Tick Tock

I’ve never thought too much about clocks; they are just part of the house like a refrigerator or a potty.  We have a digital alarm clock and of course digital readouts on our computers, Ipads and phones. We also have analog clocks in every room.  It would never occur to either of us to get rid of the analog clocks.   

I can’t cook with a digital clock, I can’t look at 3:12 and figure out what time it will be in 30 minutes.  If I look at the analog clock it is very clear that in 30 minutes it would be 3:42.  The digital clock only tells  the immediate time but gives no peek into the future.  An analog clock tells you the beginning and the end, is comforting, it is familiar, it has a face, a personality per se.  

In the living room we have a striking grand central station clock, it’s big, really big.  In the kitchen we have a whimsical flower clock, the bedroom clock matches the wood grain of the furniture perfectly.  You know, clocks with personality. 

The younger generation has grown up with cell phones, computers, and smart watches.  I’m guessing a few of them can’t tell time with an analog clock.   If you notice they never say quarter past the hour or quarter till the hour.  Their clocks aren’t divided into quarters.  Half past is a concept that makes perfect sense to the analog clock lover but isn’t displayed numerically for the digital fan.  Try watching the seconds with a digital clock.   

My generation learned to tell time in school.  It helped that we had a very large analog clock at the head of the class.   The clock acted as a reminder how much time remained before we would go out for recess. We could clearly see a beginning and an end of the dreaded math quiz.  How many more minutes remained, try that with a digital clock without doing the math to figure it out.  Maybe that’s it, if I can see the whole clock face I understand how much time is remaining, if it equals a math problem I don’t get it.  

Although smartwatches are popular I’m happy to see actual watch faces on wrists again.  I remember getting a Bulova watch for eighth grade graduation.  It was very stylish and I was almost as proud of it as I was my favorite watch acquired years later.  My favorite watch was a Happy Cat watch.  I loved that thing, I got it with a coupon from  Happy Cat cat food.   The band was bright red on one side of the face and blue on the other.  The plastic and the face was trimmed in yellow with  a happy cat smiling in the center.   I loved it when it was quarter to three and the happy cat was licking his whiskers. Hey, we all need a touch of whimsy.  I  wore that watch for almost ten years, until the cat died.