My alarm clock slept in this morning, which meant I was 40 minutes late to work.
Instead of the usual 20.

No one really noticed anyway, but I made sure that I did the right thing and balanced things out by leaving 40 minutes early.

It’s now been 104 days since I stopped wearing a wristwatch.

I gotta admit, it kinda did my head in to start with.

Withdrawal is a bitch.
I’d shake uncontrollably.

I lost all concept of time.
I’d get cravings. I’d get cold sweats.

When people went to check their watches, I'd look as well, absorbing their second-hand second hand.

I’d hang out on street corners asking people for the time.

And I was embarrassed to be seen out in public without the status and respect that only a $10 Casio wrist watch can demand.

I knew I’d reached rock-bottom when I started drawing watches onto my wrist with a ballpoint pen.

But in time I discovered that I was not alone. No.

A surprising number of people don’t wear a watch these days.
Many of my COWorkers don’t.

Some say there are too many clocks in their life already – on computer screens, cellphones, microwaves, alarm clocks, parcel bombs – that they simply no longer have a need for a wristwatch.

But I suspect some of them are doing it simply because everyone else is. Going watchless is trendy. It’s the New Black. Plus, you don’t get wristwatch tan lines.

These watchless people are not all that useful, however, when you pop out to the pub for a liquid lunch and end up getting back rather late because no one had any idea what the time was.
I’ve also discovered the kind of people who don’t wear watches are also the same type of people who can’t be bothered carrying their swipe cards, which of course are needed to get back into the office without having to go past the general manager’s desk…

I don’t need a wristwatch anymore.

My daughter USUALLY makes a good alarm clock. She wakes me up at 7am every morning most mornings. Even in the weekends. Goddamnit.

So, like I said, I don’t need a watch.
No.
I don’t.
Honestly.
I don’t need one.