enter the watch. I can wear one every day, and make some sort of statement with it like people might with jewelry. As it turns out though, I avoid anything flashy in general, and greatly appreciate function – but I love excellent “industrial” design. Understated, classy kind of stuff.

I had a cheap, very simple and elegant (though obviously cheap) looking analog Casio for years and years. When the band wore out, I looked at the scratched and beat-up plastic “crystal” (from years of geology trips and field work and other outdoor activities, working with tools and machinery, etc.) and decided to try something different.

I considered this watch – I like its case design, simplicity, etc. However, I don’t feel that digital watches can ever be particularly classy (except the old LED ones), and especially not with a plastic band (which I don’t like for several reasons). I ended up choosing the same model Citizen Eco-Drive that’s also mentioned here. I got a different band for it. Cost ten times as much, but… I’ve never even come close to losing or destroying my old cheap one, so I’m not too concerned. And the features and functionality are great, and very cool.

I also got an early 70′s manual (wind-up) watch for about $25 on ebay to wear as something dressier. It’s really classy – I have some macro shots here – but it needs to be lubricated (stops and starts) and runs ridiculously fast (hair spring magnetized). I have worn it a few times anyway for the looks, but almost immediately missed having a reliable time display on my wrist. The cell-phone thing just doesn’t work for me.