Do you wear your watch on your right wrist? If so, why?

[The Wingnut]

I tried wearing them on the left wrist as a child when I got my first watch and it felt awkward. I'm left-handed. I switched it to the right, and I've been wearing them on that wrist ever since. As others have pointed out, wearing it on the non-dominant wrist frees up the dominant hand for movement and reduces the chance of damage. Like Baron, my watches get wound and set in the morning, so there are no issues with the stem placement.

 

[KeyGrip]

I began wearing on my left wrist so I could control the bike with my right hand while checking the time. The same now applies to steering wheels and the like.

 

[Copper]

I teach a somewhat specialised class with a segment on determining a person's dominant side. The majority of people wear their watch on their non-dominant side. i always do a straw poll though when I teach; usually about 10% of the class bucks the trend and wears their watch on the dominant side. It doesn't seem to be associated to left-or right handedness though...

 

[Kodiak]

I wear my watch on the dominant side (left, though I am semi-ambidextrous).

This is bucking the trend though, as far as I've always known. I took after my grandfather, a righty, who wore his on his left wrist. I'm simply used to wearing mine on the left, but I think it should be off-dominant for the following reasons:

1. You can check the time while writing.

2. The crown doesn't dig into the arm with normal movement.

Watches are worn backwards (with the face on the underside of the arm) by snipers. They use them to time their breathing to make highly accurate shots without throwing off their aim. It's also easier to check the time more discreetly, at least in my opinion.

 

[Lucky Strike]

I'd give my left arm to be ambidextrous....lol

Anywho....I'm left who wears his watch on his right wrist. I always thought it was so that since your dominate hand is in use more - there is less of a chance of smashing the watch.

How about the people who wear them with the face of the watch on the inside of the wrist?

Same reason - WWI was really the dawn of the modern wristwatch, and watches were worn on the inside of the wrist to protect the crystal.

My winding and setting is done in the am after waking up. Not that i ever need to set it as it keeps good time.

I've never even heard of anyone winding or setting the time on their watch while wearing said watch.

bk

I regularly throw on a watch in the morning, and wind (if applicable) and set it on the tram on my way to work. This is a consequence of having several manual-wind watches.

 

[kiltie]

Left-handed = right wrist. Even have the crown oriented that way on my watch. 34yrs, and I didn't even know they made left hand watches till a year ago - Anyone know if that's a recent innovation, or have they always been around? Anyway, I've always worn it on the right side, and even flipped the straps on leather bands to be more accomodating on rt hand watches.

 

[Edward]

AFAIK, left handed wrist watches are a fairly old concept, but have long been (and in my experience, still are) something you only find on very upmarket time pieces, well outside my humble budget.

I'm another lefty that dresses with my watch to the South.... not sure whether this was the influence of the atch-wearing, right hander norm I saw around me, but when I first started wearing a watch it seemed only natural to slip it onto my left. Tried the right briefly when I was at University, but could never get to grips with it - made me feel all back to front. It definitely is easier to keep a check on the time while you're writing if it is on the non-dom hand (I got round this in exams by taking the watch off and leaving it on the table in front of me). Nowadays, I type more than handwrite, so it's not an issue for that. When I'm teaching, I usually resort to the old watch-removal trick again.

 

[Smithy]

I am, I suppose, what you call half ambidextrous, I write with my left hand but do most other things (playing cricket, tennis, fishing, shooting, etc) with my right hand. And I wear my watch on my left hand.

In one of the gossip mags here in Norway last year they had an article on how the Norwegian Royal Family wear their watches on the right hand, irrespective of their dominant hand. Bit of a royal thing you see round these parts.

 

[henderson field]

Right is Right

I am right handed but wear my watch on the wrong ( as in right hand side ) wrist. Strangely, I remember the very moment I decided to change over: it was in a mathematics class when I was 14 years old. I wore a large, chronograph-style watch on a wide leather strap ( ah, the folly of youth ) that, for some reason, was irking me so I swapped it over to the right wrist and haven't looked back since.

Although I can write left handed I do not consider myself ambidextrous.

One rather odd habit I have developed is always taking my watch off to eat. Does anyone else do that or is it just me??


Ambidextrose - someone who can put sugar in their tea with either hand lol

 

[Dutch McCoy]

I am right-handed and it feels only natural to wear my watch on the left wrist. I am not sure why, but it does.

 

[jph712]

Right Wrist

I am VERY left handed and I wear my watch (everyday, all day) on my right wrist. Why? I absolutely do not have the dexterity with my right hand to buckle a watch strap. Plus, if I wore it on the left wrist it would seriously get banged up.

JPH712

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

I am left handed and wear the wristwatch on my left wrist.

I was under the assumption the watch should be worn on the left wrist to facilitate (the now obsolete) winding and setting of watches.

Yep, me too. My grandmother bought me my first watch, and she told me that you wear it on the left wrist so it can be wound easily. However, I always take my watch off to wind it, so...
I'm also right-handed, and I can't imagine having a watch on the hand I use to do everything. (I'm utterly useless with my left hand.)
Personal preference, I guess.

 

[mister7]

I just had to watch the Blues Brothers after seeing that swell picture Tony posted up in the skinny tie thread, and what do you know? Seems Dan Akroyd wears his on the right wrist.

I don't know why I find this curious. I suppose it's because I'm left handed but I would never consider wearing my watch on my right wrist. I never wind it while I am wearing it, but when I wind it I always turn the stem with my right while holding the watch in my left.

 

[anselmo1]

I wear my watch on my right wrist due to reconstruction surgery I had on my left wrist. It still hasn't healed to the point where I would wear it on my left wrist again. I am sort of getting use to wearing a watch now on my right wrist and sort of like it.