A little over a year ago, I made the conscious decision to wear both a traditional
watch收購watch on my left wrist and a smart
watch收購watch on my right wrist day in and day out. And I’m here to tell you with a straight face that this best-of-both-worlds solution has no downsides. If you’re into
watch收購watches and tech or even remotely
watch收購watch-curious, you should consider doing the same.

It’s easy to be a little bit anachronistic, admiring the simplicities of the past while wanting the bleeding-edge intricacies of the future. I find myself bouncing back and forth on these all of the time. I want the latest technology in my digital camera, but part of me feels an itch to go back to shooting film. I like the convenience of streaming music on Spotify, but I spend money on vinyl records to own a proper sonic keepsake. The same is the case for my love of wrist
watch收購watches. For years, I’ve admired traditional
watch收購watches, fancy handmade mechanicals and inexpensive quartz movements alike, but I’m still drawn to smart
watch收購watches and all of the functional advantages they offer.

My traditional
watch收購watch collection is quite modest, as I’m more the Casio and Seiko type than the Rolex and Omega type. In other words, while I appreciate the luxury stuff out there, I seek out affordable timepieces that are still fairly well made and designed and should last a long time if well taken care of. On the other hand, I also own an Apple
watch收購watch Series 6 that I bought off of my colleague Mitchell Clark shortly after I started at The Verge. While the horological folks out there might categorize most styles of
watch收購watches I own as “sport” or “tool”
watch收購watches, there really is nothing more sporting or tool-equipped than an Apple
watch收購watch. It’s a helpful little computer for your wrist, though frankly, it doesn’t get me excited quite like my Seiko SKX013 — which was my first automatic
watch收購watch — or spark emotion in me like my dad’s old Hamilton Paxton that he left behind.

The Apple
watch收購watch is a great work of technology and engineering, but its masterstroke comes from all of the stuff you can do with it: timers, alarms, notifications, activity and fitness tracking, and digital
watch收購watchfaces you can change on the fly. Traditional
watch收購watches have some of those features, like timers and alarms, but I don’t feel like I have to do much extra with a regular
watch收購watch to appreciate their form and function.

Once I combined these two devices by wearing them at the same time every day, I quickly learned how perfectly they complement each other. It starts out as simply as how I’m going to dress for the day. I often swap out which traditional
watch收購watch I’m using every few days or even on a daily basis depending on my mood or what I’m wearing. Sometimes I want something that blends in with my outfit (which is usually black, some gray, and occasionally white), and sometimes I want my
watch收購watch to be a statement piece that really pops from my monochromatic wardrobe. You can sort of do that with an Apple
watch收購watch on its own since there is a litany of strap options and
watch收購watchfaces available, but it’s not the same as traditional
watch收購watches that have wholly different shapes, sizes, textures, and materials from one to another. 

However, by combining the unique qualities of my traditional
watch收購watch opposite my Apple
watch收購watch, I feel like I can come up with small ensembles that lend me a bit of added confidence in my personal style and leave me feeling more comfortable in my own skin. 

Now, you may ask: is that the clothes or is it the
watch收購watches? I’d argue it’s both. Each of my traditional timepieces has a small connection to me in terms of design and style, so if I didn’t wear a
watch收購watch or only stuck with a smart
watch收購watch, I’d lose out on that little bit of personal flair.

This is my first main pitch to you for why I think more people should try out this double-wrist combination — accessorizing is just a whole lot of fun. Finding your personal style is essential to a lot of people’s confidence and overcoming personal anxieties, and even if it helps a tiny bit, it’s worth it. The other primary reason why you should try double-wristing is that it teaches you to settle into appreciating the things you’re into in a slightly more casual manner. 

For example, all of us that wear Apple
watch收購watches or other smart
watch收購watches are often familiar with battery anxiety. My 44mm Series 6 dies in about a day and a half, but it rarely phases me. It’s barely a minor inconvenience because, while it’s charging, I’ve still got my regular
watch收購watch on the opposite wrist. In fact, I rarely ever charge my Apple
watch收購watch overnight, which is the usual routine for many people. I let it track my sleep — because why not — and just plop it on the charger at any point in the day when it buzzes about a low battery. This practice may sound chaotic to some, but to me, it helps me mostly not care too much about the battery life of one more device in my life. If it dies, it dies. I’ll get to charging it soon enough and have no problem being a bit blasé about it.

These casual feelings have also helped me not get too bent out of shape over the inevitable dents and dings my
watch收購watches pick up. In fact, when I bought my Apple
watch收購watch from Mitchell, I was aware that it already had led a very Pacific Northwest life — it had a bunch of small scuffs and a long scratch across its screen, which I assume happened while running away from a bear trying to steal Mitchell’s fancy trail mix or something. Buying a well-loved timepiece for a good deal is a great way to help you overcome that initial anxiety of putting the first scratch on it, and since my wrists have a tendency to make unscheduled appointments with the door frames in my house, it’s just best that I don’t fret. Patina and wear and tear are cool anyway, right?

Keeping my relationships casual with my timepieces (and any device I own, really) is often best, as I have a tendency to be a little too hardcore about some of the things I care about most. When someone asks me about my cameras or my fountain pens or my love of Dr. Martens boots, I have a tendency to come on a little strong and overshare my passion for these things — I’m working on that. But that brings me to what may be my most important point about the double wrist
watch收購watch ensemble: you think you’ll look like a weird nerd, but the truth is, most people do not care. Not one iota. Like, nobody else gives a shit. Trust me.

Just like when you go out looking your best and nobody comments on how cool or pretty or handsome you look that day, if you’re doing this for other people, you’re doing it wrong. You have to do it all for yourself because that’s the opinion that matters most. You’ll think wearing two
watch收購watches will paint you as some weirdo, but even if and when people actually notice enough to make a comment, it’s so low on their list of concerns that they probably won’t give it much more thought or attention after that. You can give them a long explanation, sort of like I’m doing here, as to all the advantages of wearing two
watch收購watches, but most conversations will play out like this:

“Oh, are you wearing two
watch收購watches?”

“Yeah, a regular
watch收購watch and a smart
watch收購watch.”

“Why?”

“I like it.”

“Oh okay, cool.”

And whether they think it’s actually cool doesn’t really matter. It matters that you think it’s cool, or that you like the way it makes you feel about yourself, or that you like being able to tell the time with a small flick of either wrist because it’s helpful when you’re working on something and you’ve got your hands full but you gotta know the time because someone’s asking or… — I digress.

On the off chance that someone asks you about your duo of
watch收購watches and they actually do care, it’s probably because they’re into this stuff, too, and it will instead spark a beautifully nerdy conversation about
watch收購watches or tech or both. In my experience, this is more likely than any snide remarks or perplexed stares of confusion.

I really don’t feel there is much stigma over wearing two
watch收購watches. Hell, the late CEO of The S
watch收購watch Group, Nicolas Hayek, was known for wearing a half-dozen or more
watch收購watches at any given time. There isn’t much stigma over wearing a traditional
watch收購watch at all, really, even though we live in a world that in some ways has evolved past them entirely. So try it out. Bust out that old Timex or S
watch收購watch someone gave you as a kid or start with a classically geeky Casio calculator
watch收購watch. Why not? (Okay, fine, the calculator
watch收購watch might be a little redundant with a smart
watch收購watch.) Get out of your comfort zone if you have to, and instead of choosing between tech and tradition, choose both. Life’s too short to make decisions about yourself or your own sense of self based on what others may think or care about.