Marco Arment:

When I first started wearing my steel Apple Watch with the black leather strap, I kept looking at my wrist and thinking, “Damn, that looks nice.”

This was the beginning of the end.

Nobody ever wears one watch, thinks “Damn, that looks nice”, and never wants another watch again.

I was starting to understand fashion. This was going to be bad.

I haven’t gone down the mechanical watch rabbit hole like Marco has, but I’m starting to understand the appeal. During the run-up to my eventual purchase of the Apple Watch, I started seeing ho-hum opinions from owners sharing their mediocre experience with the device.

But despite everyone’s lack of enthusiasm, I still bought one. What I realized was that the Apple Watch is a fashion accessory first and a functional tool second. It matters more to me that the wearable looks good rather than it offering features that improve my life from a practical standpoint.

Here’s what I wrote about this idea back in May of last year:

I’ve realized that, as foolish as this sounds, I don’t care as much about what features it has or what it does beyond the obvious. I don’t really know if it needs a “killer app.” Simply displaying the time and a few other bits of information and, more importantly, being an attractive fashion accessory might just be enough.

I don’t own a mechanical watch and never have. But now that I’ve spent a few months with the Apple Watch, I could certainly see myself buying one in the future.