About three weeks ago, my watch strap broke. It was a fairly expensive watch, and I caught it in time so there was no need for any wailing.

The only problem is that being a moderately upmarket watch I probably should take it to a proper watch shop to get the pins put back in the strap. And of course, I havn’t had the time

That was problem one. Problem two was that my other decent watch had run out of battery. I could have worn the cheap fluoro yellow plastic watch I bought for biking, but that was distinctly lacking in style.

So I bought myself a cheap reasonable looking watch on ebay for seven bucks – after all watches all much the same today – a little bit of digital circuitry and a case, and you can find the same chips in a 100 dollar watch that you do in a $10 watch.

All you are paying for is style and brand name, not, as old mechanical watch days increased accuracy or added features.

The only problem about buying a watch from ebay is it took three weeks to arrive from Hong Kong. During that time I was without a watch.

Now everyone will say, you have your phone, your computer(s) and your car – all tell you the time more accurately than a thing on your wrist. Why, realistically do you need a watch?

And that’s true. It’s also true that wearing a wristwatch is habit. The first week I found myself feeling lopsided and looking at my wrist. After then I kind of broke the habit.

What broke me was the convenience. I thought my ebay watch would end up just sitting there, but no – it’s simply more convenient to have a watch on your wrist – saves diving in a pocket or a bag to find your phone, especially in a crowded bus.

So I guess I now understand why Samsung and Apple are racing to bring wristwatch style devices to market – looking at a thing on your wrist is simply simpler …

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