A Week Without My Apple Watch


without my apple watch

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always loved watches. I remember looking down at my watch, proudly, as a little guy and seeing my awesome Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers watch. It had this awesome lightning bolt band and my favorite Mighty Morphin’ Power Ranger’s face on it (Jason, by the way).

a week without my Apple Watch

Pretty cool, right?

So I’ve always loved watches, and before the Apple Watch, I would switch watches frequently, wearing one for a few days before getting bored with it and picking out a new one. One of the reasons that I was so stoked about the Apple Watch was because it could be whatever I wanted it to be that day. You can change the band with a push of a button and switch out watch faces with a tap of my finger. And with watchOS 2, I got even more options, including making time lapse photos and my own personal snapshots my watch face.

For months, using my Apple Watch reminded me a lot of my obsession with watches as a kid. This thing had some really cool functions, things that just a few years ago, I wouldn’t have ever believed could come out of a watch. But over time, I’ve started to get a little bored with the Apple Watch. I miss my old watches, so I decided to do without it for a while.

Tomorrow will mark a week without my Apple Watch. I still love it and love wearing it, but going without my Apple Watch for a while has made me realize a few things that I probably would not have considered otherwise.

More than just a watch

This might seem pretty obvious to you, but the Apple Watch is way more than just a watch. Ever since I started wearing (and writing) about the Apple Watch, I’ve argued that it’s a really good watch that just so happens to also do a few other cool things, and while I totally stand behind that idea, it’s become increasingly clear to me that the Apple Watch is more than just a really good watch with some smartwatch-like functionality.

When you wear any other watch, you use it to tell the time. Maybe it has the date on it. Maybe it also has an alarm or a stopwatch function. But that’s about it. But when you decide to wear an Apple Watch, you’re doing much more than adding a timepiece to your day’s ensemble.

without my apple watch

The Apple Watch isn’t something that’s easy to put away at the end of the day. Because it tracks your fitness, alerts you to text messages and emails and delivers quick news alerts right to your wrist, it feels weird to take it off. It’s not simply taking off a watch — it’s taking off a huge tool for interacting with the world.

Phantom vibrations are a thing

You’ve always heard about people who think they feel their phone vibrate in their pocket, only to take it out and realize that nothing’s happened since the last time you looked at it a few hours ago. Phantom vibration. Well, the same thing happens on your wrist.

Because the Apple Watch’s functionality really depends on you getting in tune with the watch’s haptic feedback. When you first start wearing an Apple Watch, you probably won’t even notice the slight taps on your wrist. It’s a totally new sensation, something that you have to focus on and learn to look out for. The problem is that when you take the watch off, your wrist is still hypersensitive and ready for one of those tiny little taps.

In the last week, I can’t tell you how many times I looked down at my normal analog watch because I could have sworn that I felt a little tap on my wrist; I could have sworn that I was getting a text message, but it was just a phantom vibration.

My old watches don’t seem so dated

Some of my other watches are getting pretty old. I bought a few of them over a decade ago, but when I’m wearing them, they don’t feel dated. In fact, for a few of my watches, I’m sure you could walk into a jewelry store today and buy the exact same model. But the Apple Watch doesn’t seem the same.

When I look at the Apple Watch, it already feels outdated. Perhaps the rumors about the impending Apple Watch 2 (or whatever Apple chooses to call it — personally, I’m pulling for Apple Watch Deux) are just making me feel like this watch is already a has-been. It suddenly feels like the Apple Watch was a relatively expensive tech device (still a relatively inexpensive watch, though) that doesn’t have the same kind of staying power as other products in the category it is trying to be a part of: luxury watches.

Eventually, I’ll get back to the Apple Watch. But I have to admit that I haven’t missed charging it every night and being annoyed by the standing notifications when I’m already standing. But the Apple Watch is more than just a watch — it’s just sort of unfortunate that this device takes up the same real estate as a real watch.

Have you taken a break from your Apple Watch? Let us know how it went in the comments below.

You might also like:

Apple Watch 2 — Too Soon

Fitbit Blaze Might be Competition for the Apple Watch


Kossi Adzo

Kossi Adzo is a technology enthusiast and digital strategist with a fervent passion for Apple products and the innovative technologies that orbit them. With a background in computer science and a decade of experience in app development and digital marketing, Kossi brings a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective to the Apple Gazette team.

6 Comments

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  1. I’ll say it again, I love my AW and like my iphone or ipad or Mac; if I lost it I would replace it immediately. My phone wakes me up, I put on my watch my phone unlocks it and I begin referring to it all day until I sit it in half of the box it came in and easily move the charge magnet behind it. I have a photo of me at 5 wearing a watch on my birthday, not normal for 1965 in Texas but there it is. I wore one everyday until iPhone slowly made watches obsolete. Then 8 years later, Apple freed me from my phone and I wear a watch everyday 24/7, not complaining. We are part of history like when the first internal combustion engines gave us mobility and when those engines lifted us off the ground. It still is very exciting to me to turn my wrist, say Hey Siri Shuffle David Bowie and my phone fills my speakers with music all hands free. Or Hey Siri Call Somebody etc So if you don’t like your watch maybe your not using your phone to its fullest potential. The whole magic of Apple, is when everything you do is in sync on all your devices and your life is easier not harder. A lot of you are too young but when Apple released iPod we were still carrying cassettes and CDs around with us for our music and extra batteries. From the first computers to iPods to iPhones there have always been skeptics and critics but they keep getting better. It’s gonna be an amazing watch 5-10 years from now. No more phone needed and it will lay on your wrist flat like a Swatch you just wait and see. Until then our phones will get thinner until they are just a piece of glass. I can’t wait but I will ?