Watch

Basic Requirements

Quick Note: I realize this is not something that goes in my pocket or on my belt, but it is an accessory, and thus I didn’t have a better category to place it in.

I demand a lot of every item that fills every one of the slots in my life. Watches are no exception. To me, a watch isn’t jewelry, it’s an essential tool that has to be with me nearly every waking hour.

Ideally, I’d love to just keep one watch for the rest of my life. I don’t want to have to wind it, care for it, replace it’s batteries, or keep it dry. If I have to worry about it or babysit it, then it’s not for me. Unfortunately, I have yet to find the perfect watch.

First of all, my watch needs to be simple – on the inside and the outside. I don’t really need my watch to do all sorts of fancy things. I used to love the idea of storing my phone book, address book, calendar and calculator on my watch, but these days I just need to know what time it is, I need a timer (count down and chronograph), I need an alarm, and that’s about it. Plus, my watch isn’t a fashion statement. I want it to look good and conservative in any outfit, on any occasion, and for the rest of my life. Bright colors, radical designs, and a loud presence are all things I will avoid with a passion. I could find a watch that does everything I want it to perfectly, but if it’s trendy, colorful or calls too much attention, I won’t ever buy it.

So, the longer the batteries last, the tougher it is, the simpler it is, and the smaller it is (so as to keep out of my way), the better.

Just a few final requirements for my watch. For one, it absolutely has to be digital. I am no good at reading analog clocks in a hurry. Sure, I can read them, but for at-a-glance readings, I need a digital display. It has to have an even backlight. I’ve tried the old style lights with a single light bulb illuminating from one side, but those frustrate me. I need the whole back face (behind the LCD) to glow when I tell it to, and be dark when I don’t want it glowing. Finally, I don’t want it getting in the way. When I pull on a coat I don’t want my watch snagging the sleeves. Though I don’t need to sleep with my watch (anymore – see the story below for more on that), I should be able to comfortably forget about my watch and sleep on it if needs be.

Do I demand a lot from my watch? Yes. That’s why I hate shopping for a new one – I can never find one that is just right for me. Like I mentioned before, my watch and my shoes spend the most time with me, and I have the most stringent requirements of all for them.

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Current Slot Occupant

Casio Men’s G-Shock Classic Solar Powered Digital Sports Watch [Amazon.com]

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Past Slot Occupants

Casio Men’s Ana-Digi Forester Illuminator Sport Watch [Amazon.com]

Current Slot Favorite

Casio Men’s G-Shock Classic Solar Powered Digital Sports Watch [Amazon.com]

Dethroned

Casio Men’s Ana-Digi Forester Illuminator Sport Watch [Amazon.com]

Dream List (If $ weren’t an issue.)

I’m open to suggestions – I think I’ve found a keeper though! My only issues with the current slot occupant is that it is a little fat (gets in the way due to its size) and only has a plastic band.

Max Currently Able to Spend

$0

Budget List

Empty.

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The Story

I have a long history with watches. My Past Slot Occupants list above isn’t anywhere near complete. As a child I became fascinated with knowing what time it was, and I have worn a watch ever since.

I began my watch obsession with novelty watches. I just spent an hour scouring the Internet, but I can’t find a single image of any of the watches I wore as a child. Perhaps my favorite, and certainly the coolest, was a “stealth” watch that had a plastic cover shaped like an F-117 fighter jet (known as the “stealth fighter”). If you can find a picture of it, please leave a comment and I will give you my email address so you can send it to me!

In fact, for most of my childhood and even up until I got married, I wore a watch 100% of the time. I’m not kidding. I showered wearing my watches, I slept with them on, I never removed the watch I was currently using.

It was precisely in this way that I developed my first requirement for a watch – it had to be water-resistant (at the very least – I wanted water proof until I found out how expensive they were). The first time I took one of those children’s plastic watches into a shower, it broke. I was devastated, and from then on I only wore water-resistant watches (with one exception, noted below).

Also, I’ve never owned more than one watch at a time. Every time I buy one, it takes such a long time to find one that I don’t hate, that I decide I’m never buying a new one again unless I have to. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a watch that can last me more than a few years without dying, breaking or otherwise failing me.

For a long time in middle school and high school, my obsession was with calculator watches. For a short period I wasn’t able to afford a water-resistant calculator watch, so I actually had to remove it for showering. However, as soon as I could afford the $60 or $70 price tag on the water-resistant calculator watch I wanted, I bought it. I wore it everywhere, all of the time. I stored people’s names and phone numbers in the data bank (that’s what it was called). I used the calculator every chance I got, even if it was an easy problem I had already solved in my head before raising my wrist. I loved my calculator watch, and I honestly believed it was the last watch I would ever buy. I believed we would grow old together.

Unfortunately, one fateful day at the beach, I discovered that the ocean had ripped my sweetheart right off my wrist. I was devastated. Angry and depressed beyond consolation, I shopped for a new watch while we were still on vacation. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing another watch that cost over $50, so the plan was to buy a less expensive watch and return to wearing a fancy calculator watch as an adult (in my more responsible form, I reasoned, I would never lose anything). I ended up getting a watch that cost (as best as I can recall) about twenty dollars.

That was when I formulated my first real set of criteria for a watch. Before then, I hadn’t given much thought to what I wanted except that I had to be able to shower with it on (because I didn’t like removing and replacing it on my wrist). What I decided was that I wanted it to be simple, durable, have a low profile, and have no more features than I needed. Those features, I decided, were the chronograph, count-down timer, alarm, and basic time-keeping features.

When new data bank watches and fancier calculator watches came out, I looked longingly at them through the glass, but I knew that our time would have to come later.

Interestingly, I never lost another watch after that day, and I’ve since decided emphatically that I shall never wear another calculator watch as long as I live.

You see, my love of calculator watches was blind to the fact that, in the future, I would carry a cell phone that could store contact information and even perform calculator duties.

Eventually, I found and used the Casio Forrester line of watches. These watches didn’t have too many features, they had a nice illuminating plate behind the watch face, and they had leather or nylon straps that felt better than plastic on my wrist. I was loyal to the brand for at least three watches, each of which lasted me about three years.

Casio Forrester

I would often buy a Forrester with a nylon strap and purchase a separate leather strap. I prefer leather in many of the products I use, watch straps are no exception.

In fact, I was using a Casio Forrester from high school all the way up until last year on Father’s Day, when my wife presented me with a new watch I had decided on after months of studying the available watches in every corner of the Internet.

This is the first time I can ever remember getting a new watch while my old one still worked. In fact, it has been over six months since Father’s Day last year, and my old Forrester is still traveling around the house as one of the children’s toys. It is still keeping perfect time (with no adjustments) and it was nearly the perfect watch for me.

The main reason I didn’t want to continue using it was that its face is dominated by an analog display with a tiny digital display. The digital display does not light up, only the analog face. So I had to squint at it in the light, and I had to stare at it for a minute in the dark to figure out what time it was. The timer and other functions were not easy to get to, and setting it required setting both the digital and analog parts.

The one thing I preferred in that old Forrester was the low profile. My new watch is awesome, and in almost all of the requirements for this slot, it excels. The only gripe I have is with its size, and even then it’s not a big gripe. There are much bulkier watches out there. The fact is, I have one of the slimmest watches out there with the ability to survive what it can survive. Well, the bulkiness is one gripe, and I do have another small gripe, but more on that below.

Casio G-Shock

I now have a Casio G-Shock watch whose face is partially covered in solar panels that help charge the battery when exposed to light (not just sunlight). It feels super tough, it doesn’t have too many features, it’s not trendy or loud on my wrist, and I love it. Sometimes I wish it had the option to have a leather strap (it doesn’t), and when I’m putting on something with tight sleeves, it does get in the way (larger coats are fine, long-sleeved shirts, which I hate anyway, don’t go on over it very well). As you can see, I have far fewer complaints about the G-Shock than I did with the Forrester.

My search for the perfect watch for my wrist may go on forever. Currently, I believe I have the best watch out there for my requirements. I really do love it a lot. If there’s one that fits the bill better than this one, I have yet to find it. I’ve often considered simply using my cell phone to tell the time, but I prefer pulling my cell phone out as little as possible until I can get something as rugged as my watch. Until I can get a ruggedized cell phone with all of the features I want in a cell phone (which I have yet to list but will soon, on the Cell Phone page), I will have to continue wearing a watch.

If you have anything to say about this or any of the products listed on this page, please leave a comment. If you feel that I have overlooked an important contender for this slot in my life, please enlighten me!

Thank you for your help, comments and experiences.

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