BusinessWeek Logo

Pocket watches are back

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 26

pocket watch.jpg

My son says that “nobody” at high school wears a wristwatch anymore. If they really need to know the time, they reach into their pockets and look at their cell phones. This is a return to the days of the pocket watch. Could it be a return to simplicity, to a less chronocentric culture? Maybe next, like their ancesters, they’ll just keep an ear out for the cathedral chiming every hour. Or now that I think about it, maybe these people don’t really need watches, since bells and horns are constantly ringing at school, telling them that time’s up.

TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blogs.businessweek.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/

Reader Comments

Charles Klivans

November 26, 2005 09:33 AM

The Media is showing there disdain for rules of good writing by using words before they are defined, or they are showing conceit. What's a Blog? I know what a Blug Blog is. When my sister and I were 6 she would read and if she came to a word she didn't know she would insert "Blug Blog" for it. So Blog is "Blug Blog" as is "URL"

Charles Klivans

November 26, 2005 09:39 AM

Besides the meaning of "Blog" and "URL", why is the president flying around in a Lear Jet? Did he fly non-stop from Washingtom DC (Where's Washington AC?) to China? How long did it take? What happened to Air Force one? Too slow? Too expensive? Too easy to spot? All of the above?

Anna

November 26, 2005 10:01 AM

When I was in school (okay, we're talking almost 19 yrs since HS grad), we had huge clocks on the wall. I know cause I would count the minutes down in most subjects. (laughing) But you are right about the bells/horns. They work too.

Pocket watches are so classy! I wish they would make a full come back. I bought a very simple "sort of" pocket watch. The face was as big as a quarter. It was shaped and painted like a lady bug, and the two wings closed over the face. Really cute. I'm not sure if I described that very well. But I got it at Kohls a few months ago, and it's on my key chain. :)

Have a great weekend, Stephen.

Rob Hof

November 26, 2005 11:14 AM

Haven't worn a watch in 20 years or more. I tell time by the sun. (It helps to live in California.) Not very exact, you might say, but once you no longer wear a watch, you realize how many places you can find the exact time (computer, VCR, cell phone, car radio, ...).

steve baker

November 26, 2005 04:48 PM

Rob, next time we're in the same town, we'll have dinner together at sundown. I won't wear a watch either.

billg

November 26, 2005 06:01 PM

It might be a bit premature to write off the wristwatch -- even for today's youth.

Many things are converging on the mobile phone inlcuding voice, SMS, IM, & multimedia applications. For the 'always on - always connected' generation (Steve - that includes both my sons), its not difficult to imagine them having to soon reach into their pocket many, many times each day.

Now, think about about these alerts being 'pushed' to the wristwatch via bluetooth.

If you believe that convenience is the ultimate competitive weapon.....in this context the wristwatch (being something that is worn vs carried)....offers a convenience hard to beat.

I'm betting on a wristwatch comeback.

Nids

February 18, 2006 04:48 AM

i just bought the most amazing pocket watch of my life!

Ernesto Manjarrez Estrada

July 9, 2006 01:09 PM

Good Day!
I speak english a little ok!
I need to know exactly what's the meaning of the word Blug, Can you tell me please?

Pete

September 28, 2007 04:31 PM

We carry a large line of pocket watches, maybe we need to start carrying cell phones! I'm in my 30's and I stopped wearing a watch years ago, as soon as I got a cell phone

Alan

October 1, 2007 10:53 PM

I'm 18 and used my cellphone for the past 3 years to tell the time until I bought my first wrist watch. A calvin klein. At first I bought it just because I wanted a watch, I thought they looked cool. So I wore it whenever, and after a while, when people ask the time you only look at your watch as it's right on your wrist, easy access. Hands are full of something? Just lift up your arm, and there's the time. It's much easier after a while and I started to notice how much a wrist watch is helpful. There gonna come back soon once people get tired of their cell phones. Plus they add a touch of class to your everday appeal. I like em just because of that.

karl

January 30, 2008 11:37 PM

hello! im karl, and im a collector of antique pocket watches. But i can't show to you my collections this time. You can visit my site Pocket Watches

Post a comment

 

About

In Blogspotting Senior Writer Stephen Baker and Associate Editor Heather Green take a look at how cutting-edge technologies are changing business and society. Whether its blogs or wikis, data crunching or data targeting, technology’s advances are reshaping the world that we live in.

BW Mall - Sponsored Links