There is something about wristwatches that drives me to need one on my wrist at almost all times. It is a familiar and comforting weight on my wrist and the simple convenience of of knowing what time it is at all time. Maybe I regiment and plan my time too much; maybe I need to enjoy the moment more. On the other hand, maybe knowing the time helps me enjoy the moment more. There is also more to it than simply knowing the time. There is a machine on my wrist, often, a machine that runs itself without electricity. I just think that’s cool.

 

Time is a concept that probably deserves much more contemplation on its own. It is the one resource that we cannot earn or make more of and it is usually the first that we, as a collective society, are willing to waste. While I was on paternity leave this past fall of 2021, I contemplated time a lot. Time for my children to grow into themselves. Time since I was a child or in college or in law school, etc. My consideration of time spent in a day or a week was a major impetus for launching EntreBurnor and these other projects. There literally is no time like the present so get moving. 

 

I have a large variety of watches. None of them are/were overly expensive though admittedly several probably cost more than anyone but a fellow watch nerd would spend on a non-smart watch. They have different uses and are worn at different times. An interest in watches has also led to an interest in watch maintenance which has taught me many lessons in and of itself. 

 

A watch keeps me on track by telling me the time but also, in a sense, protects me from myself. If I were to check the time on my phone, then I would also be exposing myself to all of the notifications, text messages, social DM’s, game reminders, etc, etc that show up on my phone home screen. Yes, you can minimize these, and I do, but that only works to an extent. The truth is, sometimes we want to be reminded, notified, messaged, and plugged in. Do Not Disturb only works so well and we cannot modify the nuances of when we want to be connected and when we do not. The answer then is to simply avoid the phone. It is our most powerful weapon in productivity but also our biggest detractor.

 

The humble watch then steps in as our productivity companion. It tells us the time. More complicated watches allow us to time ourselves, our set markers, and alarms but in the end they are all simple markers of the passage of time. This is one more reason why I do not personally use a connected watch. I see their immense value but for myself, I prefer for my watch to remain unconnected. As all of my other tools become more and more connected and smarter (the way I like them) my watches remain simple, stalwart, and ever present, much like time itself.