:: The slow humble resignation of the wristwatch ::

Sunday, July 13, 2003

On Friday, I'll be leaving on a 2.5 week vacation in Japan, a trip which demands that I not be tardy for several necessary events. In preparation, I sought out my old wristwatch which I happened upon sandwiched between the mattress and box spring of my bed - the nefarious result I'm inclined to believe, of a lapse of judgment a while back in which I lent my apartment to some allegedly dear friends for a few hours only to return to find my shoes hidden, my alarm clock set several hours ahead of the correct time, and certain unmentionables splayed out across my sheets. There's no denying the initial humor value of this, but I never suspected the repercussions would last quite so long as they did. But I digress.

I've had this particular watch for quite some time (hovering in the neighborhood of 7 years now), but haven't used it since the battery expired in April of 2002. I'm uncomfortably obsessive about temporal awareness, and in some cases equally as neurotic about punctuality, so why did I neglect to restore the device to proper working order? Indeed, when previously the battery had worn out I, on account of feeling naked and bereft of the chronological acumen on which I often (mostly in secret) prided myself, had rushed to replace it with a new one as quickly as circumstances allowed. To wit: what had changed? Why was I so insouciant towards a device I had before considered of critical import?

In March of 2002, I had procured a mobile phone. I continued wearing the watch for about a month out of habit but, having been rendered redundant due to the phone's time-keeping abilities (which were in some ways superior - as it updated its clock from the wireless network, it obviated the need, infrequent but still requiring some effort, to adjust the time manually for daylight savings or time-zone changes), when the watch's battery went, so did the watch.

Clocks worn around the wrist are the curious 20th-century bastard children of fashion and convenience. They are functional personal accessories made possible only when technology advanced to permit myriad miniature gears and springs (and later, electrical impulses delivered through quartz crystals) to surmount the high bar of accuracy required for constant dependable use. This move, from the pocket to the forearm, served the dual purpose of allowing for increased functionality (a simple twist of the wrist now served the same purpose that had required before a laborious process of retrieving, opening, closing and replacing) as well as a more overt method of stylistic expression (with all its trappings - the cachet of a Rolex for example - soon to follow).

Timekeeping has now come full-circle, moving back from the wrist to the pocket or bag, a move which, as a student of geek-chic I can tell you, serves the twin masters once again. Merging this ability with the mobile phone, a tool fast becoming far more indispensable, increases convenience considerably, and people shell out far more money than actually required for their purposes to have color screens, sleek silver casings, and a bevy of other niceties.

So I sat on my bed, acutely aware that wristwatches will one day be relegated, along with sealing wax, the typewriter, and gas lamps, to that unique bin of antique anachronism which carves out a healthy niche on the periphery of our societal consciousness - of interest not only to archeologists and historians - an impractical but cherished reminder of a time when they were the primary means of keeping it.

Anyone know where to get a watch battery replaced?

Posted by morland @ 04:00 PM

:: Comments ::

Very interesting. What follows the cell phone as our next timekeeping piece?

Posted by: Bobbo on July 15, 2003 03:10 PM

We revert back to the sun. In these days of more and more complexity, society will see a backlash against the timepiece providers. you'll see.

Posted by: the guy who lives in vail on July 15, 2003 05:28 PM

I spent the day taking sick people's pulses by trying to match the rhythm of my blinking pager with their heart beat. The wrist watch, with a second hand, is still useful in medicine - go figure.

Posted by: Anna on July 15, 2003 10:45 PM

Wouldn't a stopwatch be more useful?

Posted by: morland on July 16, 2003 10:42 AM

Yes, a stopwatch would be better. But I want one as cute and as portable as my strawberry shortcake watch with a little bumble bee as a second hand. Such a device would instill faith in my patients, no?

Posted by: Anna on July 17, 2003 07:24 PM

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