Why I Love Analog Watches
A flick of the wrist and you know the time—close enough
This is a love letter to the analog watch.
With its bold numbers (Arabic or Roman) and two prominent pointer hands, the analog watch is FAST. The relative position of the hands gives you an instant visual snapshot of the time. This happens in the blink of an eye.
With a flick of your wrist—even when glancing at your watch from a sharply angled view—you’ll know the time in half a second.
But when wearing a digital wristwatch (and I have a couple) it takes me a hair longer to glimpse a dial flashing 1:40… 1:40… 1:40—and then mentally convert those digits to:
It’ll be two o’clock pretty soon.
Probably takes me a full second.
Why this happens—digital vs. analog time
Digital time is very scientific, beloved by techies who want to know exactly how long an action takes, measuring it down to the nearest 10,000th of a second. And, of course, this precision timekeeping will be with us forever.
But analog time isn’t about precision. It’s about “kinda knowing” what time it is. And getting that info fast.
