Watch Out

teh
I don’t remember exactly when it was I stopped wearing a wristwatch but I think it was about the time, maybe 15 years ago, when I first had a PC put on my desk at work. The computer, of course, always had the time in the bottom right corner. That in conjunction with clocks being standard features in cars (it wasn’t always so) eliminated most of my need for wearing a watch. So at some point, I broke a habit that had started when I was given my first watch at about age 10.

Now I find watches even less necessary because I already carry a time piece wherever I go: my cell phone. I use my cell to tell time as much as I use it to make phone calls, maybe more. Cell phones are the new pocket watches. In fact, sales of wristwatches are down. I’d say watches, particularly for women, now have more to do with fashion than a means by with to tell time.

And the trend may get worse as the iPod generation moves into adulthood:

…ask 15-year-old Jaynee Rodgers why she doesn't wear a watch, and the reason is
clear: "I don't see the need for one, because I've always got my cell."

She was sitting at a table last week outside a downtown St. Petersburg Starbucks with two friends who also carry cell phones and don't wear watches.

What would it take to get them to wear a watch?

"If they ran out of cell phones," said Steven Taaffe, 17, a senior at St. Petersburg High School.

There you go watch makers: All you have to do is wait until they run out of cell phones.