After something like a year of searching I finally got:
- solar powered, I never have to charge or change battery
- analog face with digital date, no need to adjust the date every month but looks good
- date in dd/mm format
- no GPS, no heart rate monitor, no notifications
Couldn’t find anything else that would tick those boxes.
I know a ton of people love g-shock, and i respect you guys, but to me it looks like something i would pick up on my way to drive a main battletank into the heart of russia
Sounds like an upside.
I like my smartwatch. I’m extremely ADHD as well as hypoglycemic. I have a lifelong history of not eating, then working/playing/exercising until i get woozy or pass out. I’m a terrible judge of what I actually need to stay functional. Always have been. I’m stubborn and will just try to power through things when I actually can’t.
The watch helps me track my sleep/rem cycles and lets me know when I’ve been neglecting my health. It lets me know when I’m getting stressed and need to take it easy, and it estimates how many calories I’ve expended on a given day.
The watch and pager functions are nice for reducing screen time when I should be working, but as a health monitor I find it indispensable in keeping me honest with myself.
Aren’t smartwatch sales going down? Anyways, never understood why anyone would use one, especially since we also have phones that we carry around every day and that can notify us whenever.
I use my Garmin instinct to track fitness. I love it
I use one because it lowers my screen time. I can walk away from my phone and still be aware of texts and calls from family.
Edge case here: my hands are constantly dirty with things I don’t want to get on my phone (relevant hobbies include machining, gardening and calligraphy). A smart watch means I can check to see if a message is important (ex: kids/partner attempting to get ahold of me) and I can answer calls and texts just using my nose/tongue + TTS. I never understood why they were such a mainstream accessory, but they are very convenient in some circumstances.
(Edit: I just remembered another use case, my partner is medically “a dingus” and constantly loses their phone as a result, but habitually is always wearing their watch. Upgrading them to a smartwatch has meant our relationship no longer suffers the daily turmoil of tearing apart several rooms looking for it. Again pretty niche, but a wonderful QoL improvement)
I work as mechanic and when my hand is either dirty or full or busy, it’s super useful to have a fitness band to help tell time or see who’s calling/messaging.
Sometime it’s also quicker to check time instead of having to pull my phone out. It’s also helpful for when i misplaced my phone.
There was one case in the last 3 years that I thought about getting one. I started running and hated having to need my phone on me and needed a watch either way.
Then I went to dinner and saw how a friend was continuously and unconsciously flicking their eyes down at their smartwatch every few minute if they weren’t talking and decided against it. I’m getting old…
Same here. They are just pointless devices. A smaller screen for your small screen. And I can’t understand the point of a “watch” You take off to charge. I’m using a solar powered G-Shock and take it off my hand maybe once every 3 months.
Mine is primarily a sports watch. The smartwatch features are just an added bonus.
Same, it counts my steps and it measures my runs/swims. It’s a Garmin. I don’t really have it configured for notifications or anything else.
If we’re doing watches today, here’s what I’m rocking lately.
I stopped using my Garmin smartwatch because they finally fell into the enshittification trap and recently tried adding AI slop and a subscription scheme into their watch app. That’s a big old nope from me, dawg.
I’m rocking a $5 Ali watch with a nice rainbow watch band.Nice. It is astounding what you can get for just a couple of bucks, and even more astounding that they genuinely work.
I’m not really a watch person, but that one looks totally great!
It’s also approachably yet suspiciously cheap. I think I paid $20 for this close to 15 years ago, and Sinobi is apparently still at it making mechanical watches in the $30 range.
This one does two things: Tells you the time, and does so while not needing batteries.
All of those seem to be quartz and not mechanical.
A photo of my current watch as I’m wearing it right now.
Very nice. Here’s mine:
Wow. That has to be 20 years old
Here’s my reliable, simple Casio. Been with me for the past 7 years. I love this old fucker.
Here is my Bulova Sea King “Whale” from 1971 that I bought used a couple years ago. Still runs very well 54 years later.
Here’s mine. I bought it new in 2015, and I wear it almost daily. It has never needed work.
Keeping time since 1971
Are people really not aware that you don’t have to have notifications for everything?
You can turn all the notifications off on your phone and watch.
The value the watch brings can be found in other places, for example, being able to stay connected and have music and emergency contact without needing to lug your phone with you during a run or if you lose your phone.
A smart watch means you can leave your phone at home more often in general while still being available to those who genuinely need to be in contact with you, which is great for reducing doom scrolling and the like.
Right?? One of the first things I do when getting a new phone is disabling all the useless notifications and keeping the ones I care about. My phone doesn’t spam with notifications all day.
I broke two of those. One taking something out of my pocket the crown caught and once the crown caught on rubber gloves I was removing.
Sorry to hear that. I’ve had this one for a few years now and work out in the bush all day and I haven’t had any issues.
Have been wearing a Withings Scanwatch for close to two years now. I can check the time as usual and do not have to do a weird hand movement to activate the screen. On that tiny screen on top I can see who is calling on my phone.
The dial at the bottom goes to 100. That’s percent of predifined steps taken.
I like it. The Scanwatch 2 has a ton of more functioniality healthwise but it also quite expensive for a watch.
You’re still allowed to buy a normal watch
“the touch screen is broken”
Father, I cannot click the book!
Does flipping the page by hand break the ebook?
No it just flips the device, but then you cant read anything
