Replacing the wrist watch

LA Times:

Is time running out for the wristwatch?

Surveys and sales data show that young shoppers are shunning watches for snazzier time-telling gadgets, such as cellphones and iPods.

Last year, the number of people who bought watches not in the Rolex and Patek Philippe stratosphere dropped 12% from 2004, according to a leading market research group. The runaway favorite brand for teens, Fossil Inc. of Texas, acknowledged an 18.6% decline in wholesale U.S. sales of its namesake brand.

Oakley Inc., which is based in Orange County, said watch sales fell 11% last year as it phased out digital watches and styles that weren't selling well.

For many in the cellphone generation, watches now seem about as relevant as grandfather clocks. Bare wrists were plentiful last week at the Lab, a Costa Mesa shopping center that caters to teens and young adults. Shoppers dived into purses or pockets to retrieve cellphones when a reporter casually asked the time.

You don't wear a watch?

What's the point? they answered.

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"The inconvenience of strapping it on in the morning," said the 21-year-old student from Huntington Beach, a pink bow tattooed on her right foot. "My grandma does; that's how she tells time. She's not that old. She's, like, 60, but still …. "

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Glad to hear I'm not that old. The problem with using a cell phone as a watch, is found in the reason the wrist watch replaced the pocket watch. Having to dig for the time is much more inconvient than just looking at your wrist. Perhaps a Dick Tracy wrist hone might do the trick, but most of the teenagers have no idea who he was.