Watches

Some years ago, I bought a Garmin fēnix 5 Plus smart watch, in the ‘Carbon Gray DLC Titanium with DLC Titanium Band’ version. Mostly out of curiosity, but also partly in the blind hope that I’ll be able to write some useful custom software for it. This hope quickly died when it turned out that it can only connect to the Internet through a phone—​Wi-Fi is reserved for software updates. Eventually I’ve found out that I can’t make real use of most of its other functions either, as I’m a homebody. And some plainly suck:

Newer fēnix watches have gained LTE connectivity, which makes this class of devices less redundant in that they used to duplicate many smart phone features, but weren’t independent of them. Otherwise there seems to be minimal progress, as with the iPhone: regular re-releases of essentially the same thing, often even downgraded in some aspects.

Given my dissatisfaction and stagnating evolution, I’ve converted back to a more conventional analogue-digital watch, the Casio LCW M170DB-1Aer, which is already a rather vintage model. I think they compare rather interestingly:

You win some, you lose some—​I really don’t like the strap. This watch suits my needs the best from everything I’ve seen on the market, and I don’t even consider prices, as indicated. The second place in my research was taken by the Citizen JV1008-63E, which has no radio, and looks slightly odd.

Both. While as of writing I don’t instinctively ‘know what time it is’ from hands, it’s an interesting visualisation, so I suppose I’ll try to get more used to this representation. Detailed mechanical dials are pretty.

The thing that I can’t wrap my head around is the existence of digital watches with circular dials.

Design-wise, ideally something resembling a larger uniform rubber band, with perhaps a movement-sensitive white OLED display hidden within. And, like with the Casio, it must have effectively infinite battery, and synchronise with the time signal.

So something looking like the Fitbit Charge, just completely different.

Of course, this is a pipe dream, if only because silicone and similar soft materials don’t last long, getting shiny with use in places. Thus perhaps stretchy textiles? And we’re already making compromises.