• Maybe you got a watch for your bar-mitzvah and have been wearing it ever since.
• Maybe you don’t wear a watch because, well, cell-phones have clocks on them. It would be redundant. You don’t do redundant things.
• Maybe you think that wearing a watch makes you a slave to time, and you prefer to be free — in a …Burning Man mindset… 365 days a year.

That’s great. I still think you should have an awesome watch.

• A watch is an exclamation point on the end of your arm.
• A watch, like a good pair of shoes, aligns your whole look around a small focal point.
• And most important, a watch is a conversation piece.

The way good conversations begin is not by asking someone “do you come here, often.”

Rather, you notice something – could be something around you, something about the experience you’re both in, you share a bit of vulnerability by commenting on it, and if the other person is worth your time, he or she will respond in kind.

For example: I own a few of the watches above. And at various times, I’ve had conversations like this:

Sample One: Shinola “Runwell” (In cartoon, upper left)

• Other person: cool watch.
• Me: Thanks! I love this watch. It’s made in Detroit by this company that used to make shoe polish!
• Other person: seriously?
• Me: Yeah. If you jiggle the watch, it plays Motown.
• Other person: Seriously?
• Me: No. But that’d be cool.

Sample Two: Nixon “Rotolog”

• Other person: cool watch.
• Me: Thanks! I love this watch. I have no idea how to tell what time it is on it, though.
• Other person: seriously?
• Me: Yeah, I’ve had this for about three years. Wear it all the time. No clue what time it is.

Sample Three: Timex “Weekender.”

• Other person: cool watch.
• Me: Thanks! I love this watch. Actually, I think it’s the Band that I love.
• Other person: Yes, the colors really pop.
• Me: The colors?
• Other person: Yeah, the colors on the band. Red and blue.
• Me: Oh, sorry, not the watch band. “The Band.” You know, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down?”

Okay, that was a stretch, but you get the point. Something to remember: good people want to connect to other good people. People want to talk to you. And when you’re at a party or a cafe and you’re a little fatigued from a long day of writing code, maybe you’re not going to be looking for opportunities to comment on other people’s watches.

That’s okay! Drink your Matcha Frappuchino.

But when someone else comments on your timepiece, make your watch work for you – turn it into conversation.

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(P.S. If you don’t know “The Band,” below is required-listening. Use that as a conversation piece. It’s even better than 10 watches!)