Many people have a bunch of favorites, whether it's a favorite color, animal, food, candy, etc. Some people even have a favorite accessory or type of clothing, whether it be a cherished piece of jewelry, a T-shirt from an awesome concert or a scarf in your favorite color. For me, my favorite accessory is my watch.
There’s no special meaning behind it or any particular reason why - it doesn’t even have to be the exact watch that I have now (although I’ve had this one for several years and love it). I just like always wearing a watch for the sake of knowing the time, using it as a convenient alarm and occasionally, when needed, being able to quickly get to a timer, stopwatch, or any other of the functions available. In general, I love the accessibility and convenience that a watch provides.
Despite the benefits, I don’t think many people wear watches anymore, nor do I see many wearing them, since the majority of watch functions can be found - or downloaded - onto your smartphone. However, for those who opt to wear watches, especially those who do so every day, there are certain things that we understand.
1. Always being asked what time it is
This happens all the time! People see that you have a watch and will ask you what time it is. This is especially true if they don’t have their phone with them or have it easily accessible, such as during class or a meeting.
2. Constantly checking what the time is
One of the primary functions of a watch is to be able to check it for the time anytime you want. However, this can lead to checking your watch all the time, especially if you’re doing something that you don’t particularly like, where time seems to pass by ridiculously and impossibly slow. (Yet, when you’re having fun, time seems to fly by - time is a strange thing!)
3. Bumping your wrist against any hard surface and panicking that you’ve scratched it…
Every. Single. Time. This happens to me all the time (because I’m clumsy), but luckily, most of the time, no harm done. I panic every time though, because I don’t want to mess up my watch.
4. …Actually scratching your watch (or looking at it and realizing that it’s suddenly scratched)
The worst is when you don’t know how you scratched it, because it had to happen somehow - you just don’t know how. Fortunately, because I don’t like looking at scratched watch, I’ve found that as long as the scratch isn’t serious, I can get rid of the mark by, interestingly, scratching it off with my fingernails. However, I wouldn’t suggest doing this with all watches - the way you treat a scratch may differ based on the watch you have.
5. Thinking you’ve lost it
I wear my watch all day, so there’s often a point during the day where I don’t really feel the watch on my wrist and forget that I’m wearing it (this happens not even five minutes after I put it on). Then, at some time later during the day when I’m not looking at it, I won’t feel my watch on my wrist and I’ll forget that I’m wearing it (even though I always am) and I’ll panic and think that I lost it. This has happened to me more times than I care to admit…
6. Getting attached to your watch
While I understand that to some it’s just a small accessory used to do the simple task of telling time, if you wear one everyday (or almost that), then you understand that it’s easy to get attached to that specific watch. I happen to see it out of the corner of my eye all the time (like while I’m writing this article - I’m super aware of my watch right now) and since I always like to know exactly what time it is, I rely on it a lot.
7. Breaking your watch or having the battery die
This is tragic, especially if it’s the former. If your watch battery dies, you can just replace it - even though it’s super annoying, because there are so few other uses for those small, circular batteries, so much so that they’re hard to find. If you’ve had this particular watch for a long time, you’ve grown attached to it (see number five) and don’t want to get rid of it, but sometimes, you have to. You could always take it to get it fixed, but that can be expensive (or the repair can cost more than if you were just to get a new one).
8. Having a lot of options for watches
The good news is that there are plenty of choices if your old one breaks. For starters, do you want to go to a specialty store (like a Rolex), or would you rather go to a generic store (like a Target)? Are you looking for a specific brand? Do you want an analog or digital watch? A leather band or a plastic one? What color do you want? What other functions do you want the watch to have? What kind of layout do you want the watch face to have? OK, so maybe the amount of options for watches is a bit much, but that just means they have all different types for all different preferences.
9. Having an imprint of the watch permanently on your wrist
The mark left by the watch is particularly noticeable if you wear your watch all the time. Having worn a watch for years after years after years, whenever I take my watch off or move it around on my wrist a little, you can see lines and a circle on my wrist, clearly showing where the watch face and band were.
10. Having a severe case of watch tan
As if the imprint of a watch on your wrist isn’t funny and obvious enough, spending a lot of time outside, especially during the summer, causes a paler shape of a watch to appear on your arm. While it can be embarrassing or funny or weird, I choose to find it impressive - after all, it just shows how much I love wearing watches!
