Both Man-Woman are wearing wristwatches.
Ravi Speaks:
ARTICLE UPDATED ON 03.11.2022.
“WRIST-WATCHES LOSING DEMAND”
Both Man-Woman are wearing wristwatches.I strongly remember that in 1975 I had worn the wristwatch of my revered mother on my left wrist and gone to see the movie in the Jewel Theatre of Jammu city. The movie was that of the very popular hero Dharmendra and it was just a two-three days old movie in the theatre. The name of the movie was “Pratigya”. Because of a very heavy rush on the ticket counter, I had also jumped into the heavy rush to get the ticket. It happened so that while my right hand was inside the ticket window with the ticket already bought in the closed two fist-I felt a cut being given to me on my left wrist. When I came out from that huge rush, I found the Seiko watch of my mother missing on my left wrist. I became very sad and with the ticket already purchased I came back to my home without going inside the theatre.
That time the craze for wearing the wristwatch had gone so high in the minds of the students of my age that we felt it to be a signature status. That mishap touched me so badly that I did not see that movie “Pratigya” for the rest of my life, although there were many occasions for the same later.” Seiko” was the watch, and it was automatic-which was a big thing those days around 45 years back.
Looking at my craze for the wristwatch-my mother later in the year 1977 purchased HMT-watch for me and that was to be manually maintained. It had a white dial, and the numbers were enormous. It looked good, and I kept it till I came into my post-graduation. Those days the wristwatches were the real fashion amongst the people.
When the noun “watch” showed up in Anglo-Saxon times, it referred to wakefulness, especially keeping awake for guarding or observing. That sense of wakefulness probably led to the use of a “watch” for a timepiece. The first wristwatch was made by the Swiss watch manufacturer, Patek Philippe, in 1868, according to Guinness World Records.
Although it is said that the ladies were the first, rather from the beginning, wristwatches were almost only worn by women, while men used pocket-watches until the early 20th century. The concept of the wristwatch goes back to the production of the earliest watches in the 16th century.
Gents have been wearing the most common watch sizes for classic, every day watches range from 42mm to 46mm. These sizes are just generous enough to make a stylish statement without being too bold or oversized. Most often, sports watches range from 40mm to oversized 54mm. However, ladies preferred wearing the smaller dial watches.
Something unique about the “TIME”. It was not measured in hours and seconds in earlier times. The measurement of time began with the invention of sundials in ancient Egypt before 1500 B.C. However, the time the Egyptians measured was not the same as the time today’s clocks measure. For the Egyptians, and indeed for a further three millennia, the basic unit of time was the period of daylight.
I have seen people wearing the costliest watches like those of ROLEX, TISSOT, RADO, and so on. In fact, the wristwatches at one stage somewhere in the early twenty-first century were the status symbols of the rich people. We also used to judge the people about their standards by watching on their wrists and drive at the conclusion about that person’s standing.
There have been stories of the royal people wearing gold and diamond-studded wristwatches as well. Even today the costliest watch as per the Guinness records is the Swiss Watch made of platinum with diamond studded in the central dial. This watch is made by the Patek Phillipe company and costing 55 million dollars.
But now things have changed drastically. The people’s thinking also has made a big change with even faster Smart-Mobiles. I don’t find all the people wearing even the wrist-watches nowadays. They check the time from their mobiles and are so well connected digitally that they hardly need the watch to be kept along with them. The new young generation doesn’t want to wear wristwatches. I have found that even if they are given the gifts of the costliest wristwatches also they would keep those gifts in the cupboards rather than using them on their wrists. They love to keep their wrists free from such straps and would prefer depending on their mobiles for the time update.
Still, some conservative and disciplined people make it a must that they have to wear their wristwatches despite having mobiles with them. They normally belong to the earlier sixties and seventies era-when they took birth.
This change has given a bigger dip in the demand for wristwatches. However, there is still a certain section of wristwatch crazy people who still go for the best one and go on changing their models as well. For them, the first craze is a Swiss-made watch. For the premium price that they’re worth. With the most top-quality components, a watch with accurate time-telling abilities that can last centuries is worth it. These watches aren’t for everyone; they’re tailored only for those who can afford them, and those who desire perfection.
As per the latest report, the COVID pandemic also has given a enormous dent to this wrist-watch segment. There was a dip of almost 43% in the sales of overall watches because of the Pandemic.
After the pandemic, so far following is the down-trending data of the Swiss and other leading wrist watches’ companies. As per Business News: – “Every single Swiss watch market was down by double-digits; all but two were down by over 50%. China moved to #1 in the export ranking, down to a mere 16%. Hong Kong, down 83% moved up to #2. The USA, which had held the top spot every month since last August, fell to #3, down 86%. Italy (-95.8%) fell to #16; the U.K. (-96.4%) fell to #15.”
There has been a massive shutdown of the stores around the world and the net result is a very disturbing dip.
Now with the coming of Smart-Watches, of course, the wristwatch segment is easily compensated, but it is a tiny proportion-where the smart wristwatches are being purchased and that component is not showing any marked improvement in the overall wristwatch segment.
With the major changes happening in our day-to-day use of gadgets, which also give us the time update-may it be the Mobile itself-I am afraid the once upon a time craze of wristwatches would not be coming again anymore. I don’t know how others think about it, but I am of the firm belief that wristwatches may slowly be replaced with the new emerging gadgets-which we may not have to necessarily wear on our wrists.
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