Douglas Adams was wrong about this

[philmophlegm]

Late last year my watch broke. And apparently that's it - it's dead. I've had this watch since I was ten years old, so it's over a quarter of a century old. It's a Casio AX-250, like this one only black rather than blue: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360022022529&ih=023&category=31387&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1 .

I was very attached to this watch, and now I have to say goodbye. I could buy a second-hand one, but that would also be a quarter of a century old and probably wouldn't last much longer (and because they are very collectable now, they can go for quite large sums).

I'm currently using my 'new' watch, a Gucci analogue one with a red and green face and lizard-skin strap (like this one, except for the strap: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-Genuine-Mens-Gucci-Watch-needs-Repairing_W0QQitemZ120219567327QQihZ002QQcategoryZ31387QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem ).
I say 'new', but it was the watch my parents bought me when I passed my A-levels, so it's seventeen years old in its own right. I have only had four watches in my entire life.

The Gucci one is nice, but I want a digital. Because I've worn a digital for so long now, it takes me a while to work out what the time is when I look at an analogue watch.

And whereas digital watches were, for most of the last twenty years, very un-hip, all of a sudden, they're very trendy. The fashion thing obviously doesn't matter to me that much (I was after all wearing the digital watch all through that 20 year period), but it does mean that now there are lots of digital watches out there that appeal to me.

So I thought I would ask for some advice. Do any of you like any of these watches?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quiksilver-Mens-Designer-Digital-Watch/dp/B000PI0232

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nooka-ZEN-V-Unisex-Digital-Leather/dp/B000WTSQFU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=watch&qid=1202813889&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philippe-Starck-PH1082-Unisex-Digital/dp/B000KLJF4G/ref=pd_sbs_jw?ie=UTF8&qid=1202813889&sr=1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Storm-4337-BK-Rubber-Digital/dp/B000X5JKUS/ref=pd_sbs_jw?ie=UTF8&qid=1202813889&sr=1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Dice-BD-018-01-Digital-Leather/dp/B000KKIFW0/ref=pd_sbs_jw?ie=UTF8&qid=1202813889&sr=1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Dice-BD-018-02-Digital-Leather/dp/B000KHPCJW/ref=sr_1_86?ie=UTF8&s=watch&qid=1202814566&sr=1-86

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diesel-dz7071-DZ7071-Mens-Watch/dp/B0012UOYDQ/ref=sr_1_87?ie=UTF8&s=watch&qid=1202814566&sr=1-87

http://www.zgwatches.co.uk/lambretta-monza-digital-menÂ's-watch-la2073bro-p-568.html

http://www.zgwatches.co.uk/mens-jacob-jensen-watch-digital-bangle-530-p-415.html
(I think these two look a bit like Liberator teleport bracelets!)
http://www.zgwatches.co.uk/mens-jacob-jensen-watch-digital-bangle-533-p-417.html

http://ledwatchstop.com/store/matrix-retro-watch-neoclassic-p-131.html

http://ledwatchstop.com/store/watch-galaxy-programmable-display-blue-p-196.html

http://www.shadestation.co.uk/cPath/-2_440/products_id/6681/osCsid/3648dd0b2c8d1e77fb91212a1e2c3412/product_info.php

And weirdest of all:
http://ledwatchstop.com/store/unique-watch-tokyoflash-biohazard-leather-p-252.html

Comments

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

None of them particularly grab me, but again I Am A Girl(tm). My favs are the Nooka and the biohazard, except maybe not 'cos I think the quirkiness might get old fast. Similarly I sort-of like the idea of the reversible one, except that would you really ever bother to use the other side in practice? And if you don't want extra features like the databank, would you get any use out of the scrolling-message feature on the blue LED one, which does really seem to be its main selling point? So my real favourite of the ones you posted is the red dot matrix LED one. I did see one with red LEDs sort of set into the strap itself - ie the watch is all strap, no separate face - I think in the IWOOT catalogue recently that I rather liked the look of. Other than that the only real advice I have is that a black strap is more likely to go with more things than a brown one.

Oh, I do have another piece of advice, though, which is to go into a Real Shop and look at as many of your shortlist as possible. Feel the weight of them, find out how easy it is to use the buttons, do they feel 'cheap' even if the picture online looks ok, etc. If possible try them on, the feel of a leather strap is probably very different to plastic or rubber (I've found the last two can get very sweaty in summer.) I do wonder how comfortable the 'Liberator bracelets' would be in practice, for example. And a Real Shop person might be able to give you advice about things like reliability. All this is more important the longer you hope this new watch to last - if you're just going for relatively disposable fashion, having something that turns out not to be quite right is probably less important, but if you're looking for something to last you a good while, then it is worth spending the extra time and effort to get it right, I'd say.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

The fact that you are a Girl (tm) makes your opinion more important. Girls are generally better at deciding what looks stylish on men than men are. (Vice versa too to some extent.)

I must admit, I quite like the Biohazard too, but I'm thinking that it would still leave me with a watch where you couldn't tell the time just by reading it! I am really tempted by it though, just because it's so gloriously stupid.

The real shop advice is good advice. I don't know of any shops that sell these sort of watches though (certainly not the Biohazard), and it would be nice to feel the thing first. I also agree with you about straps - I'd prefer leather or metal (or for that matter lizard skin) to plastic or rubber - and you're probably right about the Liberator ones.

Dunno about strap colour though. A hell of a lot of my clothes seem to be brown or green, so brown would go!

I guess what I'm coming round to is maybe needing two new watches...