Recently two close friends gave me a watch for my birthday because they noticed that I almost never ever wear watches (as opposed to accessories).

The reason why I don’t wear watches is simple- I don’t see/feel the need for it.
I have a (rather) good sense of time, and am able to estimate the duration of time lapsed between two events reasonably well (well enough to serve myself at least). In the even that I need to know the exact time, I have formed a (very bad) habit of looking around (sneakily) at other people’s watches to tell the time. Almost everyone else wears one, or has a handphone or some kind of device that tells the time, so why do I need it?

Another reason why I don’t wear a watch is because I can’t don’t really buy into the idea of wearing time on my wrist. It’s illogical I know, but I don’t like the idea of knowing exactly what time it is, all the time. It’s as if it exerts some kind of invisible pressure on you, pressurizing you to do things in a different way. All along I’ve been able to manage my time (in general, at work, in school, during exams, being punctual for meetings etc) decently well, so I am happy with status quo.

That being said, I am not unhappy with the gift- in fact it’s an extremely thoughtful and useful present.
Though my usual practice is not to wear watches, (as with my previous usual practice not to use perfume), I suppose practices can be changed and new habits can be formed.


Perhaps in future (occasionally),

there would be something else on my wrist aside from my hair tie.

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Today during team lunch my boss asked me what time it was.

I pressed my handphone to check the time and told him, 'it's 2pm'.

He raised an eyebrow, tilted his head (he was sitting at right angles to me) and asked,

'Who's that in the photo? Your boyfriend?'

Abashed,

I replied,

'er, yeah.'