Demoting the Apple Watch
Here's a public thanks to Kev for his recent post on smartwatches. It pushed me to demote my Apple Watch to very limited duties, all but replacing it with more traditional watches.
I've been wearing an Apple Watch 24/7 for lots of years now, taking breaks only to do the necessary daily charging. I've picked up a few traditional watches along the way, which I break out for dressier occasions, but the Apple Watch has been my daily driver.
I've had the nagging feeling that I should shelve the Apple Watch for the sake of simplicity and style. The Apple Watch was very cool and exciting in 2015, but at this point, everyone who's wanted one has got one. (Disclaimers: in my social circles; privilege; yadda yadda yadda). They're pedestrian now—the tired sameness of so many little black squares on so many wrists. It's far more interesting, and certainly more stylish, to choose from one of the thousands of other watches out there. As a blogging analogy, wearing an Apple Watch is like blogging on Medium. Where's the personality!
More importantly, there are complexities and distractions that are virtually inherent to the Apple Watch. The buzzing and tapping and charging and Siri not quite doing what you want her to. I'm eager to leave all of that behind.
That said, there are a few features that have kept me wearing an Apple Watch: timers, reminders, and alarms. Using Siri to set timers on my watch comes in handy all the time. To replace that, I'll just use my phone and keep it in my pocket more often. I also turned on my phone's always-on display so I can see the timers while cooking.
Setting reminders is also handy for my ADHD brain. I can capture something the moment it arises, before it slips away. Similarly, I'll just use my phone for that. Slightly more of a hassle, but no biggie.
I'll still use my Apple Watch for alarms. That's a killer feature for me. I wake up earlier than my wife, and the Apple Watch wakes me up without bothering her. It's been relegated to this duty alone.
As for the new order, I now have four traditional watches in my rotation. Hot off the USPS truck is my Vaer S5, which I'm wearing now:
I really like the look of a white field watch with a canvas strap. I bought a couple more NATO straps for this watch to spice things up.
My foray into automatic watches was the Orient Kamasu, and I still love it. It's a good everyday watch unless I'm doing something active like riding my bike, in which case it's a bit heavy.
My wife bought me a Tissot Seastar, which I love and save for dressier occasions.
And finally, another new acquisition, the Casio G-Shock GWM5610-1. This is my rough-and-tumble watch, and may just be my default if I don't have a reason to wear anything dressier.
I know these pics are too big, but I really need to get back to work. Later!