When comparing analog watches vs smartwatches, the truth is that a smartwatch is just a disposable gadget that straps anxiety and endless notifications directly to your wrist. Switching to a real analog watch, whether mechanical, quartz, or solar…is the ultimate Slow Tech move to reclaim your attention and invest in a distraction-free heirloom.
I am sitting in the sun down in Sarasota, waiting for a Spring Training practice to start. I look down at my wrist.
If I were wearing my Garmin, I wouldn’t just be checking the time. I would be checking my heart rate. I’d see it sitting at 84 BPM and immediately wonder why it isn’t my resting 65. Is it the Florida heat? The coffee? Am I getting sick? Then I would swipe to check my “Stress Score.” If the watch told me my stress was high, I would suddenly feel anxious about being stressed. I would check my “Body Battery” and watch it drain to 40%. Suddenly, I am no longer at a baseball game. I am in a medical diagnostic loop in my own head.
Instead, I am looking at a sweeping second hand on my Orient Kamasu. I see metal, sapphire glass, and a beautiful black dial. It isn’t measuring my Heart Rate Variability. Or anything else. It just tells me that it’s 11:58am.
We strap computers to our wrists because we think we need to optimize our bodies with an endless stream of metrics. But too much data leads nowhere good. All we really do is strap our anxiety directly to our skin, turning every natural heartbeat into a notification to be analyzed. More and more people in 2026 are ditching their smartwatch for exactly this feeling — and discovering a richer, calmer way to wear time on their wrist.
If you want to take a massive step into the Slow Tech lifestyle, take off the smartwatch. Buy a real watch. Though let me warn you, it’s an addictive hobby!
Continue reading “Ditching Your Smartwatch in 2026: The Ultimate Slow Tech Guide to Watches”
