As technology advances, our world has become increasingly more digitalized. Today, the average person carries a smartphone in their pocket that is more powerful than the computers that sent us to the moon in 1969. Our phones are capable of performing complex complications, taking photos, and displaying the weather forecast—let alone telling the time. Yet, despite all of the technology constantly surrounding us, I still take the conscious choice to strap a mechanical watch to my wrist every morning. My watch does not display the weather or allow me to post a status to social media. My watch does send text messages or tell me the score of the latest sports game.
Instead, I wear a watch that allows me to feel a connection with the millions of people before me that relied upon this simple instrument to arrive to work on time or meet up with a friend. My watch has a mechanical heartbeat which ticks with more life and soul than any circuit board could ever muster. My watch is a tangible symbol of my personality and temperament. My watch allows me to step back from the ceaseless rush of existence and slow down in conformity with the steady beat of passing time. No matter what else happens, I can count on the comfort of the constant tick that signals the world will move on.