{"id":1386,"date":"2024-06-16T17:11:24","date_gmt":"2024-06-16T17:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.borg.org\/?p=1386"},"modified":"2024-06-16T17:12:04","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T17:12:04","slug":"two-wristwatches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.borg.org\/?p=1386","title":{"rendered":"Two Wristwatches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I realized that there is a very specific group of people out there (Hello!) who wear two<\/em> wristwatches. The Venn diagram makes it a pretty exclusive group:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Those old enough to appreciate the value in a wristwatch.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Those young enough to appreciate these newfangled electronic gizmos that are marketed as “smartwatches”.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Those who are happy to be different. (AKA, happy to be weirdos with stuff on both wrists.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    But why two<\/em> watches?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. The Old<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    On my right wrist is an old mechanical “self-winding” Seiko watch. Well, actually, not that old, it is a self-charging watch. Inside there is a little weighted pendulum that occasionally makes a partial revolution one way and at some point back again, as I move my wrist one way or another. I suppose there is a little permanent magnet on it, and a wire coil that it passes as it moves, inducing a little electric current, that charges a little low-leakage capacitor (just like a rechargeable battery, except completely different). No “charging” necessary on my part, wear it and physically move a normalish amount, and it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And that is a key point, it works: when I look at it I will<\/em> see the time! And it keeps good time, I set it occasionally, and at the moment it is about 4-seconds ahead of the correct time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I have had this watch for many<\/em> years, I expect I will have it for many years to come. The capacitor seems to need replacing every decade or so, but it is replaceable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. The New<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    On my left wrist I have a Garmin “smartwatch”. Its battery lasts for many days (take that, Apple fans), but I do need to regularly take it off, plug in a special cable, plug that into a power supply, and wait maybe an hour-or-two for it to recharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It is quite nice, it does lots of cool stuff, but I think of it as really just an accessory to my “smart phone”: when the phone rings I can look at my wrist to see who is calling, when news happens my wrist will vibrate and I can see who died, started a war, won an election, was convicted of a crime, etc. When I look at it I never know what I excitement might see!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It also has also standalone features: a magnetic compass, GPS receiver, and more that I haven’t entirely learned how to use. And if I do use, can burn through my battery much more quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It even tells time, but I don’t know whether time is what I will see when I look at it. One day I looked it was doing some automatic update it decided it needed, and it wouldn’t do anything<\/em> else until it was done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It sets its time automatically, and at the moment it is about 7-seconds behind the correct time. The automatic time setting is nice, but I don’t trust it. When I wake up on a Sunday morning after daylight saving time has changed will the watch will be in the new timezone? So far it seems it will, but I haven’t had it long enough to be sure. I also don’t know what I will see when I am changing planes in, say, Milwaukee. Has it changed to a new timezone? And if so, what timezone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My other watch, however, will be in whatever timezone I put it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But most notable, I expect to throw away this “smart watch” in a few years, because everything seems to be disposable these days. Something will break or wear out that can’t be repaired. It does have a removable watchband, that’s good\u2026but I seriously doubt the battery can be replaced, and even if it can, will that battery still be available? (I have a “phone” someplace here that is so old it has a replaceable battery! But the battery isn’t available anymore.) And then this watch could suddenly stop working one day, if some MBA at Garmin decides to change their business model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Being Different<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The other day a teenage girl asked me if I knew the time. I told her it was a bit past 8:30, she said thank you. But then I realized she was making fun of me. Okay, I can handle that. I was a nerd way before it was stylish. (Which makes me a real nerd, not one of those posers.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I got over any worry of being “different” many years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Over Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    This Garmin watch is at least the fifth electronic gizmo I have had on my wrist over the years. (Boy, do I mess the Pebble, it was great software design, but there were physical problems, it couldn’t be repaired, and then they sold the company\u2026and turned it off.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Over all those years? My Seiko has kept on running. And after this Garmin becomes e-waste?, I expect my Seiko will still be running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Epilogue<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    I do appreciate that old fashioned watches are back in style, but it seems that’s all they are: Style. They are worn as jewelry, according to ones mood, or not worn, according to ones mood. They aren’t there as a functional device to tell time, goodness no!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    These days, when people want to know the time, don’t they pull out enormous pocket watches\u2014that they call “phones”\u2014even when wearing a “watch”?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    -kb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00a92024 Kent Borg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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