Analog vs Digital

I recently bought a watch. My old digital kept resetting itself to midnight, January 1.

I'm kind of out of it, fashion wise, but what struck me while shopping was the large number of analog (big hand, little hand) watches that are available. I bought one, which kind of surprised me.

As I think about why I chose analog over digital, I think part of the reason is nostalgia, but there are other, more practical reasons. I wonder if the precision of digital watches (It's nine fifty seven and twenty seconds, a.m.) had become a bit annoying. Analogs are a bit more casual. More relaxed. You can certainly read them with about as much precision as a digital, but it's a trifle more difficult. Instead of saying it's nine fifty seven, I find myself thinking, "It's about 10 o'clock." I think the reason for this is you can actually see the hands approaching the hour mark, which you don't see with digitals.

Another even more practical benefit is the ease of setting analogs. Pull the stem out, twist, then push the stem back in. That's it! For years, every time I wanted to set my digital, I had to read the instructions: Press button A to enter time-set mode, be careful not to enter chronograph mode, press button B and then button C until the right number is showing and be careful not to go past it because it doesn't go backwards. Press, press, press until your finger is sore.

Welcome back, analog!