It’s all on the wrist

Is the wristwatch poised to follow the pocket watch?

Market researchers say more people are carrying electronic devices that also tell time, whether a phone, an iPod or a BlackBerry. They’re also finding that young people, in particular, are more interested in spending their money on other kinds of accessories, such as shoes and hand bags.

In a survey last fall, investment bank Piper Jaffray & Co. found that nearly two-thirds of teens never wear a watch – and only about one in 10 wears one every day.

Experian Simmons Research also discovered that, while Americans spent more than US$5.9 billion on watches in 2006, that figure was down 17 per cent when compared with five years earlier

I suppose it is a matter of habit, but while I carry around a Treo that has a clock on it (and which I use for alarms, PDA stuff, as well as phone calls), I wear a wristwatch all the time. Because it’s a matter of a half-second to glance down and see the time that way, vs. pulling out my cell phone (that was the case even when I had a cell that persistently showed the time out the outside, let alone one that requireshittinga power button). Wristwatches trumped pocketwatches for just that level of convenience; unless folks can as easily see the time in another fashion, I don’t worry too much about the wristwatch.

Elliott, who’s 27, is much more likely to get the time from the clock in her car, the one on her cable TV box or cellphone or from the bottom right-hand of her computer at the University of Kentucky, where she works.

Mebbe so. I have digital clocks all around me most of the time, too. Indeed, on those occasions when I’ve forgotten my watch (rare), I find it most annoying where I don’t have a clock in immediate visual range: on a walk, in a restaurant, someplace unfamiliar.

I’d say that, because there are so many other places where clocks can be found, having a watch is less necessary, and one can work around it with environmental clocks or one’s cell. If I didn’t have a watch (and wasn’t in the habit of using it), I might not find it as necessary as I do.

Interestingly, I was in a watch shop today. I can remember a decade ago when half the offerings would have been digital, but only a small handful were where I was. Part of it was the venue, but I think part of it is that watches are now as much about aesthetics as information. Until digital technology forms non-cluncky numbers in something other than black on gray, digital wristwatches are likely to be even more of a niche market than they are today (though digital clocks will remain most standard in appliancesand the like).

(via RetroThing)