bacari

How many of us walk around major cities and see the new zombie culture? You know, thousands of people with their heads bowed over their smartphones, tablets, notebook computers, mp3 players, or even their smart watches. We spend hours in front of computer screens, at work and home, scouring the internet. If we want to schedule a meeting or even a date, we add it to the other person’s calendar. If we have a question, we send a text. We use apps to buy movie tickets, check the weather, and to organize our wine collections.

So, we have been overrun with anecdotal information, viewpoints and recent studies that suggest social media is destroying our social skills and is a bastion for the socially challenged. And when we think of some of today’s “young people,” we may even lean toward agreement.

I’m in my 40’s and in my limited experience the opposite is true – particularly when it comes to watch forums like this one – International Watch League. Watch forums are for the socially astute and when you have a convergence of these types brought on by a passion for watches, you can end up with -Watch Buddies.

Now, I’m not a Facebooker. I do not twit or tweet. That just doesn’t seem like something a grown man would do. I can’t wrap my conservatively conventional mind around Instagram. I mean what ever happened to Western Union and Moneygram? I have no desire to be linked in so I won’t join Linkedin. Pinterest I struggle to understand. I just know I have no interest in pins or pens. I love watches.

So, years ago I limped onto the internet to see if it could enhance my watch loving experience. I typed something watch related into Yahoo or Google (probably Google) and it led me to a phenomenal site – a watch forum –watchuseek.com. I hung out there for years and I still hang out there. It became my home away from home so to speak.

For years I got to know internet personalities; great online personalities with great user names and avatars. Of course, on the internet you can be whoever you want to be so I had to always keep that in mind as I interacted with these characters.

After a few years I began attending watch events like Watchtime’s Inside Basel and local get-togethers (GTG’s) organized via our online community, usually by a strange character whose user name was drickster.

I met drickster in person and learned his name is Dan. I met novedl, Doboji, Gary123, lactardjosh, mchent, Docvail, and a host of other people I once only knew by their user names and avatars. Now, I consider these people my friends. My wife calls them my Watch Buddies.

Now, in addition to Marc, my best friend of 30 years, I have a group of friends who all share my passion for watches. And I have many associates who I have gotten to know online but just haven’t met them in person – 90 percent of the people on IWL are counted in that group. People like RayMac, GinGin, Geoffbot, Brad, and most of this community.

So, from my vantage point, when you gather a group of people online who love watches and who are just good people, sometimes you can make social magic. That lets me know that the internet is not a bad place when it comes to social progression – at least not on watch forums.

Below is a picture of me and some of my Watch Buddies in a swank restaurant in New York City. We were there attending WatchTime's Inside Basel event...