I Am Hard on Things

I brought, in an episode of overpacking that ended up in this case being justified, three watches to Israel. The first one I broke when I smacked it against the door of the sherut, the shared-ride taxi, from the airport to Jerusalem the night that I arrived. The second one stopped working when I wore it into the Dead Sea a few weeks ago--apparently "water-resistance" means only normal water, not the oily brew that exists at the lowest point on earth. So now I have only one watch that still functions and it is my grown-up watch, the one I bought ten years ago for $275 (my largest single purchase up until that time) when I signed my first teaching contract in California because I decided I was too old and sophisticated to wear my old beat-up Swatch to work every day.

However, I am hesitant to wear my grown-up watch anywhere now that I have ruined the first two because, as my mom told me when I was young and as seems to still be true, I am hard on things. So my watch remains in my bag and I keep time the way many people do, with the help of my cell phone. On the (short) list of things to buy while I'm in the States: the sturdiest watch I can find. I've already ruined my Timex Ironman sports watch (casualty #2, Dead Sea) so the only solution that remains as far as I can tell is this: the Casio G-Shock. It is not cool, hip, stylish, or flashy. It does not have, as most offerings at REI.com do, an altimeter barometer heart rate monitor or as far as I can tell even a chronograph to measure elapsed time. It does have an alarm and a light, however, the two most important factors after its shock-resistant-ness. So, fine. Retro is cool once again from what I've heard and Casio was the first company to ever make a digital watch, long before anyone else, based on calculator technology, so vintage chic here I come.

Please--if you have any other suggestions of watches that might meet my needs, do let me know. Overlooking form to this extent that I am embracing function is more of a stylistic sacrifice than I was planning on making. And Casio? As Eva would say, "but COME ON!"