Let me give you a disclaimer about this piece. This is a story about failure and disappointment experienced on a weekend morning, which eventually turned out to be a waste of ‘time’.
At around 9:45AM on a Saturday, I found myself at an upscale mall in Noida. This was the earliest I had shown up for any commitment of late. The goal: grab a limited-edition dress watch by Timex before anyone else could get their hands on it.
The watch in question was the special edition $1 watch–there were only 1000 pieces available globally–released by the US-based watchmaking company to mark its 170th anniversary on November 16. Powered by a quartz movement, the Waterbury Classic 170th Anniversary 40mm Leather Strap Watch has a glossy ice white dial that houses an official anniversary edition logo. The visual bits also include 3D lacquered Roman numeral markers, retro-style hands with luminescent in-fill, and a day and date window at 3 o’clock. On the back of the stainless-steel case is an engraving that celebrates Timex’s watchmaking history. Essentially, you could own a rare timepiece for just ₹83.
I thought I would be the only one there. Who would show up on a Saturday morning to a mall to pick up a watch? I was wrong. Outside a third-party seller store in the mall, people young and old were queuing up. Some even asked their parents to stand in line as a proxy. Someone from inside the store – behind the shuttered gates – said there was only a solitary piece of the watch on display, which was not for sale. Cue commotion and a lot of anxious watch lovers.
As the clock ticked closer to 11, conspiracy theories and grand plans were being hatched. “I'm sure people will be selling hundreds of this watch on eBay for an exorbitant amount,” said one watch enthusiast. Their hunch was spot on. Hours after the launch, people on X posted how the watch was being resold for a bigger price tag on other websites. The watch was sold out in a matter of seconds on Timex’s official website. “Love how the @timex 170th anniversary $1 watch released at 10am and was sold out at 10am. Waste of time,” wrote one user on X.
Meanwhile in Tokyo, there was a mini stampede for the watch. The only cordial reports I heard from the social media grapevine were from Lulu Mall in Trivandrum, Kerala, where people posed with their watches, as they received it from a company representative, like it was a medal of honour.
Back in Noida, as the shutters finally opened, everyone rushed towards the Timex stall. It was a small footrace. But there was, as everyone had feared, just one watch on display. First come, first serve didn’t make sense anymore. There was clamour, plenty of arguments, but to no avail. There was to be no lucky wrist this Saturday morning.
But as I stood back and absorbed the moment, I realised this was a small win for conventional time keeping and old-school watches. In this crowd, there were very few who were wearing a smartwatch. Some youngsters I saw in the queue even had classic mechanical watches on their wrist. Yes, the small price tag was the biggest selling point for people to show up, but some of them wanted their hands on a rare timepiece.
While smartwatch shipments did not grow manifold in 2024, people are still buying them regularly. According to numbers from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, the global wrist-worn device market shipped almost 44 million units in the second quarter of 2024. The market includes smartwatches and wristbands.
In India, more data from IDC revealed, the wearable device market declined for the second consecutive quarter by 20.7% year-over-year to 38 million units. This downturn can primarily be attributed to a reduction in new product launches and a cautious inventory strategy, even during the festive season, an IDC media release said.
There’s no doubting the need and market for smartwatches in the modern world – across use cases and industries. High-performance athletes wear them. Children like a screen on their wrist now. Smartwatches are also proving to be a useful tool for senior citizens. For all you know, the recent numbers might turn out to be a minor blip for an otherwise big sector.
But during my watch ordeal, it was good to see that people still consider conventional watches an important item to own and flaunt. The rise of Indian brands (watches from Argos, the Delhi Watch Company and others have caught my eye in recent times) and HMT’s second coming is also a good omen for Indian WIS (watch idiot savant) and newbs.
Earlier this year, comedian and actor Kevin Hart spoke about his knack for collecting fancy timepieces and why he values his time, during a segment on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Talking to Colbert – who was funnily enough wearing a smartwatch - about a vintage Audemars Piguet he had on his wrist during the show, Hart said: “I don’t buy the watches because they are just nice watches. I buy the watch because of the importance of time. My time is what I value.” Hart explained beautifully in a mini monologue, “The time that I spend on things that matter the most are where I see the biggest benefit in life. So, time spent to develop and evolve in the concept of family, father, husband… Time spent as a comedian, 30 years in doing the same thing over and over again in hopes to perfect the idea of a joke and get to the space and stage of bigger and better. Time spent to learn how to properly approach acting as a craft. Time spent to be a businessman or a better businessman, to get people to believe in your concepts. To invest in you, in the things you do. That’s time.”
The actor added, “So, when I look at my watch or watches, they are all a representation of time that I spent doing something that mattered the most. The only way I can buy the expensive timepiece is to get the expensive return of my time and value. Without the return of value, my time is stupid.”
Back in Noida, in the end, tired of the antics at the store, the crowd slowly dispersed – almost like a mechanical watch that was fully unwound and eventually ran out of juice. I decided to move on with the rest of my day as well. Time was of the essence either way.