Be a Man With Watch

Of all the wimpy, droopy ways men have ceded masculine power and swagger over the past several decades, none has been more pathetic than our neglect of the wristwatch. Ask a man what time it is and more often than not he hauls out his cellphone, as if it's some sort of bloated pocket timepiece, and tells you the digital answer. So nerdy. So androgynous. So . . . limp.

Things were not always thus. Men once carried big pocket watches in their vest pockets, attached with chains that would have made a rapper proud. These were plump, intricate machines, elegant fusions of jewelry and functionality that bespoke the person-ality of each man, who labored over selecting the one just right for him. A watch was a statement, an investment not only in the man you were, but also in the man you wanted to be. Like a fine suit or black leather jacket, like your high-heeled sneakers or alligator boots, it was -- and still is, for some -- an aspirational object. It provides a man with a feeling that he just might be a little bit better, a little more out there, a little . . .extra. Business is tough. Who among us couldn't use that kind of boost?

Fact is, a man's wristwatch follows the arc of his life. As boys we begin with the simple time-pieces that declare we are on the planet as a man-to-be. It's a functional affair: not much to look at, but it does the job. For many of us, it was a Timex. You looked at it lovingly after your parents gave it to you on your eighth birthday. It felt good on your wrist, like maybe you weren't totally a kid anymore. Like maybe your first girlfriend might be right around the corner.

Graduation came, either from high school or college, and someone close to you gave you an upgrade. A Breitling, maybe. The Swiss make good watches. Perhaps it was one you actually had to wind and set now and then, an activity that felt kind of odd and, ironically, sort of timeless. Your old watch went into a drawer, but you still looked at it once in a while and, when the mood struck you, wore it as a relic of the younger person you used to be.

Today, well, I don't know who you are, but if your watch is a phone, think about things for a minute. Are you doing well? What would the proper timepiece say about your success? Do you travel to a different time zone every month? How about one of those cool watches that serve the bicoastal? Most important, do you feel a certain weight about yourself as a man, a heft that a kid of 20 years of age just wouldn't comprehend? Why not wear it on a place close to your heartbeat?

Look how many pretty watches gleam in the window! Feel their size and substance, the power you have to choose this one crucial aspect of who you just may be.

Source : www.menshealth.com