80s fashion redux, part 12: Time of the essence in the 80s

(This is the twelfth in my series of posts on 80s fashion trends and the impact they are having on current fashion. If you'd like to read from the beginning, please start with my blog of July 23.)

Watches...probably not the biggest influence on current fashion, but one of my favorite style trends of the 80s. They were everywhere then, including up and down my arm.

Underwear as outerwear, a popular 80s theme...and of course there's a watch

Originally posted June 5, 2006:

Of all outgoing accessories in the 1980s, WATCHES were most necessary. Watches appeared in fashion magazines in spreads with bathing suits, wedding gowns, and in every other possible or impossible setting. Vintage watches were used as fashion decor, and man-style watches, along with Swatches and other brights, were extremely popular.

Blazer, Donna Karan, Riding pants, H. Kauffman & Sons Saddlery, Wrist watch, Tiffany & Co., Pocket watch, Obrey

Some of my own 80s watches, including the earliest Swatch I ever spotted (bottom of scan)

Update August 27, 2009:

I have already pointed out a true paean to the 80s circling the necks of models on Dolce & Gabbana's runway for fall 2009

...but frankly, this is more an homage to a time gone by, not current need. Even in the 80s, we were starting—just starting—to get away from watches. Their popularity (and the start of their demise) was due to the fact we no longer had to wind them, and they were cheaply and reliably made. They were very soon superseded by even more amazing technical achievements in the making of personal gadgetry. Now we rely on our smartphones for time, along with so much more information. Perhaps this genre hasn't disappeared, but morphed in form?

Wood concept smartphone, Gernot Oberfell