I've joined the ranks of the watchless...for now...

Until about a couple of weeks ago, I had regularly worn a wristwatch since I was a kid.  Some would argue that (since I am right-handed) I wore my watches on the wrong (i.e., right) wrist...but still...

I currently own 6 wristwatches, each of which I had been progressively wearing less and less.  A couple are sport watches, which I have no need for since I don't really go running or adventure traveling any more (or, actually, never really did).  A couple are of the stylish-but-marginally-functional variety that I mostly wore on weekends.  I got tired of replacing their batteries a year or two ago.  The remaining two were the stainless steel workhorses, one of which I typically had on my wrist 5 days a week.  Though the battery has been dead on one of them for a while, the other is still chugging along (except for when I try to use the backlight).

Lately, though, I was almost daily taking the watch off at least briefly at work when it started to make typing a bit uncomfortable.  This is not something new, and has been an on-and-off occurrence for several years.  However, it seemed to be happening more often lately.  On top of the fact that the battery on my only remaining functional non-sport watch was showing signs of fading (re: the backlight issue).  And the fact that (for various reasons I won't get into at the moment) I hate the experience of getting my watch batteries replaced.  And, perhaps most importantly, the fact that cell phones have rendered the main function of a watch obsolete.  So one day at work a couple of weeks ago I decided that I was done with watches.  I took the watch off, put it in my coat pocket, and that was that.

The one caveat to this story is that I have been eying the smartwatch industry for a while.  In fact, at one point last year I pledged the $100 (or whatever it was) that was required to receive a Pebble watch on Kickstarter.  But I later came to my senses and cancelled my pledge when they announced the first of a few delays.  I still think that smartwatches could be a neat idea, and (being a gadget guy) I'm likely to take a serious look at one once the industry matures a bit.  Chances are it won't be an iWatch, though.