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Friday 15 June 2018

Watch this space

I mentioned in my previous post, that my Beloved and I exchanged gifts on our 40th anniversary.
I gave her a large (and much too expensive) Ruby and Diamond gold ring.


My beloved (note the lower case beloved in this case) gave me a watch.

I like watches, I appreciate watches, it's the only form of jewelry (apart from a wedding ring) that I think appropriate for a bloke.

I can vividly remember the first time I bought a watch of my own. Before then, I wore (as most teenagers of my generation did) hand me downs and second hand wrist watches.
My only watch had been my late Grandfather's, and I loved it.  But it was very old fashioned.
So with me now in a job, I saved up, and bought my very own watch.
It was a Seiko Quartz Chronograph, in stainless steel, with a bright blue face, and easy to read. It had a date indicator, and even an alarm.

It was lovely. The battery needed to be changed every year, and I found out that very few jewelers had the proper tool to open it up, and they caused a lot of scratches all over the back.  They also buggered up the water seal, so it was just water resistant now, not waterproof as before.
 I bought quite a few similar watches over the years, always from Seiko. 

Then I had a revelation.  While at University, working on my MSc in Applied Computing, we did a unit on heuristics.  This is the study of the interface between man and machine.  We were working towards computer control interfaces, but we started off with a study of watch faces.  Watch faces with actual numbers on them were much easier to read.  WHY hadn't I thought of this before?

My next Seiko watch applied these principles, and it was also a Kinetic, which had the accuracy of a quartz, but no need for batteries.  It had a very easy to read face, and a date and day display.
It was a lovely watch, very reliable, and with the numerical face, easy to read, especially as my eyes weren't quite what they were with all the damned ageing process.

Now we come to the watch my beloved bought me for our anniversary.

It was a Skagen.  It used a battery.  It could only be adjusted when interlinked using wireless to my tablet computer. It didn't have a date or day display.   It didn't even have a second hand.

And now for the best bit.

It didn't have a numerical watch face, it had a black watch face, black metal bits to indicate the hours, and black hands. It was almost impossible to see the bloody time.  It did look cool, just useless.

AND the thing had a fitbit-like tracker, checking calorific intake, sleep patters and steps taken.  I sleep like a baby, have my diet under firm control, and my main exercise is swimming.  Oh, did I mention the new watch isn't waterproof.


 How do I tell her her gift to me is crap?

14 comments:

  1. I bet she had a tracker and locator installed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why? He's retired and she just has to look out the window to see him raking the leaves.

      Delete
    2. Raking leaves?

      I don't think so.

      I have a man to do all that stuff.

      Delete
    3. Tracker?
      Which is why it sits in my bedside drawer.

      Delete
  2. You do not have to. It's perfectly good for what it is designed for unlike those Seiko Kinetic watches with the rechargeable battery that cost a fortune but failed after a few years. Though I could be wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My Seiko Kinetic lasted over 12 years until I needed the battery replaced. Seems a good deal to me.

      Delete
  3. Yeah, Shelley bought me a fitbit for a recent birthday. I burried it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good man.
      Seeing you work in the garden, fancy doing mine?

      Delete
  4. TSB you list gardening as one if your past times in your blog profile. What’s happened? Has the novelty worn off with the abundant falling of autumn leaves? Bummer about the watch. You got ripped off or your wife got sucked in by a slick salesperson.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like sitting in a garden, preferably with a large glass of wine, or G & T, or a Bloody Mary, or anything really. Working in the garden, not so much.
      My beloved was under the impression that the watch face glowed blue and did more.
      I shall say no more on the subject.

      Delete
  5. I too enjoy drinking beverages in our garden or smelling the roses or watching the birds. My other half has the green thumbs and enjoys maintaining the garden. Anniversary today. Gifts exchanged and both happy with what we received. No dodgy watches.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awwww, so sweet. Many happy etc.
      I know, I find it difficult to be too happy.
      It's against my nature.
      Hmmm, if we could ask, what were the gifts? Asking for a friend.

      Delete
  6. You don't wear a giant gold rope chain around your neck? Especially when doing yard work? I can picture it.

    My watches need both date and DAY. My days are so similar that I can't tell one from the next. I have to rely on a watch to tell me where in the week I just woke up.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That ring looks very much like one my wife recently inherited .

    ReplyDelete

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