I have always hated watches. They are ugly, bulky, and leave awkward tan lines. Every time I’m curious about the time, it has always been more convenient to pull my phone out of my pocket and glance at the time.

Over the summer, I was going to be in an area with no cell phone service, so against all my better judgment, I bought a watch. I hated that watch. It was hideous and huge. It left a slight imprint on my wrist every time I wore it. It beeped every hour, on the hour, no matter how much I tried to get it stop.

At the end of the summer, I could finally take off that well-used watch. But for months afterwards, I found myself glancing at my wrist for the time, only to look at my empty wrist, sporting a faint tan line outline of the watch. As much as I hated that clunking thing, I actually started to miss it.

Watches may seem ugly and outdated, but they are just too convenient to ignore. They easily display the time. They let you know each hour on the hour. They provide a convenient a green or blue light so the time can be viewed in the dark. Most even have a cute little alarm, which is convenient for waking up because the wearer can’t ignore the alarm if it is attached to his or her wrist. In addition, watches are the only fail-proof way of keeping time in standardized testing situations, since cell phones are banned and wall clocks can be unreliable. Although these hunkering gadgets may seem foreign to our cell phone-adorned lives, they still hold a purpose and make life much more convenient.