Don’t doublewrist! You don’t need to.

Doublewristing is a dirty word in the watch world for a variety of reasons. Some simply hate smart watches in all of their guises and do not consider them to be watches at all. Others are uneasy about the smart wristed world that we are entering because of the threat to traditional watches, but there is one reason above all that makes doublewristing so reprehensible- it looks ridiculous.

It’s the most first world of first world problems and of little importance to the majority, but if you love mechanical watches and find yourself struggling to lose the benefits of a smartwatch what are you to do?

On the one hand (get it!) you want to enjoy your beautifully made watch because in your mind it says something about you. The fact that no one notices the watch on your wrist does not matter, it matters a lot to you and probably more than it should.

On the other hand an Apple Watch, for example, offers so much in terms of health and fitness tracking, little tricks that help you get through every day and a host of other features that soon become part of your routine. Again, no one will notice that you are wearing an Apple Watch because so many people are wearing them, but they will notice if you have a watch on each wrist...

There is just something about the visual dynamic of a watch on each wrist that looks bizarre and ironically unbalanced. We are so used to seeing one device on one wrist that to see another on the other wrist is hard to understand for most people. It looks busy, too complicated and simply odd. It’s more showy than a bright gold Rolex on one wrist and it intimates that the wearer needs both devices because he or she is just a little bit strange.

I have been wearing my Apple Watch every day for three months now to help me keep for while working from home and my Oris, Omega and other watches have just sat on the shelf waiting in vain for their turn on my wrist. I tried doublewristing, but hated the feel of another watch on my right wrist and couldn’t do it for more than a couple of hours. Also, it felt unnecessary because having a smartwatch that tells the time and does so much more alongside another watch that just tells the time, less accurately, makes no sense at all. Where do you look to check the time? Do you take turned between them or forget that one is one the other wrist? Yes, it’s a silly solution and it does not work.

And then an idea came to me. What if I put the Apple Watch further up my arm around the bicep area? Is that even sillier? Well, it turns out that it is a very good solution for those days when you want to enjoy your mechanical watch and you still get the majority of the benefits of an Apple Watch.

I purchased an Apple Watch armband from Amazon for £16 and strapped it to my upper arm. Honestly, you won’t even feel it. The first thing I did was check that my heart rate was being monitored. Check. I then went for a quick run to see how the workout stats compared to the stats provided on the wrist previously. Check, almost identical. It all worked. Every single piece of monitoring worked exactly the same as when on the wrist apart from one. I get stand hours sat down when the Apple Watch is on my upper arm which means I literally get every single hour no matter what I am doing. Personally, I don’t mind this because I always get 15-16 hours a day anyway (target is 12) and at times the Apple Watch misses hours when I should get them so this is a form of revenge for me.

Notifications still buzz my arm, but of course I cannot view them unless I pick up my phone and all other visual data is not available to me, but I can live with this because I now have a choice.

If I want to wear my Oris all day and still keep my fitness stats up (can always be viewed in real-time on the iPhone) I won’t look silly and I have the major benefits of both watches. If I am sat working from home I can just wear the Apple Watch on my wrist and it works as it should.

You don’t need to give up your favourite mechanical watch, you don’t need to give up your smartwatch and you don’t have to doublewrist. Just move your smartwatch up your arm when you want to and enjoy the best of all worlds.