Are you a watch wearer?

[orsetto]

In cooler weather I'll tolerate it. But NYC summers are humid, gross and brutal: the last thing I want from May thru September is to sweat thru a watchband- yuck. I tried stainless metal watchbands but they snag the hair on my gorilla arms, no joy there. I carried a beeper for YEARS after I cancelled the service just so I would have a "pocket watch", that worked well enough until the display became unreadable recently. (I hate cell phones on principal, so mine is never turned on and usually stowed in my knapsack.)

On the other hand, my Dad, a 75 y/o retired cop, is a total watch fiend, always has been. Nowadays he has several part-time jobs but spends his every spare minute glued to the hours-long "watch extravaganzas" on Home Shopping Network. He orders at least two watches every week (one for him and one he thinks I might wear.) Inevitably they get returned the following week and he starts all over again. This has been going on for years- I've lost track of how many watches he's made me audition and I'm fresh out of good excuses why I won't wear one.

Strangely when I occasionally do shop for a watch myself, I never find anything. Ten years ago you could get a decent watch for $50, which is all I'll spend on an accessory I hate anyway. Today, any watch priced under $200 looks really cheezy: the plastic dial faces especially. In the end when I need to wear a decent watch for some formal event, I put on an ancient wind-up Wittnauer I picked up at a flea market 20 years ago. It looks expensive, and I can usually make a new leather strap survive 24 hours before ruining it.

[dadrab]

I carried a beeper for YEARS after I cancelled the service just so I would have a "pocket watch", that worked well enough until the display became unreadable recently.

Real pocket watches are still available - and they don't cost a fortune. Check out hunting and sportsman catalogues.

I tried stainless metal watchbands but they snag the hair on my gorilla arms, no joy there.

Probably not what you want to hear, but expensive watches have bands that won't pull the hair on your arm. I don't mean to sound like a rich ******* - because I'm not, but when I was a teen, I had the same problem. Lots of hair on my arms and a watch band would just eat me alive. I'd pretty much relegated myself to leather bands.

A kind old jeweler (back in the days when there were still jewelry shops with owners that knew what the Hell they were talking about) showed me a watch one day and told me, "this band will never pull the hair on your arms." He was right. The watch was a Breitling. You'll find the same thing with most upper end watches.

[Semaphoric]

A few years ago, I broke my left elbow, and, as a result, cannot pronate my left arm fully, so I must thrust my arm out to the side to view a conventional wristwatch.

What I would like is what is called a "Curvex" watch. These were designed for race car drivers. They are worn on the side of the wrist, rather than the back, so you can see the time without taking your hands off the steering wheeel.

The back of the watch is deeply curved to accomodate this, hence the name. With traditional mechanical mechanisms, this required a rather exotic system of offset gears, which would not be needed in a modern electronic watch. Sadly, no one seems to make one.

[bendixG15]

Haven't worn a watch or any other thingy with a timepiece for many years.

Just use the sun.

Works fine except twice a year when daylight savings time comes or goes. Screws me all up for a week.

Don't wear any jewelry or rings either ... I just go bare.