Not for me, I like a watch I don't have to charge every couple of days!
But having said that, apple's offerings are clever little things. But other than a few techy party tricks I don't find them that impressive.
I'm far from being a regular watch wearer usually only wearing a watch at the weekend and holidays, but I'm now beginning to think more about a 'smart watch' for daily wear - at the moment the Moto360 might be... anyhow this is in 'watch talk' because whatever your thoughts the tech is here to stay.
Opinions, experiences, thoughts all welcome.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Not for me, I like a watch I don't have to charge every couple of days!
But having said that, apple's offerings are clever little things. But other than a few techy party tricks I don't find them that impressive.
Personal choice at the end of the day. A smart watch is not something I personally feel the need to own, but then I don’t have a fancy coffee maker either.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Never desired to own a smart watch.
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My experience with smart watches was more of a headache than anything. It's another thing to manage, plug in and get 'notifications' off. I do think they've come along way in design, but I still struggle with the point of them. It's basically a rubbish version of your phone at best and I don't know anyone that leaves their phone at home.
Not for me, and for anyone interested in watches (as most of here are) I don’t really see how it would appeal.
I get why people buy them tho, they are impressive bits of tech if that’s what you feel you need - my wife recently got herself an Apple Watch and seems very happy with it. I do laugh at her having something else to charge every night tho while my lump of ancient mechanical engineering sits quietly and looks after itself
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I have a chunky anachronism on one wrist and a now dated but still useful piece of tech strapped to the other. I’ll never stop wearing mechanical wrist watches but do use the Apple Watch every day.
At least the 360 is a decent sized smart watch. Not sure if they should advertise someone wearing it on the beach with only 3atm WR though. There are hundreds of downloadable watch faces, some of which look very cool!!
I've worn my Apple Watch much more than a mechanical during lockdown because I'm generally not used to wearing a mechanical around the house normally and I've found during lockdown my autos don't get enough wear to keep running.
Smart watches have their place...I use mine for running and exercise. It's cellular too so is a great backup to make calls or stream music if I don't have my phone. Also use it for payment when I don't have my card wallet on me.
I have a smart watch AND a fancy coffee maker :D
Since lockdown started, ie for the best part of a year, I've worn an Apple Watch Series 5 >99% of the time. I had one previously a few years ago and never really got on with it, always feeling that I'd rather wear one of my embarrassingly large collection of mechanical watches. But somehow wfh has changed all that, to the extent that I'm going to be selling many of my watches and only keeping a few of my absolute favourites (which I know I will wear less than I used to).
The reason? There are a few. It unlocks my MacBook without me needing to enter a password, it unlocks applications that require authentication, it reminds me to walk around a bit when I'm sat at my desk all day, and then there's the fitness / step / exercise tracking etc, all of which I've found both interesting and inexplicably indispensable over the last year. I've got into exercise as a sort of lockdown anti-madness measure and it's a useful tool for that sort of thing.
If you'd asked me a year ago, I'd have said it was an interesting toy but it would never supplant my real watches. Now I'm definitely not so sure.
No. Just no.
They have their place when being active.
Otherwise pointless tech with a shelf life.
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I have thought carefully about a smart watch. I decided against one. My phone is intrusive enough from my pocket I don't want it replicated on my wrist.
Some very useful features - notably pinging your moby when can't recall where left it in the house - but the issue I have is smartphones look crap.
I'll buy another when a Rolex do a Submariner version; might be a while waiting.
It's a no for me, but mainly because I wear a watch really as jewellery. Something nice to look at and occasionally spark a conversation over.
It will be a long time before smartwatches offer that, but I'm sure they will at some point.
Good question.
I don't think I will ever compromise. One for training, one for non-training. It's nice to have something that doesn't need a signal to work.
I had a Samsung smartwatch that came with a phone deal, what a pain in the bum it was, battery lasted a day or so at best; constantly beeping stuff at me get up and move-which wasn't so bad, but news, social media alerts, emails etc, it was endless. And while you can switch them all off it sort of defeated the point of them, so I ditched it. Plus, I like changing watches every few days so this would go in rotation and also misses the point of them. Not a fan. Young persons game I think?
There seems to be an ever growing number of people wearing a smartwatch on one wrist and their Rolex on the other.
Makes they look a bit obsessed with watches to be wearing two but its upto them i guess.
I'm probably one of the few that doesn't wear a watch every day, currently they're more of a weekend/holiday wrist bauble/treat worn whenever I wear a t-shirt which I've no plans to change (the watch I mean) just mulling it over.
Last edited by number2; 10th March 2021 at 15:49.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Not for me.
I like the anachronistic nature of a mechanical watch.
Have enough electronic stuff already.
Cheers,
Neil.
I wear my Garmin Fenix 6x pro quite a bit when exercising. Handy to have notifications, steps tracked, weather, music etc but do like to wear my other watches the reset of the time. It's more of a fitness watch than a smart watch the likes of Apple etc. They have their use and some people love them (my mate swears by his Apple 6 watch). If I were you I'd give one a try and see how you get on.
There not a watch, there a computer. I'd rather where nothing on my wrist, than wear one.
Well, I don't have a Rolex, but I do have a fitband on my right wrist and a proper watch (Kommandirsk 030935 today) on my left.
Works for me, but I wouldn't wear a smartwatch - The tech moves too fast and it's a little redundant anyway.
I used to like the really cheap fitness band I had with no display. The battery lasted all month and I just checked steps, etc on the app on my phone, a far better solution I thought.
Sadly you don't seem to be able to get anything that simple anymore, so a small band with a tiny, unreadable screen suffices.
I did have a Skagen hybrid smartwatch for a while.
It was cheap and I quite liked the style (it looked like a proper watch) and if I didn't care about watches, I'd have been happy wearing it every day and it counting my steps, but as I only wore it about 3 times, it was a bit pointless for me.
M
Last edited by snowman; 10th March 2021 at 16:34.
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
I wear an Apple Watch, charging it nightly doesn't bother me (do same for my phone anyway). Use it for activity tracking and, come the summer, will get a lot of use from it when running, swimming, kayaking etc. It'll save me having to take my phone onto the water
Does it stop me enjoying mechanical watches? No
Over the years there have been people who can't see the point of Sat Nav ("I can read a map!") or a Kindle ("I like the feel of real paper!") so not surprised by some of the replies above, but having a wrist-based device that can act as an alarm, stopwatch, countdown timer, GMT etc etc is something that no mechanical watch can do.
But I suspect you carry a phone, which can do all that and more and with a more practical screen. (Except be water resistant, but some can do that even!)
I can read a map (but I like Sat Nav) and I do prefer to read on paper, although I like the ability to have a book to read wherever I am - Big fan of the Kindle app, but I don't need a dedicated gadget for it.
M
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
IWC Timezoner pilot comes close I think?
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I have an Apple Watch but after a few months wear, and the sporadic week when I decide to give it another try, it lives unloved in a drawer. Nothing to do with style, being a proper watch or even battery - it easily lasts 2 days on a charge - I just already have a phone so why do I need another tech item nagging me with reminders etc? Rather spend the money on keeping my phone updated tbh, and wear a normal watch to tell the time. The tech is amazing, sure - but do I need it? Nope. A solution to a problem that (for me) doesn’t exist. If I was a fitness freak, I might consider one but for now, it’s a big no!
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No for me for a number of reasons.
1) I like the interaction of mechanical watches. Winding, hearing them tick, feeling the rotor spin etc and just looking at them for sheer enjoyment.
2) I work on a computer, my phone is always notifying me of something, I feel like im owned by tech already. I don't want to wear it as well.
3) Its just another thing to charge.
4) They are aesthetically displeasing to me.
5) Im passionate about mechanical watches, I collect them, I work with them, I spend my time reading about them, I dont want them to become obsolete so refuse to contribute to it. Granted they probably wont, but if they do its because people have exchanged them for tech and I dont want to be one of those people.
I wear a Fitbit only for steps on my right wrist and my proper watch on the left .
Although I’ve been a bit of an Apple fan for years I’ve never wanted one of their watches which I get the feeling they go out of date before you get them home.
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I have an old Garmin Vivoactive HR which does all I need for Activity tracking but I still find myself going through phases of wanting a smartwatch but knowing it would be a waste of money as the novelty would wear off pretty quickly. Just need to keep telling myself that and stick with switching between a watch and the Garmin when needed.
.
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Can't stand the idea of a smart watch but like the idea of step counter and stuff so I have a Fitbit flex, waterproof, tracks exercise etc, vibrates with text messages, lasts for ages and doesn't have a screen - perfect
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Total convert here and haven't worn a mechanical watch since buying a Garmin Fenix 6 just over four weeks ago. Paired with Strava it's been transformational for me. In January we did a 100km challenge and finished on 104km yet today after buying the watch, tracking activity and setting targets we've done 105km for the month just ten days in.
Charging a watch daily is a pathetic and the main reason I went for the Garmin - easily lasts at least one week and can do two weeks without much effort.
When the world goes back to normal I'll have to find a smaller band type Garmin which still tracks elevation and double wrist. It hasn't diminished my interest in mechanical watches at all, I called the AD a few days ago and asked them to think of me if a new Explorer II is released.
*tin hat on*
I’ve just bought an Apple Watch. I find myself running most days, and having to swap / remembering to charge my Garmin is a bit of a pain. Also, whilst I can sync Spotify playlists to the Garmin, I can’t stream ad hoc or listen to anything else.
Another slight annoyance - I often miss an important call whilst on the road so these will now come through to the watch.
For me; it’s a replacement of two devices for one. I’ll still keep a G shock for anything a watch is likely to get a knock but for now I’m going Apple.
Thankfully not every smart watch needs charged every few days, but that puts me off those who do. My Fitbit has sat in its box for months now.
I wear a Kronaby Apex 43 more and more these days. Two years minimum battery life and it is one of the best looking, most legible watches I own. Sad but true.
As soon as the Apple watch does blood sugar monitoring I will get one for sure
Tried one (the Apple Watch) but it didn’t ‘bring me joy’. It’s a somewhat useful if fiddly and undersized gadget, but it can never do what a really good ‘proper’ watch does, which is make you feel good about the world. Appreciating a beautiful watch just encourages a more pleasant state of mind than something designed for poking at the digital world. If anything the experience of trying both has made me appreciate the subtle magic powers of real watches even more.
Alpha Omega - you misunderstood my point - the smart watch doesn’t do SOME , it does them all. Fancy a moonphase? Done. Not interested, turn it off.
Not here to convert you - you don’t want one, not a problem - but if you like the Casio - or go high and and like an X-33 or B-1 - then a smart watch does far, far more for not much money (less than the Omega or Breitling)
Depends on what you view as pointless. Like if you go to the shop and forget your wallet, you can pay for your stuff with it.
Or you want to read a message whilst in a meeting but not obviously get your phone out.
Or check the time in the dark, despite how amazing lume is these days, it’s still not a patch compared to a smart watch.
Or monitor your health. My Dad’s recovering from a quadruple heart bypass and suffering with atrial fibrillation, he’ll be able to monitor his heart rhythm from home easily with an Apple Watch.
But apart from those, and a few other pointless things, No just no.
I couldn’t see myself without a conventional watch on my left wrist. I do wear a Fitbit Charge on my right : need to keep track of my steps etc - the wages of aging and cardiac works gumming up.
I have a Xiaomi Mi Band which cost approx £30 and battery lasts approx 4 weeks.
My job involves taking customer calls and the watch helps in being able to see texts, calls etc without having to pick up my phone.
It can record steps, heart rate etc and at its price point I think it is great.
It will be a year next week since I strapped on my wife's old Fitbit and I can't bear the idea of taking it off and failing to log my steps/floors/heart rate.
That said, I'm not interested in smartwatch features, dislike having to charge the tracker, and frequently miss wearing my watches. What I'd like is a tracker I can wear somewhere other than my wrist (or be tiny and discrete enough to go 2-wristed without looking a tool - no screen and mistaken for a livestrong-type rubber band)