Every guy should have a watch. I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out before. Watches are great! In one of the animated-lectures I’ve seen, someone said that watches are outdated and unnecessary because they are single-function devices. Of course, the watch bit was a side point, but it is grossly shortsighted and needlessly assertive. Watches may only tell the time, but they’re exceedingly good at doing so. Reading your watch is plenty more efficient than checking the phone or the computer. Usually, I’m already looking down at my hands, writing, eating, or programming. The placement is perfect. A simple glance to the south-west is sufficient without even turning my head. It’s both stationary and exceptionally portable and always ready to work when I need it. Now get this: the single-function of watches isn’t a limitation. Whenever I hear about the absurdity of using a single-function device, I think about the guy on kickstarter who raised money to start his turn-your-ipod-nano-into-a-watch business. The idea is great, until you get to the last part of the video: actually using the watch. Like, great. You can now wear apple on your wrist like a true and proud hipster. Oh, but if you want the ipod to read the time, all you have to do is open the clock app! Yeah, and tap it on to see the clock, any time you want, and it’ll come up on the display. Do you not see the flaw in this nearly-brilliant startup? You’re not selling a watch any longer; you’re selling a ipod-for-your-wrist-device. Watches derive part of their appeal from the fact that they do nothing but tell time. Okay, that’s not entirely true. The 4-button digital watches have lights and alarms and stopwatches, but everything is related to the telling of time. But yet, it’s perfectly acceptable to devote an entire wrist to time. The uniform divisibility and constance of time is something that should be infinitely perplexing, but watches exist to simplify things. But there’s more to a watch than just familiarizing the concept of time. Some will label this idea as a symptom of an obsessive need for control. Some will dismiss it as trivial. But to me, it’s a simple flip of logic: knowing the exact time has considerable and unparalleled benefits. The exact time is not 4:30ish, or even 11:51. It’s 20:28:46. Counting down the seconds left on a test or in a boring class, or maybe timing the exact period between recurring events. This brilliant yet common and widespread ability has changed my perception of everything that occurs. Causality and reason fall right into place, and everything is clear. After years, some people say they feel naked without their watch. I’m working my way there.