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Would you wear a watch that doesn't work?

16K views 110 replies 87 participants last post by  cabfrank  
#1 ·
Since most of us (all?) on this forum consider a watch to be much more than a means to tell time:

If you had a watch that didn't run at all for whatever reason (or at least not well enough to tell time practically, e.g. the spring got magnetized), but you liked the look of the watch, would you wear it anyway?

1) Yes -- all the watches I have are worthy of being worn even without telling time
2) No -- I wouldn't wear any watch that didn't work
3) Maybe -- If I thought one perfectly suited a particular occasion or outfit.
 
#33 ·
OP what watch have you been wearing that doesnt work? :)
I can't speak for anyone, certainly not the OP. However I, countless therapists and attorneys, and numerous courts in most countries have observed that people wear wedding rings that definitely don't work.

I suppose a dead watch is no different, particularly the non-dive, non-tool watches.
 
#11 ·
No, if a watch didn't work, and I liked it enough, then I would get it fixed.
 
#12 ·
No. At that point it's just jewelry.
 
#13 · (Edited)
why not? sometimes i throw on a watch and it hasn't wound in a month and i don't have time to fix it. if i just needed the time, i have a cell phone or a car radio or a television or a computer or an oven or i can look at the sun and guess. the time is everywhere, no one uses their watches to tell the TIME - just read any thread about why WIS wear expensive watches when there are cheap clocks everywhere and watch a MILLION users defend how watches are MORE than just time tellers, they're ART, they're TOOLS, they're PRESTIGIOUS. so i'll wear the tool and leave the time telling to EVERYTHING ELSE. needing to know the EXACT time all day is exhausting and pedantic. i don't need to be on time for anyone. i wake up with the sun. i climb or dive or sail until it's dark. then i sleep. there's no reason to know the arbitrary numbers associated with these phases, assigned by a worried society, constantly wasting their lives being on time to things that don't matter.

Even when my watches ARE wound, they are off the exact time by up to 10 minutes, so when i'm asked the time it's still "just after 2" or "around 3:30," information i could have just as easily have given if i looked at a clock in the last hour or could see the sun. If you need to tell the exact time to do your job, obviously you wouldn't wear a broken watch or an unwound watch, but that is so you can DO YOUR JOB and has nothing to do with WHY YOU WEAR WATCHES, otherwise you'd be rocking a perfectly accurate Timex every day.

i wear a watch so i can beat my last time to a mountain summit. or to cook a meal. or to log pilot hours. i wear it because it's part of the uniform for adventure. i wear it because the engineering and craftsmanship and artistry that goes into creating a mechanical watch BLOWS MY MIND. there are a lot of reasons i wear a mechanical watch, but never so I can tell someone the TIME.
 
#20 ·
why not? sometimes i throw on a watch and it hasn't wound in a month and i don't have time to fix it. if i just needed the time, i have a cell phone or a car radio or a television or a computer or an oven or i can look at the sun and guess. the time is everywhere, no one uses their watches to tell the TIME - just read any thread about why WIS wear expensive watches when there are cheap clocks everywhere and watch a MILLION users defend how watches are MORE than just time tellers, they're ART, they're TOOLS, they're PRESTIGIOUS. so i'll wear the tool and leave the time telling to EVERYTHING ELSE. needing to know the EXACT time all day is exhausting and pedantic. i don't need to be on time for anyone. i wake up with the sun. i climb or dive or sail until it's dark. then i sleep. there's no reason to know the arbitrary numbers associated with these phases, assigned by a worried society, constantly wasting their lives being on time to things that don't matter.

Even when my watches ARE wound, they are off the exact time by up to 10 minutes, so when i'm asked the time it's still "just after 2" or "around 3:30," information i could have just as easily have given if i looked at a clock in the last hour or could see the sun. If you need to tell the exact time to do your job, obviously you wouldn't wear a broken watch or an unwound watch, but that is so you can DO YOUR JOB and has nothing to do with WHY YOU WEAR WATCHES, otherwise you'd be rocking a perfectly accurate Timex every day.

i wear a watch so i can beat my last time to a mountain summit. or to cook a meal. or to log pilot hours. i wear it because it's part of the uniform for adventure. i wear it because the engineering and craftsmanship and artistry that goes into creating a mechanical watch BLOWS MY MIND. there are a lot of reasons i wear a mechanical watch, but never so I can tell someone the TIME.
i think this time you went too deep!!;-)
 
#16 ·
I don't think you really know us here...:-s
I think 99.9% would say no, just as we would not ride bicycles with 2 flat tires, fly around the world in a paper plane,
swim shark infested waters wearing a veal cutlet swim suit.
 
#17 ·
So kind of funny, I met this acquaintance at a wine fair yesterday. I commented his huge 65mm fashion watch: "So you couldn't find a bigger watch in the store huh?"

He was like: "It doesn't even work anymore, I just wear it for the look."
 
#32 ·
I would not if it was not telling time practically. If I was in the midst of getting it serviced but it told time adequately enough I would. A completely non-functioning watch no. We all have some of the jewelry/poser gene in us since we all like watches (which are basically unnecessary and pointless in most of today's world), but I would at least need it to work. For example, would you show off your newest iPhone if it didn't work? . . . wait, that may actually get an answer I didn't want . . . :-d


Not relevant. We are talking about watches here, not china plates.
 
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#24 ·
Nope, I'm not Soulja Boy.

(For those who don't get the reference, Soulja Boy is a rapper with a fake Audemars that broke a while back, yet he still wears and takes pictures of it stuck at 10:25)

 
#28 · (Edited)
"Sounds like you're describing a bracelet to me
Image
My answer is no, how embarrassing to have someone ask you the time of day while sporting a broken watch."

Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Bracelets aren't my style, but watches certainly are (I've always been a fan but never really spent significant money on a really nice one).

Someone once did ask me the time while I was wearing a watch with a broken battery (I didn't get around to replacing it for a few weeks), it was a little embarrassing at first, but he agreed it was a nice looking watch.