I’ve been wearing an Apple watch for a year and a half now. Before that I’d tried other watches but none stuck. 

Nearliy every other wrist band Item I’ve tried before hasn’t worked. 

Fitbits were a great idea, and I tried several. But they were never useful enough relative to the annoyance of carrying them and changing out the batteries. 

I’ve had some nice and cheap digital watches in the past, but found the faces to be ugly, and my wrist was always between two notches in the band size. I have the same problem with belts. 

Ben’s journey into exploring dumb watches had me thinking about the pros of an Apple Watch. 

First, Apple absolutely nailed the band. If a band has notches it just won’t work for me. Perhaps I’m too fastidious, but I can’t relax without the band being at the perfect fit. 

I will only wear a band that has infinite adjustment. 

Second, I can’t use an analog watch face. I’ve tried. My brain just doesn’t grok the time in an instant. I find myself panicking to understand the time if I’m in a presure to make a decision. It can take me a full 3-10 seconds to figure out what time an analog clock is saying.

A digital dumb watch doesn’t have tha tproblem, but all the ones I’ve seen are ugly. 

I also keep my Apple Watch as dumb as I can. I turn off all notifications, make heavy use of smart stacks (greatly improved in iOS 18), and love the complications.