Everybody’s working for the weekend…

The concept of the wristwatch is older than the concept of the weekend. Abraham-Louis Breguet probably made the first wristwatch for the Queen of Naples in 1810. Sixty-nine years later, in 1879, the British magazine Notes and Queries first used the term “week-end” to describe the comings and goings of workers. (The weekend is only a hundred years older than the Clash’s seminal album London Calling.)

The concept of a Sabbath had been around for a very long time, however the days before or after the Sabbath had no special meaning or practice. They were work days, just like any other. When work was agricultural, the work-day was limited by daylight, weather and seasons. When work transitioned to factories there was less down time. We all worked more hours.

In addition to working more, we drank more. Alcoholic consumption has been on a steady decline in all countries for a century. When life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short (so says Hobbes) is it any wonder that we turned to drink? It was this drinking that led to the development of the weekend. Saturdays became half days. Factory owners realized that giving workers extra time away from drink (the drinking was less on the Sabbath) increased productivity and lessened workplace accidents. Gradually, the rise of the labor movement pushed back the working week and Saturdays became the day to do errands and perhaps, fun stuff.

The rise of the weekend coincided with the rise in leisure activities. Leisure activities are a broad spectrum of pursuits that are different in nature than whatever we do for work. They may require a different sort of watch. The steady gain in popularity of sports watches in the past few decades reflects this societal shift. Couple that with the decrease in formality in work settings, and you have a rise in weekend watches.

My work is in courthouses and offices. I wear a tie and dress shoes most days. My watches also are of a more formal type (the dreaded and oft-maligned “dress” watch). These are my everyday uniform:  gold or steel, three hands, no water resistance (none needed). Weekends are for my divers and other things that don’t quite fit the weekday aesthetic.

I was talking to a noted watch enthusiast (Chris) about doubts he had about a particular new purchase. I opined that the watch was a perfect “weekend wear.” He responded: “I have too many weekend wears and not enough weekends.” I was struck by how true that was for me too.

I arranged my weekend wears into a box. If I wore one watch per weekend, I would wear each less than four weekends a year. We don’t purchase any watch anticipating that little wrist time. Each watch is our fantasy of hiking, surfing, fishing, or just being at leisure. Each additional watch cuts into that fantasy. Weekends are less than 30% of our total time. Less if you sleep. (If you sleep in a watch, you are dead to me.)

“Dress” watches can normally be dressed up or down. You can wear practically anything with flip flops and shorts. Don’t try that with a thick diver, meaning a suit and tie. “Weekend wears” are more limited in range. I have realized that I am buying watches for precious little leisure time. I am older and more sedentary than I used to be. Maybe I am just buying the fantasy that I am young and fit. I used to hike and camp and sleep under the stars. I now require a comfortable hotel room. (I once hiked in the upland rain forests of Costa Rica in a quartz Fossil, I couldn’t afford a fantasy sports watch back then.) So, now when I buy a new watch I am going to be mindful of my innate desire to find a lifestyle justification for doing so. I will resist the dream of copious free time and understand that my divers may never get wet or my field watches may never see the field. My life will not be an endless weekend anytime soon.