Watches!

This is a situation where advertising got me. Sort of. To be fair, I've always liked watches. Part of it is that I like to be on time. The bigger part of it, however, is that I like how they look. I'm not a big jewelry guy, but I think watches look cool. I had a couple of Citizen watches, including a really cool chronograph that Sarah bought me (more on that later). I likely would've continued to wear and buy traditional watches, but then the Apple Watch debuted.

I wasn't initially interested in the Apple Watch because I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with it. The only reason why I got one was because I had a gift card to the Apple store and I wasn't sure what to do with it otherwise. I quickly fell in love with the device, especially as it has evolved, as it majorly improves common workflows that I use at work and home. Having rapid access to some of the random apps, such as the stop watch, has been a big benefit. I could go on and on about why I like the Apple Watch, but the point of this post is to discuss traditional watches. I only bring up the Apple Watch to say that its existence put a major pause on my interest on traditional watches.

I really like racing, especially Indycar racing. The Indy 500 is my all-time favorite sporting event that I attend every year. At the top of the Pagoda at the Speedway, and painted on the wall at the finish line, is advertisements for Swiss watch company TAG Heuer. TAG has a line of watches called the F1 Chronograph, and they have a special edition watch in this line specifically for the Indy 500 that has been on my radar for a couple of years now. My biggest hold-up for getting this watch (in addition to the cost) has always been fear of disrupting my workflows with my Apple Watch at work. I receive notifications frequently while at work on my watch that I need to respond to, and not having my Apple Watch would be a bit of a pain point now that I'm used to using it. However, in the past few months I've started running DAX Copilot on my phone all day while at work, which means my phone thinks I'm seeing notifications there and isn't always passing them along to my watch. I used this opportunity (plus a bonus at work) to purchase the Indy 500 special edition watch and migrate (at least partially) back to the world of traditional watches.

Overall I've been quite happy with my decision to go back to traditional watches. I think they look nicer, and honestly it is nice to have a bit of a break from the connected world of the Apple Watch. I'll admit, I have occasionally looked at the watch to check the temperature or tried to use it for Apple Pay just by habit, obviously without success. Getting this watch has inspired me to wear my two older Citizen watches as well, just to switch up the look. My only issue with the Citizen watches is that they use Eco-Drive, and if you don't wear them somewhat regularly the battery dies. This isn't a huge deal except that the Citizen Chronograph that I mentioned above has about a 30-step process (see the instructions below) to set the time and date on it. It's interesting, because on the one hand, it is incredibly sophisticated with a perpetual calendar and radio synching to make sure the time is accurate. On the other hand, compared to what a modern-day smart watch can do, traditional watches can be a bit "dumb". I suppose they are sophisticated in their own, different ways.