7 Benefits Of Wearing A Watch : Why Every Guy Should Wear A Watch

Whether it’s for impressing your co-workers into submission, reinventing your style or simply telling what time is it, having a wrist watch can always be a rather nifty addition to your apparel.

Equipped with one, you’ll be able to NOT get late for an important meeting, and with some of the newer models, also exactly what time it is in Australia!

With the current trend of smartphones being the device that almost every person on the planet use, watches are becoming less important since those phones can also show time.

 

Are Watches Obsolete And Out Of Style?

With smartphones being the number one must-have for everyone, does this means that watch is obsolete? Is watch out of style?

In my honest opinion, wrist watch is still relevant and certainly not out of style.

Heck, Apple, Samsung and other manufacturers even began selling their own smartwatches. Now that’s a sure sign that watches are not out of style right?

While it’s not as popular as before, we can always see more than half of the people on the street still wear a watch. That’s another proof that wrist watch is still relevant and used by many.

 

7 Benefits of Wearing A Watch

While telling time is the main purpose of wearing a watch, it does has many other advantages. Listed below is the 7 benefits of wearing a watch:

1. Tells You Time
2. Fashion Accessory For Man
3. Collector’s Items
4. Sign Of Adulthood
5. Helps You At The Workplace
6. A True Functional Tool
7. Valuable Item Or Jewelry For Man

 

1) Tell you time!

Let’s start with the best benefit of wearing a watch and the main purpose it was invented – to tell time.

Long before wrist watches became a fashion statement, believe it or not, these little contraptions had a very useful utilization.

Since bulky clocks from decades ago weren’t really the best option to carry around, as you would need a size-able backpack to do so, some smart people decided it was time to strip these useful time-telling machines to where else – your wrist!

Just a flick of our wrist, we can easily tell time with a watch.

 

It started during the modern warring period about a century ago when military men needed a quick and easy way to coordinate between themselves.

They used military watches as the mean to do that and since then wrist watches have gained popularity and used by the masses.

In recent times where smartphones dominates the world, wrist watches still is very useful as a way to tell time.

It’s just so much easier – a simple flick of the wrist and we can know what time it is.

But try to tell time with a smartphone where the process will be longer (turn on from sleep – enter passcode, etc. etc)…. Well, you get what I mean =)

 

2) Fashion Accessory For Man

If you’ve been searching for a way to express yourself through your appearance, wearing a wrist watch may be an excellent place to start.

These little timepieces hold a rather special place among fashion accessories, especially for men.

It’s not just a cheap trinket that you wear for its appearance, nor is it an expensive piece of jewelry that’s only there to look good.

Rather, a watch is a small device that tells you time, so it has a clearly outlined purpose, which gives it an air of seriousness and maturity.

A suit and tie combination, for example, is almost impossible to imagine without a wrist watch, as it gives one the complete appearance of a business person.

 

Watch can also be a fashion accessory for men [shown in the picture above is the Movado Museum Watch]

Of course, if you’re more of a sporty type of person, a digital watch may be a better solution for you as it will give you a certain fast and urbane look.

To complement a formal wear to an event, I recommend the dress watch with a sleek and elegant design. Looking to hang out with friends ? A more casual diver’s watch will do the trick.

The good news is, however, you can wear any possible watch and clothes combination and develop your own personal style that perhaps doesn’t even exist yet!

Not to mention this is great news for men whose choice of fashion accessories are rather limited.

Women have lots of ways to express or beautify themselves: necklaces, rings, earrings, bracelets, you name it.

For men? Not so much except than the trusted wrist watches.

 

3) Collector’s Item

Similarly to many other rare things such as cars, watches are quite popular as a collector’s item in the various circles of enthusiasts worldwide.

These people are prepared to pay a pretty sum of money for a rare timepiece and if you happen to be in the possession of a particularly old and classic watch, you might be in a position to get quite a hefty buck for it!

The beauty of watches lies on its craftsmanship. Mechanical or automatic watches (read this article here to know their differences) are very in demand because of its mechanical complexity and uniqueness.

And most of them are adorned with great design and constructions making them very beautiful. Just like cars, watches also have the same beauty to it for a man. If that’s not the case, nobody is going to pay thousands of dollars for a Rolex.

In the subject of retaining value, just be warned that not all watches are equal in the value retaining section.

Some watches (usually automatics) can retain their value nicely, and might even worth more after some years. This is usually true if that particular model was discontinued to make way for new designs.

But as I’ve mentioned earlier, this is not the case for every watch. Do make your research before forking out huge sum of money to buy that expensive Swiss automatic watch.

As with any investments, a proper and detailed research goes a long way to ensure you’re not losing any money..

 

Watch also can be a cool item for collectors, especially if the watch has a rich history behind it. Pictured above is the Bulova Moon Watch, a reissue of the original Bulova watch that was used on Moon during Apollo 15 mission (click HERE for more info)

 

Another great thing about taking up wrist watch collection as a hobby is that you can never really run out of watches to add to your arsenal.

No matter how many of them you manage to find, there will always be some model you haven’t uncovered yet. Not to mention the latest watches that brands will come up with every year.

This just makes the whole thing that much more exciting!

 

(Read also my list of the 30 best automatic watches under $1,000)

 

4) Sign of Adulthood

Other than representing us in our best light when paired up with some good-looking clothes, wrist watches also play an important role in designating your social position.

Typically, a person who is wearing a professionally-made watch is considered an adult ready to take on some tough responsibilities! And that’s the forth advantage of wearing a watch – a sign that a man has entered adulthood.

Unless that’s not the case, of course; there are many people who buy their kid’s expensive watches, but that doesn’t mean that those kids have magically slipped into adulthood.

Which will make a man look more professional in an office: the Hamilton Jazzmaster Viewmatic (top) or the Casio G-Shock (bottom)? Well, undoubtedly the Jazzmaster looks better with suit and give an air of professionalism

 

For these reasons, wrist watches are the usual present at 18th birthdays, which more often than not represent the age at which a teenager becomes an adult (in Western cultures anyway).

In addition, a watch is also a favorite gift for those climbing up the ranks of a corporate office (of course this will be more pricey than the teenager turned adult watch)

Gifting a watch serves as a symbolic purpose other than enhancing one’s style. By gifting someone a tool that and actually is useful in real life, you show them respect and that you expect them to act in an accountable and responsible fashion.

And in the case of the corporate professional, a handsome and elegant watch can be a way to show that he/she means business =)

 

5) Helps You at The Workplace

It may sound banal at first, but having a watch can actually help you organize your time better once you’ve entered the busy streams of the workforce.

Whether it’s scheduling important meetings, or glancing discreetly at your watch to see how much time is left until one of these gatherings will end, having one of these timepieces can really prop you up throughout your working day.

The ability to always be aware of time is a very important thing to have in a busy working adult. And your wrist watch can help just that.

A glance will take less than 2 seconds while having to do the same with a smartphone will take much longer time.

Besides it won’t look as professional if you need to constantly bring out your phone just to check the time.

Another good reason to wear a watch to work is if you are working in a field environment (i.e not office) such as traders in market, construction site, military men etc.

In these environment, there is no way you can fiddle with your smartphone to look at the time. In fact, it’s not a good habit to do that because you’ll be temporarily distracted and could caused accidents.

Besides, there’s always the possibility of dropping off your phone on the ground while working (ouch!).

I’ve once worked in a construction site and learned how hard is it not having a watch can be (I was still not into watches back then).

Imagine having to unlock your smartphone when your hand is dirty – it’s just not efficient to do. Besides, it was not a good thing for my expensive phone lol.

With a wrist watch, these can be avoided completely. A simple glance at our wrist taking less than a few seconds will do the trick. Not to mention it won’t take your attention away from the task at hand which is actually safer to you.

 

6) A True Functional Tool

Some wrist watches can also do more than just tell time. This is especially true with the latest smartwatches that can be an extension of our smartphones.

But for normal analog non-smartwatch, it’s still a hugely useful tool and can be more than just showing time.

Chronograph watch, for example, is a stopwatch combined with a regular watch. It might not be used often but during sporting events, it can be of great use.

Many chronograph watches are equipped with some scales on the watch. The most popular is tachymeter scale which will allow us to know how fast something is moving provided we know what’s the distance it traveled like how fast that F1 car is travelling along that stretch.

Diver’s watch is another example of how wrist watches can be a great tool. Diver’s watches basically has a high water resistance and sturdily built to be used inside water by diver’s.

It also has lumes on it to help with visibility in the dark ocean. And did I mention those diver’s watches can be super cool?

Seiko Alpinist SARB017 is an example of a watch that has compass ring on it

Last but not least, some watches do have special scales on it for more functions. Examples are compass ring and slide rule ring.

Compass ring is a rotating bezel on the watch with designations of the North, South, East and West. By using the sun’s direction, approximate locations can be determined by the ring.

On the other hand, slide rule works based on two logarithmic scales on the watch. One of the scale is fixed on the dial while another is on a rotating bezel.

The slide rule allows its users to do many types of mathematical calculations quickly such as multiplication, division, square root etc. It’s a special scale that’s very useful and also cool!

Seiko FlightMaster SNA411 has a slide rule that can be used for lots of quick calculations

 

7) Valuable Item Or Jewelry For Man

Just as diamond rings are important to women, so does a wrist watch to men. Since it’s valuable and more expensive than we usually have, it can easily be classed as jewelry for men.

Even a good watch can cost more than a hundred dollars and it’s not weird that some guys have many watches in their possession – all perfectly stored and kept, just like how women keep their jewelry.

The beauty of watches (like any cars or motorbikes) is in the technicality part. As a guy, it fascinates me whenever I look at any perfectly running automatic watch.

It’s just so fascinating and intriguing to see how these small piece of device can show us time without using any electronic item at all.

And some automatic watches are beautifully crafted to make them look so stunning and gorgeous, almost like a piece of art.

And this is not just a nice piece of art, it’s also telling time. Now how cool is that? =)

 

(Read also my 10 best automatic watches under $200 – who said automatic watch need to be expensive?)

 

Is There Any Disadvantages Of Wearing A Watch?

I strongly believe there are always two sides of things on anything. Just like wearing a watch, in addition to the advantages listed above there are also some disadvantages of wearing a watch.

 

 

1- Discomfort On Wrist

The biggest disadvantage of wearing a watch is the discomfort feeling on the wrist. This stems from the weight of the watch itself.

When you first start wearing a watch, the additional weight on the wrist will be a problem. Depending on the watch’s weight, it can range from a slight discomfort to even muscle pain.

A quartz watch made from plastic (such as the typical fun looking Swatch’s watches) with rubber bands might not pose a big problem as it’s very light. Your hand don’t really feel the added weight from those watches so wearing it for a long time is not a problem.

On the other hand, automatic movement watch is basically a small piece of pure steel and weigh a heck more, especially if coupled with a metal bracelet.

The added weight is really noticeable and might not be the best watch to be worn by those wanting to buy their first watch.

If you’re just beginning to wear a watch, I’d suggest to change the bracelet to a lighter strap type such as leather or rubber. That way, the weight of the watch is significantly reduced and won’t be as much of a burden.

A watch is surely discomforting at first but with time, you’ll get used to it and can wear it easily =)

 

2- Can Be A Disruption While Typing

Another disadvantage of wearing a watch is the disruption while typing, which is a problem to those working in an office. Can you guess if I’m wearing my watch while typing this post?

The answer is no and I mostly take off my watch when I was typing to avoid the disruption and also to avoid damaging my watch.

As we are typing, we will bring our wrist close to the keyboard and desk. Our hands won’t always stay there since we need to move around to reach for the farther keys such as the top F1-F12 functional keys.

I found that if I’m wearing a watch, the watch band will usually impede the movement of my hand whenever I’m moving around to reach those farther keyboard keys.

This bugs me off and reduces the speed of my typing. In other words, wearing a watch while typing reduces my efficiency, and that is not a good thing at all.

Another reason why I almost always take off my watch while typing is to avoid scratching the watch. This is especially true for a metal bracelet band.

As you are aware, a watch can pick up scratches easily. I swear these things get scratched just by wearing it around.

And to avoid my watches from getting more ugly scratches, I try to protect it from scratching other surfaces, and that includes my keyboard while I’m typing.

What I usually do is to take off my watch and place it next to me, with the dial facing me. That way I can ensure it does not bother me while working and also can easily refer to it to know what time it is.

 

3- Additional Expenses

I think everyone knows that owning a watch is an additional expenses. This is also another reason why some people don’t like to wear a watch and rely on their phones. To them, a wrist watch is not relevant when you’re already carrying your phone around.

In a way, there is logic behind this. If you already paid a few hundred dollars for your phone, why would you fork out more money to buy a watch? That expensive phone can also shows time right?

Even for me, if I were to choose between owning a smartphone or a watch, I’d go for the phone. It has so much more utilities compared to a typical watch.

But thankfully for me, I don’t have to make such choices. Which is why I chose to own BOTH of them at the same time. The phone for calling, texting, checking emails, the customary games while being bored, etc. etc. And the watch for telling time and completing my style =)

An expensive watch is not necessary for most people. Mostly, the extra money paid goes to more quality material, better craftsmanship and more accurate movement.

But you don’t actually need to part with hundreds of dollars for a watch. Even a simple Timex watch is sufficient and you’ll reap the benefits of wearing a watch that I’ve mentioned above.

 

 

Conclusion

All in all, wearing a watch is sure to improve your workplace performance, looks and even boost your confidence! Also, you’ll always know what times it is, which is not a feature that should be underestimated.

Wearing a watch has a lot of benefits that would make the expense of getting one justified.

Of course, the ubiquitous smartphones have inbuilt time-telling capability, but considering all the other above mentioned factors, I would still advise you to get a watch if you haven’t already.

The style, looks and the typical air of nonchalance of wearing a watch is something you cannot really copy. Wrist watch, even as some people say is outdated, still has its various benefits to wear them.

 

 

Hope you guys enjoy my article on the 7 best benefits of wearing a watch. If you have any thoughts about it, do let me know.

Drop your comments down below and don’t forget to subscribe to my stie =)

Till next time folks.

Isaac