I wonder if it’s an America vs Europe thing? I’m in the UK and analogue clocks are still very common here as well. So maybe it’s just America that don’t use them much anymore.
I think that’s the case. Like they’re not unheard of here in the US. Like I could go out to the store right now and buy one. Wal-Mart or Target or a home goods store still sell htem. A lot of schools and colleges still have them in classrooms. But at home or in the office, I suspect they’re more decorative than anything. Like all clocks in my place are digital. The only analog clock I have would be a watch in some box that I have that I never wear. I think my parents have one, like a small mantlepiece one. Otherwise, everything else is digital.
Analog watches are probably the most common encounter. But with so many, including me, using smartwatches, how common are they actually?
That’s really interesting! It’s definitely one of those differences between America and Europe that isn’t really noticed. For me, seeing a digital clock would definitely get the “oooh, that’s fancy” response. Like there are places that have a clock in the corner of a digital display for something else (eg, the displays at the train station listing the next train have a clock in the corner too), but when it’s just there purely to tell the time, it’s almost always an analogue one. I can’t even remember the last time I saw a digital one!
I like that expression, I’m going to steal that.
These train displays haven’t changed in probably 30 years here. Vienna also has a bunch ofthese public clocks on big intersections and squares.
I wonder if it’s an America vs Europe thing? I’m in the UK and analogue clocks are still very common here as well. So maybe it’s just America that don’t use them much anymore.
I think that’s the case. Like they’re not unheard of here in the US. Like I could go out to the store right now and buy one. Wal-Mart or Target or a home goods store still sell htem. A lot of schools and colleges still have them in classrooms. But at home or in the office, I suspect they’re more decorative than anything. Like all clocks in my place are digital. The only analog clock I have would be a watch in some box that I have that I never wear. I think my parents have one, like a small mantlepiece one. Otherwise, everything else is digital.
Analog watches are probably the most common encounter. But with so many, including me, using smartwatches, how common are they actually?
That’s really interesting! It’s definitely one of those differences between America and Europe that isn’t really noticed. For me, seeing a digital clock would definitely get the “oooh, that’s fancy” response. Like there are places that have a clock in the corner of a digital display for something else (eg, the displays at the train station listing the next train have a clock in the corner too), but when it’s just there purely to tell the time, it’s almost always an analogue one. I can’t even remember the last time I saw a digital one!