Smart Watches a Threat to Classic Timepieces?

As technology continues to advance at what appears to be lightening speed, particularly in the realm of cell phones, tablets and the like, consumers continue to clamor for improvements on existing products of all kinds.

Telephones that were once used solely to call a neighbor down the street or a family member across the country are now used for almost everything except phone calls: they serve as calendars, personal organizers, tiny televisions, calculators, shopping lists, miniature computers and quarter-free, unlimited-play jukeboxes. For many, they even play the role of the clock, faithfully telling the time with the press of a button. The tendency of cell phone owners to use their iPhones or Blackberries or Droid devices to check the time nearly incessantly got phone manufacturers thinking quite a while back: Why don’t we double our profits and give our current customers something else to buy? Thus, the idea of a “smart watch” was born.

The smart watch, though not yet released, is rumored to look similar to something straight out of a science fiction comic strip, sleek and futuristic like your phone but shaped to fit your wrist. Basically, a phone to fit your wrist without the functionality of a phone. While many consumers might find some sort of use for a product like this and lower-end watchmakers may find themselves in some hot water, the truth of the matter is this: the type of people who traditionally wear classic timepieces (such as those made by Rolex, Baume & Mercier, Breitling, Cartier and Omega) would never forgo their meticulously crafted, luxury watches for something like a smart watch, regardless of how popular the electronic device became. This is because there is so much more to a handcrafted piece of superior workmanship than meets the eye, and there is much to be said for the personal history that a single watch can carry. While you may upgrade your cell phone every two years or, in this case, your smart watch, you are more likely to keep your Piaget or Patek Philippe for a lifetime, passing it on to the next generation to wear with pride.

Quality, reliability, traditionalism and an enduring sense of personal history. These are the reasons that the classic timepiece will never die, despite technology’s constant advancement and encroachment into every other industry that surrounds us. Even as the youngest generation embraces the newest smart phone or tablet or laptop and spends more hours per day online and or sending text messages than socializing, the authenticity of the original watch lives on in those who know quality, longevity and continuity when they see it.