Watches

I used to be terrible at doing things on time. I’d miss school assignments, forget dates—including my very first—and show up late to nearly everything. There was hardly anything I did in life without procrastinating—kicking the task down the road of life, until it hits a hill. The only thing I did early was my birth, being born 2 weeks before expected time; that’s proof that my time management skills weren’t always that bad.

That’s when I got into the idea of a watch. Revolutionary, right? I wasn’t just going to wear any old watch of course. It had to be a real special one. I scrolled through listings until I found what I wanted. It was this black quartz watch that had a cool metal bracelet. The minute I got it, it didn’t come off my wrist. I remained faithful to that watch for a while and everything went happily ever after.

But of course it didn’t go that way. I went down the rabbithole of watches and was shocked. There’s watches without batteries? This one doesn’t even need to be charged or anything! Does it wind itself from my wrist movement? I was in far too deep to turn back now.

Pretty soon, I started looking at those pictures in envy. There were gold watches, silver watches. Red dials, blue dials, green dials, art dials. There was one watch that tracked the planets or the moon too! What time is it? I believe it’s around half past Jupiter. The idea of a practical tool to tell the time was completely out the window. Now, it was a dick-measuring contest, all to get the maximum potential out of a function that your phone can still do better.

And thinking about it, a phone really is better. A phone lets me call, text, scroll—anything my heart desires. The beautiful, vibrant displays are perfect for any content I could ever want to consume and definitely overkill for a little time display. I’m not sure what the point is in even looking at an antiquated piece of tech like a watch. They’re simply unnecessary in the modern world. Get with the times… literally!
I had the reasoning right then and there. I should have dropped the whole thing right then and there. Too bad. I like watches.

I couldn’t help but research. I’m not going to buy a new watch, I’m just looking at cool stuff online. I spoke with the rationale of an alcoholic’s proclamation of sobriety. And for a while, I did stay sober. Then I had my first sip of rosè.

Fast forward two years, I had worked for just around 2 weeks at my internship and the end of June approached. I woke up at 9:00 AM on the first of July to my phone’s ding. I should have thrown this stupid thing out the window, how dare it interrupt my slumber. I checked and for once, was glad the blackbox whined. $1337.05 has been deposited to my account? What could I spend this on?

With unfortunately no better way to phrase this, then it hit me. I immediately googled for the watch I wanted. Looks like I’m working from home today. I had that watch on my wishlist for a very, very long time. It was expensive, yet not that expensive. The parts of my body thankfully did not need to be sold for MSRP. It was little more than a thousand dollars. I looked at my bank account, then looked back at my wishlist. Repeat that four or five times,

Thank you for your purchase. I stared at the salesperson in front of me. He placed the bag in front of me with my brand new watch. Inside the bag lay a massive box and a receipt for $1118.32. All this for something the size of my wrist? This sales tax is pure highway robbery. I opened it in front of him and saw the fruit of my labor. The watch ticked away and the second hand smoothly swept the dial like a leaf drifting in the wind. The back of the watch was a mechanical marvel with gizmos galore ticking, turning, and clicking away, all to serve me the time at a moment’s notice.

That watch has stayed on my wrist for nearly every waking moment since, only getting its rest when I go to take a shower. My watch has seen everything from suits to pajamas, weddings to funerals, and it fits in perfectly no matter the situation. As I’m writing this, it’s still ticking away delightfully.