September 17th, 2017 |
Published in
Devices
Wrist watches used to be an almost compulsory accessory for men and women alike: not only did they tell you the time of the day, but also functioned as an indicator of your style, wealth and personality — well, unless you were one of those rare types who preferred pocket watches. Everything changed when cellphones exploded into our lives: why bother putting on these unwieldy thingies when your mobile device which can double as a high-precision timekeeping machine is always at your fingertips? If you are like many other people on the planet these days, chances are you are walking around with your wrists comfortably unburdened.
Yet I bet you still have a handful of those physical watches of different styles lying around in your drawers, jewel boxes and other compartments in case you need them for one reason or another. For example, to complement your outfit for a special occasion, or to serve a particular purpose, or something else. And that is where the trouble begins, at least for myself. I wear watches so rarely that by the time I need one of them, either the battery is dead or the clock is off far enough to warrant adjustment. And of course when it happens, I cannot remember how to use the time setting buttons (on digital watches) or have to turn the crown of a mechanical watch for a full round of the minute hand, forward or backward, because last time I used it DST was in effect and now it isn’t, or vice versa. All that hassle was driving me real crazy, and one day I thought to myself: there’s gotta be a solution. Sure enough, there was one.
The idea is to use a watch that has two distinct features: solar power and radio signal time synchronization. The former keeps the clock going for as long as the watch is exposed to even moderate daylight (meaning no closed boxes anymore). The latter makes sure the clock is always current, to the second’s precision, no matter DST or not. Then your watch is always ready to go out with you! Seems too good to be true? Well, not surprisingly, there is a price tag associated with this degree of convenience, but it is not as scary as one might think. I googled around and before long found a few attractive options.
For myself, I picked the model pictured above. It is a classic design Casio steel watch (see it on Amazon) that costs just over $100 or even less if you catch it on sale. I have had it for almost two years and am totally happy with it. Will, since it is supposed to pick up daylight, it also collects dust like any other open surface, but that’s about it. Otherwise, it’s a life changer for me. Issue solved!
PS. Of course, there are many other watches that have both solar power and the radio sync feature, so feel free to follow the provided link to see a
list of similar offerings on Amazon.
Happy browsing!
