An analogy
The watches I wear have to be manually wound up every day, funnily enough, I remember to wind them; and on the rare occasions that I have let them run down, I wind them, look at the time elsewhere and set it. I have owned four "decent" watches. Two required a battery that needed to be replaced occasionally, and when they stopped I needed to find a battery supplier that was able to get the back off (Omegas are a bugger for that). I still use my mechanical watches, but not the battery ones.
The watch I wear most is a 75 year old Longines Professional that was bought new by my father for £5 when he was an RAF Observer in WWII. It was designed for aircrew (and Naval) use. It has a luminescent display with an hour, minute and sweep-second hands, and that is all - No date, stopwatch, or multiple time functions - Because if you are navigating an aircraft in the dark, when people are trying to shoot you down, that is all you need. Allowing for inflation it is still worth about 2 weeks wages, and it's only running costs have been for cleaning (about 6 times) and new straps. I like to think of it as being like UNIX, not flash but dependable. Smart watches may have a *NIX base, and be very accurate; but don't seem to be particularly good at what I use a watch for, which is telling me that it is nearly a quarter to three...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
