I Hate the Watch Designers of the World
After looking on the Internet for it, I realized that the medium isn’t ready for watch shopping yet. I can’t tell the size of the watch from the tiny thumbnails that they provide. Las Vegas sports much more shopping opportunities than I have in Salt Lake City, so I was hopeful for the Labor Day weekend. Maybe I would find my watch.
Here is what I want:
- A beautiful watch
- Women’s watch
- Digital
- Metal case and band
- Time and Date on the display at the same time
- Stopwatch
- Countdown Timer
- Light
- I would also like Dual Time, but I’m willing to give that up
I want a watch that is pretty, feminine and useful. Those sparkly watch hands on my Citizen EcoDrive are pretty, but they don’t tell me much information. I want more from my wrist-top computer. I want it to be useful AND good looking, and I’m willing to drop a lot of money on this purchase.
That’s why I was hopeful for Las Vegas. They have so many luxury and designer stores there. I was sure that TAG Heuer or Tissot would have what I was looking for. I just needed to find it.
After looking at every watch store in the Las Vegas area, we came up worse than empty. I was crabby with so many of the clerks, but the snooty lady at the biggest watch shop was the only one who deserved it.
“I don’t think this Nike looks good enough to be a dress watch.” I said reluctantly. It was only $80 and I could have bought it for fun, but it wasn’t any better than the $7 watch on my wrist.
I saw the clerk roll her eyes. She said in a thick accent, which I suspected was fake, “If you want a nice dress watch, you won’t find it in digital. Buy a Citizen.”
“I have a Citizen. It takes me an extra five seconds to tell time with it. I want digital with a nice metal band.”
“What you want is too big for a women’s watch.”
“This watch is digital and it’s small.” I held up the $7 Armitron. It has all the functions that I want. It’s just ugly. It looks like a sport watch. “If they just put the innards of this into a nice watch, then I would have what I want.”
“If you want a dress watch, you need to buy a nice brand. I have one with a stopwatch.”
“You do? It’s a digital?”
“No, it’s not a digital. It’s an analog stopwatch.”
I didn’t say anything else. I realized that the woman is used to selling watches to fat old women who are more interested in how many diamonds are on the face. It’s a shame, too. I was willing to drop a load if I could only find what I wanted. I’ll probably end up buying a Suunto. If it has to be ugly at least it can tell me the temperature and predict the weather.
After searching that shops high and low for a digital watch that makes me look like the businessman I am, not a pot smoking, wave surfing teenage hippie like this plastic banded chunky monstrosity I’m now wearing does, I decided to use the internet to visit the website of every expensive watch maker I could think of.
Your article expresses my frustration succinctly. It’s like digital is a swear word to these people. Mr Rolex, I don’t care if your watch can withstand 1,000 Gauss. Unless it can measure 1,000 Gauss and display it on a digital screen, who cares! Looks like I’m stuck buying a $25 Casio that’s almost guaranteed to lose a minute every month.
Laura, your requirements are not unreasonable, but the problem is more widespread than you thought. Guys digital watches suck too.
Comment by David — February 23, 2010 @ 6:02 am
Oh my dear Lord. Someone who understands!
My wife has been begging me to replace my Casio that I’ve had since the 1980s (yes, the ’80s) with something that makes me look like a corporate lawyer (which I am). I refuse to get an analog watch… they aren’t designed to tell you what time it is, they’re purely ornamental. I am not going to take an extra few seconds every time I want to look at my watch!
I’ve been combing every single freaking watch maker’s site on Earth (including directories of every company in Switzerland and Germany). Nothing! N-o-t-h-i-n-g! And I don’t even care about the features, I just want something conservative and sharp that I can wear with a suit. Apparently this is too much to ask.
In desperation, I’m looking at digital/analog watches. In a word, they suck.
I think I’m doomed to have my Casio (and to argue with my wife over it) until… well, who knows until when. Sigh.
But your post made me feel better. 🙂
Comment by Adam — November 22, 2010 @ 7:20 pm