I think that I was about 6 years old when I got my first watch. I am pretty sure it was inexpensive and you had to wind it every couple of days. Like many things a grade schooler possesed, it was not treated that well and was often dead. I wore it until the band broke and then it ended up in my junk box for many years.

Believe it or not, this was before digital watches were popular. When I was in fourth grade, the calculator watch came out. Oh man, that was the coolest ticket for a Christmas present, but good luck at $50. A few of the predictable people got one, then there was the concern about cheating on math test. My brother and I knew that we were never going to get one of those, so we coveted the Iron Man Casio watch. Never got one of those either.

The calculator watch fad was short-lived and then the Swatch watch was now in vogue in 6th grade. I did have one of those. Once again, the battery died or the band broke, I am not sure which. They were all plastic and really didn’t hold up well to pre-teen boy’s life.

I am not sure that I remember every watch I have ever owned, but I certainly have my adult ones. One of them (not pictured) my wife bought for me in 1994, I put a new battery in the watch and added a new band and gave to my son a few years ago. That one seems to be lost to time. But other than that, below is my current selection. Each one of them, a certain state of disrepair.

From the left, that is a 1992 vintage, department store “Guess” brand watch. It had a dead battery and a broken band. I think that it has always been a black band, because the other one I gave to my son had a brown band. I alternated between the two in college. I have to say, I like the look of a leather band, but I am sure that I am on my fourth or fifth band on that watch and I stopped wearing it (both black and brown) when I got the second watch.

The second from the left is also a “Guess’ watch that I got in 1998ish. It had a metal band in an attempt to combat the six month, leather swap. That watch got some abuse. It was covered in polymer multiple times and you can see that crystal is even damaged at about one o’clock. I stopped wearing it when I got the third watch in about 2001. Also, a pin was raided from it to keep the third watch going at some point. Recently, I added the web band to get it up and going again. This is going to be my work watch.

The third watch is a Bulova. It was expensive. It is made of Titanium so it is light and smooth. I wore that watch until February 2019 when it stopped working. I sent it in through the jeweler and they said that the gears have worn to the point that it is not keeping time. They can be replaced at a cost of $200. Of course, I got that news the week after I left my job and I did not think it was prudent to spend money on such a luxury item. To this day, it sits broken.

The last watch got lots of use in 2015-2017. It is a Garmin GPS watch that tracks where you have been. I used it mostly for timing when I was training for my half-marathon. I actually wore it as a watch some too, But, two things were wrong, when the GPS is active, it eats the battery and by the end of my half marathon, it would die and the second was the silicone band started disintegrating.

There I was jobless and watchless. That was when I started just using my phone. I really didn’t have anywhere to be so why not? A few weeks ago, several things started to come together. My wife was doing Christmas shopping (and she is dying to buy me a smart watch so I am less likely to miss calls and text messages) as well as me cleaning up old phones and tablets and junk. She said “you used to wear watches” and in my zest to purge junk, I wondered if any of these watches were viable still or can I get rid of them, win either way.

I bought some batteries to see if the first two had the same fate as my Bulova. So far, so good. Then I put my Garmin on the charger. Sure enough it has been going for three weeks on that first charge. It used to be, I would buy my replacement bands at the department store that the watch came from (that doesn’t exist anymore). Now, with the world of Amazon, a whole world of generic or off-brand bands are available, including even the Garmin.

I am going to be a watchman again. Albeit they are inexpensive or outdated watches, I like the idea of looking at my wrist again instead of digging out my phone. My work day consists of rolling out of bed and having a clock constantly in front of me but it is so much more convenient when I am travelling or not working to look at a watch rather than a phone. I also think that watches dress up or down situations as well.

End Your Programming Routine: Maybe ‘The Art of Manliness’ is rubbing off on me too much with style topics? But, it seems to make sense to me to either use the items or get rid of them. Hanging on to non-functional is the opposite of logical. Now that I am not leaving the house everyday, I really have less use for a watch but I am looking forward to putting these things into service again.