Sunday, July 12, 2009

A Watch Story

Forgetting your cell phone is the most annoying experience! It becomes an eye opener to your overdependence on that one piece of equipment. It contains all your phone numbers (who memorizes those anymore), is the only on the go way to verbally communicate (germ infested public phones are a No No!) and what better way to ignore overtures or just annoying people in general. Not to mention, you can’t tell the time so you are continuously aggravated with thoughts of being late even when you have nowhere to be, you can’t text or call anyone and you just feel out of the loop.

When I forgot my phone at the hotel during a recent trip out of town, I finally realized after a frustrating day of feeling discombobulated that it was time to start wearing a watch again. Why? I just thought I would have been less paranoid if I was just able to tell time when I got the whim. And loosing the phone made me pay attention to watches so I began to realize it was a shame I did not wear one. And when I thought WWOD (what would Oprah do) I realize that she would wear one and that was it for me.

Personally I think the cell phone is the proverbial video that killed the radio star i.e. the watch. Watch sales have never been the same since cell phones arrived as the cool accessory on the scene. Look at what happened to pay phones. Either way my growing dependence on my cell phone made having a watch less and less important. Back in the day, I used to be a watch lover. I remember getting a Mickey Mouse watch with a black leather band for my ninth birthday. That was my grown up moment and the only thing I wore on my wrist. Throughout the years I have always kept a watch nearby. After all they were a must have for standardized tests to say the least. But it has become easier to slip on a bangle or two to make a look than a watch which provided less variation in a wardrobe.

So after that disastrous weekend I felt it was time to take the plunge. I had noticed that some celebs including Oprah wearing their timepiece on their wrist and was now ever more curious. The right watch can make even the dowdiest outfit seem high end. I’ve also noticed ironically that the watch is the staple for a man in general but the appeal is lost to many women. It has not been easy finding a picture of a woman, not in politics wearing a watch, but a man is never dressed without one. For example, President Barack Obama wears a watch always however, for Michelle Obama sometimes you see it sometimes you don’t. Is it that we view watches merely as an interchangeable accessory and one of our many wrist adornment choices while men are limited in their choices so the relevance of the watch to their wardrobes is greater?

When I decided to purchase a watch, I realized it could not just be any watch. Did I want a strong timepiece or a thin and more feminine bracelet? Did I want a “don’t rock the boat” leather band or a stand out powerful metal band and face? Should I choose show off gold or earth silver? Should it be a square or round face? One thing I knew for sure was that there would be no “bling” on my timepiece. I felt like I had to place similar focus as I would for a diamond ring. I started off with the usual online mass retail sites like Overstock.com, Macys.com, and Amazon.com and soon realized that a watch held more stylistic importance than a bangle as it was seen as part of your personality like a pair of eye glasses so I had to choose well and in person.

After a lengthy (few weeks) search online I decided that it had to be a Fossil gold-toned square metal face and band with a least 35 mm face. I came close many times to purchasing my fav online but hesitated since there were too many question marks in my mind. So, on a recent trip to the Fossil store I finally found the watch I knew only by a number and brief description. In person the oversized look was “a don’t” as it swallowed my wrist. I was not impressed and felt like trying on the watch was like deciding to go back to wearing glasses but realizing at the last minute that my contacts make me look better in pictures. The look just seemed out of place probably because the relevance was deemed since I now was careful to not forget my cell phone. Maybe next time…





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