In an age when 91 percent of Americans are joined at the pelvic girdle tocell phones , in which we can almost read by the luminescence of theLEDclocks beautify our kitchen appliances and family room electronics , strapping a horologe to your wrist might strike you as surplus [ origin : Foresman ] . It ’s no surprisal , then , that blogs and tidings electrical outlet have declare the wristwatch deader than disco , Dillinger and the fogy . The verity , however , is a fiddling more complicated .
When total American watch sales event dip 4.9 per centum between 2001 and 2005 , analysts naturally see it as a polarity that the much - anticipated Rolex Ragnarok had begun . But view cut-rate sale , like those of lots of other lavishness and durable goods , are cyclic . Despite the big economical downturn since the Great Depression , the industry bounced back in 2010 and 2011 [ informant : Gonzalez;Agence France - Presse ; Shuster ] .
As any sumptuousness watchmaker will tell you , timepieces are less about time and more about image , manner and status . Cartier does n’t commercialise time ; it denounce lifestyle . Consider the ongoing demand for expensive mechanical picket , which are less exact than quartz timekeeper , or the range of watches featuring malfunctioning element , such as diamond , moving liquid and so on . Internationally , the economical windfall in China – where watches , especially mechanicals , have long been associated with successfulness – has driven 40 - 60 percent of the demand for European watches [ sources : Gonzalez;Agence France - Presse ; Shuster ] .
Always conscious of the zeitgeist , watchmakers are also churning out " killer app " timepieces packed with functions direct at specific activities , include mounting , diving , sportfishing , golfing , motor racing and sailing . They have also adopted an " if you ca n’t beat ‘em , join ‘em " approach and integrated their scout into our ever - more - wired lifestyle . Today , you’re able to bribe watches that alert you when your subdued cadre speech sound rings , identify the caller and argue if he or she leave a message . Some picket can play MP3s and video recording or perpetrate files from your electronic computer [ root : Shuster ] .
Where will thing weave up ? Only time will assure . For now at least , it ’s clear that the wristwatch industry can take a licking and keep on ticking .
Before write this , I would have thrown in my lot with the wrist watch doomsayers . In truth , I ca n’t remember the last metre I saw someone , peculiarly a youthful mortal , wearing a watch .
It just goes to show , you should never underestimate the power of marketing to instill a sentiency of pauperization in the consumer . When the new iPhone come in out in 2011 , 55 million of us lined up to buy it , dismiss the economy , our budget or , in many cases , the 2010 iPhone in our pockets . We only genuflected toward Cupertino and pose out our wallet .
Which provoke another head : For all our fetishization of prison cell phones , there ’s every luck that , in another decade or less , we ’ll be declaring them dead , too ( anyone remember when PDAs were recall unreplaceable ? ) .
in person , I enjoy the mind - boggling skill and art incarnate by mechanical vigil . I particularly value the scientific and technological history they map . More than that , though , I value the memory I consociate with them . Unlike consumer electronics , old vigil are not disposable ; they are gift , hand - me - down and even womb-to-tomb fellow traveler .
Will we ever produce the smartphone equivalent of a sentimental , well - crafted horologe ? Now that ’s something I would like to see . The technical challenge , though significant , are within reach , and our satellite would be the upright for it . Perhaps it ’s an melodic theme whose time has occur .
