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More wear watches just for 'bling'

With the growing use of cell phones, the days of the watch as a timepiece may be numbered.

By DEMORRIS A. LEE
Published September 16, 2006

Ask Jesse Amoral what time it is and he'll do the natural thing. The 24-year-old will reach in his pocket and pull out his cell phone.

Keith Donahue, 21, will do the same thing.

"I wear a phone, so why do I need a watch?" Donahue recently said during a break at St. Petersburg College's Clearwater campus. "I do have a watch, but I really don't like stuff on my wrist too much."

Amoral and Donahue are not alone. Fewer young people are wearing or buying watches these days.

A recent survey by Florida's Simmons National Consumer Study found that from fall 2000 to fall 2005, the amount of money spent buying watches fell 34 percent among those 18 to 24. There was a 20 percent decrease among those 25 to 29 and a 31 percent decrease among those 30 to 34.

"I don't need three things telling me what time it is; there's the clock on the wall, my phone..." said Brandon Cutler, 18, of Clearwater.

With everything from laptops to personal digital assistants to cell phones showing the time, the days of the wristwatch as a timepiece may be numbered.

"Now, they are more of a fashion statement," said Jason Theis, manager of Batteries & Bands, The Watch Experts, in Clearwater's Countryside Mall. "The bigger the better. They want rhinestones and Austrian crystals."

Watch companies that target younger wearers such as Fossil and Oakley have reported a decline in sales. During 2005, Fossil reported an 18.6 percent decline in wholesale U.S. sales and Oakley a 11 percent decrease, according to Professional Jeweler Magazine.

But not all have turned to their cell phones as the day's keeper of time.

"I love my watch and if I don't have it on, it doesn't feel right," said Eric Coughlin, 19, sporting a small black watch. "It's more simple than a cell phone. I don't have to go into my pocket and pull it out. I can just look down at my wrist."

Haris Resic, 17, was wearing a medium-size silver watch.

"I have a phone, but I wear a watch to tell time," he said.

Theis said there are more than 1,000 watches at his mall kiosk and most young guys go for the bigger watches for their "bling effect."

He said that a lot of the young watch seekers are looking for something they can wear to church on Sundays or to a job interview.

"I wear a watch when I dress up. I have gold one that I wear," said Katlyn Bouffard, 20.

But Ken DeVaul, owner of the Watch Studio on Ulmerton Road, where a watch can range from $1,000 to $5,000, said many of his clientele are using watches as accessories to the daily wardrobe.

"Guys, they can buy watches - one, two, three of them - because they don't have the option to wear jewelry like the women," DeVaul said. "A guy can wear a really nice watch and can change them out."

DeVaul said people who love watches love them because of their mechanics. And besides that, a nice watch can say it all, regardless of how old you are.

"Put a $5,000 watch on the wrist and it's instant juice for the wearer," he said. "If you have a T-shirt and jeans and a $10 watch on your wrist, it's different if you have a $5,000 watch on the wrist. It's saying 'I'm wearing the T-shirt and jeans because I want to, not because I have to.' "

Christopher Pool, 25, said that's why he doesn't wear a watch every day.

"I'm not going to go out and buy a $20 watch," he said. "I can save and get a better watch and just use my cell phone for the time until I can get what I want."

Demorris A. Lee can be reached at 445-4174 or dalee@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 16, 2006, 06:33:12]