I used to be normal about watches.
Like I usually wore one.
Used it to tell the time with.
Mostly, I liked digital ones. Never spent a lot on them, just wanted to know what time it was. Trouble with analogue readouts is that it's too easy to glance at it carelessly and be a whole hour out
I did that once when I was about 8 or 10. After being warned not to be late home again - like seriously warned, it was a bit of a habit - the very next weekend I was a whole hour late from a day out fishing because I mistook half-past six for half-past five. Yike! Was I ever going to be in trouble!
Luckily, my mother believed me when I stammered out the truth, and I didnt get in trouble after all. I suppose I managed to be on time, more or less, next time I went fishing. That woud have been the old fashioned clockwork sort of watch that yopu had to wind up every night. Quartz crystal watches didn't come in until the early 1970s.
Later on, I switched to LED watches. Much safer.
Then I went to work on the tramways. (What you would call "streetcars" in the US.) Worked there for 5 years or so, and soon became obsessed with exact time. Goes with the job. You don't care what hour it is, but you'd know what minute it was, to the second. (Ask a trammie for the time and he will say "42", meaning 7:42 or 9:42 or whatever it is, but he won't bother saying the hour, the hour doesn't matter, only the minute.)
I used plastic digital watches, because they were the most practical. A soft, rubber-like plastic band and body is the most comfortable. Flexes and twists with your wrist, doesn't scratch, digital readout for accuracy, doesn't cost a fortune.
Then I got a job in the explosive factory. (Making gelignite and dynamite for ICI.) Watches, rings, and the like were totally forbidden, of course. Working on that stuff, you don't want a spark! Being found outside the change-room with a watch or ring or matches or lighter meant instant dismissal - and I mean instant. That was fine by me: the last thing you wanted was some turkey blowing us all up just because you he had forgotten to take his wedding ring off.
That too was habit-forming. I haven't worn a watch more than two or three times a year ever since. I mean, WTF? If I'm at work there are computers everywhere. If it's a day off, then I'm out in the bush and there is this big shiny thing up in the shy that tells me time and direction. (It's called the sun.) Plus, if I really want to see the exact time, I have three cameras, a GPS, a clock in the car, and a laptop computer. Oh, and a tiny little travel alarm clock that I use to wake me up before dawn so I can have a cup of tea before I go off birdwatching. I usually wake up just before the alarm goes off, but sometimes it's handy.
I think all this talk about what brand and spending large amounts on watches that, when it's all said and done, don't tell the time any better than cheap ones is stupid.
What fools you all are.
Compared to what?
