Why still wear a mechanical watch in the smartwatch era?
Answer
Because of the one thing a smartwatch will never have: patina. A friend's Apple Watch lost a rubber ring and Apple simply replaced the device, which solved his problem and told me everything about the difference. A mechanical watch records the time you spent with it; a smart one is replaced. I have tested the smartwatch case seriously, and for a while I wore both at once rather than choose. Since the summer of 2026 the mechanical watch is the only one left on my wrist: no charging, no pairing, no update, and a strap that develops its own patina.