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Which watch?

Wednesday, 26th March 2008

Victoria Saxton gives tips for choosing a watch

A practical time-keeping necessity or a frivolous fashion accessory? The opinion on time-keeping devices seems to divide neatly into two camps: pretty versus practical. The divide, however, runs far deeper and has wider-reaching consequences. The watch one chooses to wear reveals volumes about its owner — whether you want it to or not.

Once upon a time (in the 16th century for practical time-keepers) well-to-do ladies would have elaborately embellished watches pinned to their dresses, or on ribbons around their necks. Equally well-to-do men would have a miniature sundial-style contraption which they would proudly display whenever the time needed to be told. Soon the sun-

dial contraptions got smaller; clever men up in the Swiss Alps worked out how to mechanise these devices, strap them to your wrist and do away with messy sand and ‘what to do if it was cloudy’ issues. The use and wearing of a watch, however, is not simply segregated by sex; it is and was divided by use. Or so people like to think.

In reality, though, the wearing of watches is about status. Whether you believe you’re buying a practical, three grand, tell-the-time-in-Hong-Kong, enamel Tag Heuer because when you go diving (and handily Tags can withstand up to 200m depths) you really want to make sure you know how long you have got before your oxygen runs out, or you’re buying that cheap Casio because you just want to know what time it is, you’re making a status choice. One says, ‘Look at me! I am a sportsman, I can afford to go diving in the Caymans!’ The other is inverse watch snobbery: ‘I’m not fooled by fashion luxury, I just want to know what time it is.’ One could uncharitably translate this as, ‘I’m too broke to buy the watch I really wanted so I’m going to pretend I didn’t want a flash one anyway.’

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