I was at a concert last night and as I looked around the room I noticed something of which I have become more aware lately, people don’t wear wristwatches any more.  Of the about 40 people I counted, only 2 wore a watch (I was one of them), even the performer was absent a time piece.

I’m told that between cell phones, digital car clock readouts, computers and many other what-nots, no one needs to wear a watch anymore, that wristwatches have become like the dinosaur. Well, excuse me but I am a living breathing Brontosaurus.

I know I am in the minority of many things but I never thought wearing a wrist watch would drop me into one. The idea of leaving the house without a bandana in my back left pocket, a small pocket knife in my front left pocket and a watch on my left wrist is totally foreign to me. Now I realize the bandana and pocket knife are truly old school, those two items became intrinsic to me because of my grandfather and father who never were without either, but a watch was ubiquitous to my generation.

I have both my grandfather’s and my father’s watches, both sturdy Timexes with plain leather bands, both worn and smooth from years on their wrists. My first watch was a hand-me-down from my grandfather, yes, a simple round white-face Timex that I had to wind everyday. I believe that a first watch should be one that has to be kept wound; it teaches responsibility and a sense of duty, no matter how small.

Everyone wore a watch. Remember the Lady Timex? They were only smaller and instead of a brown or black leather/vinyl they were pink or red.

As time passed so did the watches we wore; they became more expensive, bigger, waterproof, self-winding, solar powered, battery operated and digital. Now I will tell you I have a Mickey Mouse watch, a Goofy watch that runs backward, a myriad of Batman watches and a collection of old family Timex and Bulova watches, but I am proud to say that I have never worn a digital time piece on my wrist. There is something mysterious, wonderful and romantic about all those tiny gears and contraptions moving in perfect harmony encased in a package that, if kept up, will tell you the time of day consistently with a flick of the wrist.

I have enough digital in my life, from alarm clocks to music; my final bastion of the digital age I wear proudly as my red badge of courage, a gold Seiko with matching band.