Canadian Politics Today

I have several. I've always worn them, and I feel weird if I don't have a watch on. A vague sense that I've forgot something, like those nightmares where you forgot to put on your pants.   People say you don't need a watch now that everybody has a smartphone, but I don't want to fish out my phone when I need to check the time. Especially if I'm running or kayaking or doing some other sort of physical activity where I might not even have brought my phone with me.  I like to check my time when I'm running to know what kind of pace I'm keeping, and motivate myself to pick it up if I'm behind my usual pace.

My daily watch is a Fossil Crewmaster hybrid smart-watch.  It's a men's watch, and the silicone strap it came with is too big for my wrist,  so I've swapped that out and replaced it with a NATO-style strap. I have a couple of these straps-- one in leather when I'm feeling stylish, and one in black nylon for most of the time.  The smart-watch functions include notifications from my phone, an alarm, and a step counter. Unlike most smartwatches, it has analog hands instead of a computer screen, so you don't look like a total dork.

If I'm kayaking or swimming, the Crewmaster stays home and I wear my Casio digital watch.  I forget what model it is, but it's water resistant to 200m and built like a tank. You could probably hit it with a hammer.  As with the Fossil, it's a men's watch, and like the Fossil I've swapped the stock plastic strap for a black NATO strap. The other thing that's good about the NATO strap is that even if one of the pins breaks, the watch stays on your wrist.  I wear a watch when I'm kayaking because it helps give me an idea when I should think about turning around.  I have a pretty good idea of how much I can paddle before I start getting fatigued, and when I start approaching the halfway point I start thinking about heading home.  Because it's not like you can call a tow-truck if you run out of gas.

I also have a Skagen women's watch for dressy occasions.


 -k