Things you don't know if anyone uses

[geraldc]

So does anyone regularly use the rotating bezel on their watch for anything practical?

Is it just so you don't forget when you want to start counting minutes from? I've never seen anyone with a watch whose bezel wasn't in the standard 12 o'clock position, and am wondering if they are essentially just decorative like the buttons on the cuff of a jacket. ie just for show.

Do divers never need to measure more than 59 minutes?

[delthebike]

So does anyone regularly use the rotating bezel on their watch for anything practical?
Do divers never need to measure more than 59 minutes?

SCUBA divers do use their rotating bezels, real ones only rotate one way, anti-clockwise, BTW, and generally they wouldn't use more than 59 minutes but that depends on the type of diving they're doing. Most divers are using personal dive computers now and most/some have a watch as a back up. They should be using the rule of "plan your dive and dive your plan."

[Andrij]

So does anyone regularly use the rotating bezel on their watch for anything practical?

Is it just so you don't forget when you want to start counting minutes from? I've never seen anyone with a watch whose bezel wasn't in the standard 12 o'clock position, and am wondering if they are essentially just decorative like the buttons on the cuff of a jacket. ie just for show.

I've used them on occasion.  As for buttons on the cuffs of jackets, I've never had a need to use them yet (yes, some of my jackets have functioning cuff buttons).

My contribution (though could go into the rant thread): indicators.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Those sticky-backed plastic tabs which are supposed to reseal packets of pasta, beans, etc.

[Regulator]

So does anyone regularly use the rotating bezel on their watch for anything practical?
Do divers never need to measure more than 59 minutes?

SCUBA divers do use their rotating bezels, real ones only rotate one way, anti-clockwise, BTW, and generally they wouldn't use more than 59 minutes but that depends on the type of diving they're doing. Most divers are using personal dive computers now and most/some have a watch as a back up. They should be using the rule of "plan your dive and dive your plan."

You've answered for me.... 

[geraldc]

Those sticky-backed plastic tabs which are supposed to reseal packets of pasta, beans, etc.

I actually do use those! (albeit on the rare occasion that I haven't torn the bag all the way down to the base when opening it)

[Woofage]

Those sticky-backed plastic tabs which are supposed to reseal packets of pasta, beans, etc.

I actually do use those! (albeit on the rare occasion that I haven't torn the bag all the way down to the base when opening it)

My experience is they work once and that's it

[hellymedic]

Those sticky-backed plastic tabs which are supposed to reseal packets of pasta, beans, etc.

They f***ing don't f***ing work.
Packets get the scissors and clothes peg treatment.

[hellymedic]

So does anyone regularly use the rotating bezel on their watch for anything practical?

Is it just so you don't forget when you want to start counting minutes from? I've never seen anyone with a watch whose bezel wasn't in the standard 12 o'clock position, and am wondering if they are essentially just decorative like the buttons on the cuff of a jacket. ie just for show.

I've used them on occasion.  As for buttons on the cuffs of jackets, I've never had a need to use them yet (yes, some of my jackets have functioning cuff buttons).

My contribution (though could go into the rant thread): indicators.

My Dad told me those buttons served to discourage use of cuff as snot rag. Might be an urban myth of course...

[mrcharly-YHT]

Urban myth. They used to always be functional, so you could roll your sleeve up when doing a dirty job, without taking off your jacket.

[hellymedic]

Must have been more generously tailored in the Good Old Days then. Jackets often allow too little movement for the wearer to do anything useful...

[numbnuts]

I use the rotating bezel on my watch when I'm out kayaking

[hellymedic]

The sheet of blotting paper at the front of a pad of writing paper...

[Mr Larrington]

The sheet of blotting paper at the front of a pad of writing paper...

Back in the days when letters were commonly written with a fountain pen (i.e. when I was about 10), yes.  skool blotch was about as absorbent as skool bog roll (which was much better as tracing paper than clagnut removal).

I may still own a fountain pen, unused since being given it in 1997, but I doubt I've had cause to use blotch since skool rools were relaxed to permit the use of more modern alternatives at about the same time as the birth of punk.

[Woofage]

The sheet of blotting paper at the front of a pad of writing paper...

Useful if you use a fountain pen and a fountain pen is useful if you suffer writing fatigue with a ballpen (Biro). I have pieces of blotting paper for occasions such as signing cheques or writing cards but usually I don't bother. Most of the time I write with a pencil anyway. I detest ballpens - my normally nearly illegible writing becomes what appears to be an encrypted foreign language when I attempt to use one.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Urban myth. They used to always be functional, so you could roll your sleeve up when doing a dirty job, without taking off your jacket.

That would have made sense back in the olden days, when all men always used to wear jackets all the time. And hats.

[hellymedic]

I passed most of my ink and fountain pens to Auntie C when I could no longer hold a pen.
I liked my fountain pens but was compelled to us Black Bics to complete multi-part forms.

[Andrij]

Urban myth. They used to always be functional, so you could roll your sleeve up when doing a dirty job, without taking off your jacket.

That would have made sense back in the olden days, when all men always used to wear jackets all the time. And hats.

Ah, the Good Olde Days.  Hats should be worn.  Though, TBH, a jacket in this weather can be a bit uncomfortable.

[Gus]

I use them at work.At my breaks, so I can see how much time I have before I have to drive the next train.

[hellymedic]

Boys needed to seek permission to remove their blazers when I were at skule...

[Mr Larrington]

Blazers - summer term only - were fortunately optional at my skool.  Anyone wearing one was considered at best to be a raddled posho, and often far worse.  I didn't have one

[hellymedic]

Boys were Expected to Wear Blazers at all times and needed permission to remove them, even in the searing heat of Summer 1976...

[billplumtree]

[...]a jacket in this weather can be a bit uncomfortable.

Less so with the sleeves rolled up thobut, functional buttons or otherwise.  The Don Johnson association is a bit unfortunate, but hey, I got used to that back in the eighties.  And who's heard of Don Johnson these days?

[ian]

On the subject of watches – all those dials. Sorry, chronometers. The sort men wear so they can pretend they're astronauts or racing drivers rather than menial salarydrones in the lower subdecks of the corporate motherships. Does anyone use them? Sorry dear, I'm off to save the universe with nothing other than a precision timing device and my finely honed wits. I'll be back for tea.

I've been calling the unnecessary bits of stuff frivels for some time now. Epaulettes are a frivel. Unnecessary buttons and zipperage are frivels.

Frivels are essentially decorative and of little practical use. There's also uniuses. These are items that seem useful but in practice aren't and as such get used the once. Those pasta makers, so beloved of middle-class kitchens, that get used once until the owner discovers that pasta is cheaper, easier, and tastier from the supermarket. Kitchens tend to clot with uniuses.

[Canardly]

Esperanto? ( I wish I could find an old analogue stopwatch timepiece at reasonable cost incidentally)

Electric foot warmers?