Essentially, construct a straw man (modern smart watches with oh-so-many-functions), and then attack it revealing the beautiful simplicity of a device that just tells the time. Why not take it all the way back to sundials? Why even add burden to the mortal coil and keep time?<p>(How did this make it to HN?)
My favorite thing about analog watches vs. a smartphone is that there's no opportunity to get pulled into some push notification and forgetting why I was even checking the time to begin with. I've been trying to pay more attention to where I place my attention lately, and having a decent analog watch means I can forget where my phone even is, instead of having to be disciplined every time I interact with my "smartphone".
I have been thinking about the feature set I would want in a watch and why would I want to smart connect with phone etc. and I just don't see a need. I ended up with solar powered Swiss made carefully designed and engineered marvel of a "dumb" watch that never* needs charging and apart from the time-related bells and whistles has just the no non-sense functions of baro/alti meter and compass.<p>Best piece of tech I have ever had, though admitedly it costs around double of smartwatch.<p>--
* the accumulator battery will of course deteriorate with time, and the watertight gaskets would have to be replaced at some point.
I mostly agree with the sentiment about smart watches, but I like my watch to be a bit more featureful than this.<p>Recently my Casio F-91W died and I replaced it with a somewhat more expensive but functionally simple analogue watch. I'm kind of regretting not just getting another F-91W, as I really miss its backlight and date display. I now find myself reaching for my phone when I want a time / date check and treating the watch mostly as a fashion accessory.
I love my smart watch, i'm able to share my health info with my doctor (heart rate mostly) I can go running without my phone, I never miss a call/text from my wife, and it nags me to standup and stretch once in a while, and it tells me stupid jokes. I can also see the picture of my kids every time I look at the time.