I wear a cheap casio that has a ten year battery and it's well worth having. I also have a Samsung dumb phone with a battery that lasts 2 weeks, had it for 10 years and works everyplace though I only use it when leaving civilization, 2 or 3 times a year.

@HFCAMPO
I'll have to disagree about 'only morons buy watches'. I didn't think that wearing a watch was necessary until I began to teach and found that a watch is more convient to glance at to keep track of the time in a classroom. Just turn your wrist slightly to see what time it is. Pulling out your smartphone is not always the best option. It was my now wife that bought me the watch. It was her first gift to me so it's special to me. Mind you I only wear it now if I have to teach a class otherwise it's keep in the box. I feel that watches will always be around. Smartwatches however is another thing. Until they fix the battery life on those watches, I don't see it being of good use in my opinion.

I like a watch, I can just turn my wrist to see the time. I don't have to go into my pockets, which is difficult riding a bike, or when my hands are full or very dirty.
When I was teaching, it was useful not to have to take out my phone to see the time, because we forbade SS from doing this.
I usually buy cheap Casio or other semi-indestructible watch.
The early adopters of a new technology pay the premium. The pricing policy for new products is always skimming. Remember the Nike Air Jordan when they first hit the market? Early cell phones? (I can remember people then saying, 'meh!'. I can remember people ranting about 'shit smartphones' and 'their ridiculous prices'.

Only time will tell. Some products make others obsolescent, e.g. Ebike vs pedal bike, but the old tech still has its fans (incl. books and watches). Other products render the old tech obsolete, e.g. PDA anyone? (expensive tech at the time). Other products just never get established.
Part of buying any luxury goods, or even some hi-tech, is making a lifestyle statement. USD 10k, I have seen people drop that on a shopping trip to HK, and coming back with LV, and Jimmy Choo's.

What people do with their money, we have no control over, and who are we to judge.

This reminds me of an anecdote about George Best. Really the world's first super rich soccer player. He went bankrupt, and an interviewer once asked him what he did with the money. To which George replied, "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."

@TigerTiger
Good points! Remember that men love electronic toys. Usually that's who they're aimed at. I see much more men buying these watches than women. Women love clothes, makeup, bags, shoes, etc.

For a watch no one here plans on buying...

@tigertiger. George Best quote, great. Note to self; spend more money on alcohol, women, and Apple watches.

@luiming, i looked up the pebble watch. it claims the battery lasts 7 days. the basic model is only $99.

@anonymous, there's no way a 300$ Acer competes with a Macbook Air. Apple is more expensive, but not by that much a margin. maybe you didn't do advanced stuff with your laptop. i have a 300$ laptop and it's crap beyond basic tasks. also, the macbook is thinner, lighter, and probably has a much nice monitor than your Acer. Again though, unless you were doing graphics-intensive work, maybe the Macbook was overkill.

and no, apple doesn't claim their products last forever. it's called "planned obsolescence". they want you to keep buying.

Apple doesn't include a sdcard slot so that you buy the more expensive model with more storage. Notice how they still have 16 then 32 then 64 then 128. They want to milk you .

Surely there must be something better to do with both labour and money than to produce, sell & buy this sort of thing.

what, like buying laptosp and then grandstanding on forums?