BlackBerry: One level up

Chicago, Feb. 18 (AP): Allison Elliott occasionally wears the delicate gold wind-up watch that belonged to her grandmother. But it’s really just for show.

Elliott, who is 27, is much more likely to get the time from the clock in her car, the one on her cable TV box or cellphone or from the bottom right-hand of her computer at the University of Kentucky, where she works.

Paul Dryden is much the same. “To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I wore a watch — I’m guessing early in high school,” says the 21-year-old senior at Connecticut College. The busy student’s cellphone often doubles as an alarm clock because “it goes everywhere I go”.

In other words, the way we track time is changing with the times.

Market researchers say more people are carrying electronic devices that also tell time, whether a phone, an iPod or a BlackBerry. They’re also finding that young people, in particular, are more interested in spending their money on other kinds of accessories, such as shoes and hand bags.

In a survey last autumn, investment bank Piper Jaffray & Co. found that nearly two-thirds of teens never wear a watch — and only about one in 10 wears one every day.

Experian Simmons Research also discovered that while Americans spent more than $5.9 billion on watches in 2006, that figure was down 17 per cent when compared with five years earlier.

In response, some watchmakers have begun to add more functions to their time pieces, with models that have everything from heart rate monitors to GPS trackers.

Luxury watches, such as Rolex, remain popular. But even then, the watch is often more about fashion than function, says Max Kilger of Experian Simmons.