Maybe I'm just becoming a graybeard, but I'm tired of software updates, constantly charging devices, and throwing away good hardware because it's not supported by software anymore.
Nice flex, but you don't need to spend Wolf of Wallstreet money to enjoy the fun and diversity of traditional analog and digital watches.
You can build an entire watch collection for every occasion, of high quality Casios, that will last ~forever, for the price of one new Apple watch who's lifespan will be less than the CR2016 battery on those Casios, while having more features that a Rolex.
Casio even had the audacity to build an analog knock-off of the Apple watch and IMHO they nailed the design better than Apple (the moon phase indicator is a functioning complication, not a design element): https://down-th.img.susercontent.com/file/th-11134207-23030-...
They knock off famous watch designs. Their whole Patriot line is meant to look like Richard Mille. I'm showing my bias but if you want a mechanical go right to Seiko instead of this company putting Seiko cases that are meant to make you look like a soccer player who just got his signing bonus.
It’s like comparing a wired phone to a smartphone because they’re both “phones”.
Yes, they can tell the time but there are better ways of knowing the time nowadays. Especially if you care about accuracy, a smartwatch connected to a smartphone connected to an atomic clock is more accurate than your Rolex.
So what's the point of jewelry? Fashion, and signaling your wealth mostly.
So it's a question of what utility or value you derive from it.
Personally if I didn't have a smart watch that tracked activity, showed me the weather forecast, let me glance at a notification without taking my phone out of my pocket etc. I would have no watch. That's what I had before my first Apple Watch.
If you find value and enjoyment from your mechanical watches, then that is the point, and they don't need to do anything else to justify it.
Yes, almost no one needs a watch to tell time. I counted the clocks in my house a few years ago, counting anything that displays the time as a "clock" including things such as my microwave oven, my stove, computers, phones, tablets, DVCR, thermostat, TV, etc, and found something like 20.
But no, there are still functional reasons to have a watch. I do not want to deal with keeping all the aforementioned clocks actually set to the correct time. Some aren't a problem, such as computers and phones, because they automatically sync to time servers over the net.
With a watch I can reduce my clocks to those on my computer, phone, and tablet, and my watch for when I'm not using those, plus any clocks on things that actually need the correct time.
It gives me an ambient sense of the time because I end up glancing at it randomly. I lose track of how far along I am in the hour if I forget my watch.
That all said the fact that they are wearing a rolex isn't to tell time, it's to wear a rolex.
> So what's the point of jewelry? Fashion, and signaling your wealth mostly.
That's a sweeping generalization, pun intended... I guess "expensive" is relative but I own a few four-figure watches and appreciate them for their aesthetic and the engineering that went into creating them. Being able to tell the time mechanically without cellular service or an Electron app is a welcome reprieve in today's world. I suppose my Casio F-91W is more accurate but it's also much less whimsical and doesn't really feel like "my" watch the way that my Damasko does. Ditto for the Rolex that I inherited from my Grandpa - the German watch that's worth 15% (but still 50 times the cost of the Casio, i.e. "luxury") and has zero brand recognition gets worn way more often because it's my jam.
My next purchase will likely be a Seamaster Professional not because I want to signal that I can afford a $4000 watch but because I like the aesthetics and the movement. Obnoxious Rolex bros are certainly a thing (I see them in public fairly regularly) but that doesn't mean that everybody that enjoys nice watches does so for the sake of conspicuous consumption :-).
The biggest problem with longevity of modern portable electronics (watches, phones, etc) is that they usually use the internet. That generally means they need security updates when bugs are found, protocol updates as the net evolves, and sometimes they depend on specific network services that the provider drops.
Sometimes the electronics themselves fail. For example I've got a Casio MG-510 guitar [1] that I bought in the late '80s. It still works great as an electric guitar, but its MIDI functionality no longer works.
From what I've read this is almost certainly due to a bunch of bad electrolytic capacitors. Someday I'll have a go at replacing the capacitors, which other people have reported fixed theirs.
[1] https://spinditty.com/instruments-gear/The-Casio-Midi-Guitar...
I agree that expensive watches are mostly status symbols, but a quartz watch is accurate to about 15 seconds a month, which unless you're in the military is good enough accuracy, may I ask what you do day-to-day that requires you to have atomic-clock levels of time accuracy?
Oddly enough, I think this - wearing both a smart and an analog watch - is actually a trend [0], which I think makes sense, since analog watches could nowadays be considered purely attire complements.
[0] https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/double-wristing-a-guide-fo...
Simply to catch a train it's important to have a precise watch.