Do we have an issue Here?

https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/13/apple-and-android-are-destroying-the-swiss-watch-industry/

 

Silly narrowly focused article.

 

I recently received a call from a watch collector friend who asked me if I was interested in buying his Apple Watch! I told him I wasn’t, but if he wanted to part ways with his Accutron 214 Spaceview, I was ready to talk. Guess his reaction.

 

Smart watches have been around for a fair amount of time now. Honestly, I believe that smart watches and vintage watches occupy different niches in both markets and culture - just because they occupy the same wrist space doesn't mean that they're competing in the way that most think they are.

 

I remember all the hand wringing in the watch industry , 50 years ago, back in the era of the $20.00 Texas Instruments LED digital. This was short lived. Then, the $2.95 LCD digital you could buy when you bought a tank of gas. Short lived. We are going through a similar phenomenon again. People who buy stuff like the Smart watch have the attention span of a gnat. They’ll be off on another tangent in a while, and we’ll have to endure this all over again. We’ll eventually be wading around up to our ankles in discarded, broken, unrepairable novelty watches, but the watches we are collecting today, will not be in the landfill, but in someone’s collection, somewhere. Not to worry.

 

This is not any less short sighted than the posted article.

 

Ironically, one would have to be somewhat stupid to favor a "smart" watch.

 

Vintage watches are a luxury product. Smart watches are mainstream. There is room for both, but personally I’ll be stocking up on vintage watches.

 

Stick around. You’ll see! What goes around, comes around. I’ve seen it. Have you?

 

I remember the first “smart watch”, the Casio calculator watch.

 

Vintage watch prices have risen in correlation to smart watches hiting the market...

I’ve got theories.

 

I have the attention span of that proverbial gnat. Thus, I bought an Apple Watch a few years ago. I bought it knowing that I’d be lucky if it wasn’t obsolete or dead in four years. It’s still alive after three, but now I only wear it while MTB riding, as I figure I’d rather smash it up instead of a “real” watch should I end up crashing.

My wife is a nurse and can’t have her phone while she’s working. But I can still get her a message to her watch if something comes up,so it is very useful to her.

Different tools for different jobs...

 

I'm willing to own the vintage watch.

 

That is really cool. A great use for a smart watch. There are definitely places for them and serve a useful function for many people.

 

I've been wearing a Samsung S2 (on my right wrist - yes, it gets odd looks) since Christmas.. trying to to give it a fair shake. the one thing I like about it is that the watch face is always lit up, so i can get the time with a glance. As a smartwatch, it isn't doing much for me, and I have made it do some very cool things, but those things aren't all that convenient to do from a watch. controlling smart home stuff, calling for uber, checking my schedule. the thing I like using it for is the occasional need for a count down timer with an alert ("your pizza should be there in 30 minutes or it's free"). the smartwatch can do these things, but most of them aren't all that convenient to do from a watch. I'd rather use Alexa or Google home for those things TBH.

so for me, it's going the way of all the tablets I've tried. I just can't find a place for them in my life - and I've tried hard to fit them in. kind of fun to play with once in a while, but more of a solution looking for a problem than a killer app.. for me. smartwatches are going to be a hulluva lot smarter before they will change my mind.

Edit: to add, however, my wife *LUVS* hers... mainly because she doesn't really fancy having a phone handy all the time, but wants to keep up on notifications of important messages.

 

Had to look that one up.



https://horologium.com.au/2010/11/02/hands-on-with-seikos-quartz-astron/

 

different strokes for different folks, now the real question is, are there people out there who love watches so much that they would wear both?

 

I am pretty sure Castro would, if he were alive.