Ask Lemmy

Regular watch. I don't need more things sending me notifications, and a nice watch makes me feel more confident.

You forgot the third option: None.

I got a smartphone, I don't need a watch to tell the time.

Smartwatch. It’s very useful for triaging notifications (messages, email, phone calls, etc) and turning HomeKit devices on/off quickly or when my hands are full (Siri, open the garage door). Also extremely useful for fitness.

I don't wear any watch at all. Time isn't real, it was invented by capitalists to sell more watches.

Garmin "Smart" watch. It doesn't do apps but it does notificatios and is great for fitness... and only needs charging once a month. A watch that needs recharging daily is useless to me.

You also forgot the fourth option: Both.

I always wear a real watch because I collect them and they are the only jewellery I have and they complete your clothing style. They can gain value and I can give them to my kids one day (when I'll learn how to make them). Also because as a Swiss I don't really have a choice.

But I also wear an apple watch on the opposite arm, for sport reasons at first, then I got used to all the bullshit it have...

Regular watch. Other than my phone, I tend to want less technology on me.

My go to is an old Casio, the same one Dennis Nedry wears in Jurassic Park. It's super weird seeing how expensive this watch has become on eBay.

Where my Casio G-Shock fam at? Solar, set by atomic clock, stylish, pretty backlight, old Nokia cell phone levels of indestructible. What's not to love?

Regular watch.

My good old Timex Ironman has survived tons of physical abuse over the decade or more ive had it, and it's battery only needs my attention every few years. I doubt a smart watch would improve either of those scenarios.

Plus, I don't see any value added to my life by having phone features on a smaller, harder to read screen. If I want to use phone features, my actual phone is less than a foot from my wrist.

Regular mechanical watch. I don't care about my notifications, I just want what is effectively a piece of jewelry. I prefer the watch to a bracelet because I also appreciate the worksmanship and design of the analog machine.

A regular watch.

I've never seen the point of a smart watch, unless you're using it for fitness.

I only wear a sundial but I admit it's hard to tell the time when it's cloudy or night out. Forget telling time inside too.

I've a solar normal watch. Having to plug it in every week seems annoying to me.

I have a Garmin viomove hybrid, I use it to count steps, count my swimming and see how much I sleep. I wouldn't want a smarter watch out of trust issues. Battery life still sucks 3-4 days but the analog watch works if the smart watch part is dead.

I enjoyed having a smartwatch back in the pebble days. I was kind of addicted to notifications (especially from datadog) at the time. My Pebble time made me feel less stressed because glancing at my watch was less effort than pulling out my phone.

Then Pebble was killed off, web-scale infrastructure became more reliable, and I learned to recover from my notification addiction. Now I'm happily watchless again.

Regular watch, my $60 watch has traveled to 5 continents with me over the past decade. Lightweight, has a dim illumination when needed, and ticks right even after some rugged adventures.

I honestly wouldn't ask a smartwatch to handle what I've put my regular watch through.

Regular watch. I already often find it stressfull to be constantly connected and available with just a phone, I don't want to be even more available.

Regular watch. I like watches so I have a collection (mostly cheapos). I don't want to give that up, I don't see a point in a smartwatch (except maybe for counting steps), and I don't want to have to recharge the thing frequently.

Today: Orient Neo 70s Panda solar chronograph.

Regular watch

I currently have a smartwatch but I don't like how I can't prevent it from getting my text and phonecalls which I find useless because my phone is on me 95% of the time. The only way is to keep it on Do Not Disturb. It also for some reason has trouble updating, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I just want it to tell time without all the fancy annoyances.

Dumb watch. I have a digital Casio watch (A158W) and it's great. The battery lasts years and is easy to replace. It's cheap and looks decent enough.

Maybe in years down the line when Smart Watches become cheap, easier to fix and give more health features, I might be more tempted. But right now, I love my Casio and highly recommend it.

I don't like either. I don't use things for fashion, and the phone alone gives me all the function of either watches without it giving me sensory issues by being a bracelet on my wrist.

dumb watch. I really just need a quick glance at the time and date mostly when I can't (or don't want to) whip my phone out.

No batteries, kinetic powered, waterproof, cheap.

Some smartwatches have features I might be interested in (offline GPS tracking) but not at the price I'm willing to pay. Still waiting for prices to drop more.

And aside from Garmins and other high end dedicated expedition/marathon watches, everything else's battery life just seems like crap. Like if I ever leave home for a single night I'll have to pack a charger? That's terrible.

No watch at all - I check the time on my phone and I don't see the point in saving a half second here and there checking notifications on a smart watch.

I don't wear watches. I have small wrists and it bugs me that they never fit right

Smart watch. Great for notifications and telling me if I need to pull my phone out and reply or not, whether mid conversation, driving, cooking, etc. Also fitness tracker so I don't need my phone on a run.

I would never wear a dumb watch. I need my watch to do more than tell time.

I've always worn a watch. I got myself a smartwatch when my kids kept insisting on texting me, while I was cycling home - usually while I wasa half way up a hill. Much better than rummaging to get my phone only to find it was some bit of nonsense.

Subsequently bought an Apple Watch 4 which I still have today and wear daily. I find it very sndy for reminders, as a fitness tracker and like the Apple Maps haptic direction prompts

Why would I need a watch?

Regular watches for me. Specifically, relatively cheap automatics. There's a certain kind of beauty to a mechanical watch, they're impressive feats of engineering.

I've worn Fitbits in the past, but just long enough to know I'm not interested. I don't need yet another thing to charge, I'll just grab my phone for things beyond checking the time.

I got a galaxy watch thinking I'd do all these cool things with it. Ultimately I only used it to set alarms to let me know my tea is ready..

I only really use the mechanical watch now.

I would wear mine if i didnt need to recharge it every damn day

I use a cheap, lower end Fitbit. I like the cheap one because it's low profile, the screen is nice and small.

I do use it for time constantly but the other features are nice too. I can read, but not reply, to texts. I'm notified of an incoming call. I do use the step counter and hourly activity reminders to make sure I move enough at my sedentary job. The stopwatch feature is great for in-between sets at the gym. I like knowing my heart rate too when I'm working out.

I've worn both, but I'm just looking for watches that can do 24H time. Smart watches are nice for setting alarms and cooking timers. Regular watchss don't need to be charged and are much more durable and usually less expensive. I'll probably continue to switch back and fourth.

Smartwatches don't really get updated for more than a few years anyways, which is a bummer.

I wear a hybrid watch made by kronaby. I just need to keep my phone unlocked and it lets you change/pause music so I'm more than satisfied. It even tracks your steps and whatnot but I don't ever use that.

I forgot to mention the battery lasts months so there's also that going for it

Like many, I stopped wearing watches when smartphones became a thing. Then I adopted the Apple Watch when that came out and wore one or another of them until this month. Something switched in my brain and I just decided that I hated that thing. Hated having to charge it. Hated the notifications. Hated feeling a need to close the rings. Hated the look of the thing. Hated that everyone seems to wear the same thing.

I started to learn about mechanical watches and bought an inexpensive but reportedly good quality one that looks nice to me. So far, I love it. There’s something viscerally satisfying about watching the movement through the display back, hearing the subtle sound, occasionally winding it, and contemplating that people can make such complex things that actually work.

I wear a basic watch so that I can keep track of the time without opening up my phone all the time. I discovered that when I wore a smart watch I was constantly peaking at my notifications and paying less than quality attention to my family. When I gave up the smart watch I was less distracted but still found myself wasting time when all I intended to do was check the time

Regular watch, mostly because I hate having one more device to constantly charge up. I liked my Pebble Steel back in the day because I only had to charge it like once a week, plus I think it looked really good. I now have a Huawei GT2 Elegant that I used for a while, now only use it as a fitness tracker when I work out. Daily driver is a Gucci Tornabuoni because it's cute and comfortable but it's almost useless for telling the time, it's just a fashion piece.

I wear a Garmin fitness/ multi sport watch. It has some smart features (shows notifications) but is not touch screen. I run/work out and use the watch to track that.

I over a week on battery wearing it t 24/7 and running around 20 miles a week.

I use a Garmin Venu 2. It's a "smart enough" watch where it's not annoying in terms of notifications, but it provides all of the data I could imagine needing relating to my fitness activities. I started using it after Mozilla reviewed Garmin's stance on privacy.

I also have a Seiko kinetic watch I wear for nice or more formal events.