A few months ago, my wife decided to get me an expensive watch. Until then, I had not owned a watch of any significant value.

I had been considering buying a new watch since the two I had were looking tired.

Minimalism was far from my mind at that time.

As for watches, I have never been picky.

If it tells time and does not look like a clock on my wrist, I can live with it. When I asked my wife about the price, I didn’t get a straight answer. She said something about significant birthdays and once-in-a-lifetime purchases.

I didn’t push it.

Clearly, if she felt that I could use some bling to boost my image, I wasn’t going to dispute that. Moreover, I didn’t want to appear insensitive to her thoughtfulness.

After all, it was a thing of beauty; very elegant, and — as per some Google searches that I did — pricey.

But, was it going to bring me joy forever?

I have always had a philosophy in life — only buy things that you can actually use without worrying about their cost. If you had to store it away in a drawer or a locker, it defeated the purpose. I applied the same rule to social events and interactions. If it’s too formal and uppity, I try and avoid it.

No point in trying to be someone you really are not.

“Pushing the boundaries” and “getting out of comfort zone” etc. were strictly for work. No need to bring it home.

Suffice it to say, I was a little out of my league with my new watch.

For the first few days, I wore it wherever I went. I proudly displayed it to friends and casually brought watches up in conversations. I gestured with my watch-wearing hand during presentations at work similar to Roger Federer playing tennis wearing his Rolex watch.

Mostly, people didn’t notice.

So, I gave up trying too hard to make people notice that I was wearing a fancy watch. I decided to use it like an everyday watch.

I quickly realized that it was not that simple.

The first time I wore it to the squash club, I worried about leaving it in my racquet bag among squash balls and loose change. The “Lock it or lose it” sign in the locker room was not confidence-inspiring. The fact that my six-racquet bag did not fit into the change room lockers made matters worse.

On my late evening walks, I suddenly had a new worry; I could get mugged, for my watch!

In a way, I felt stupid.

For the life of me, I cannot remember the last time I looked at someone’s watch to see if it looked expensive. All the same, I now had to content with the fact that there may be people, unlike me, who can tell an expensive watch when they see one.

People have been known to commit crimes for far less money.

Notorious B.I.G. said it: Mo Money Mo Problems.

Indeed!

The fact that I wear my watch on my right hand didn’t help either.

I seemed incapable of doing anything without bumping my watch against something or the other. I had never noticed or worried about that before.

In a weird sort of way, my new watch had added stress to my life. I did not need that.

I loved the watch but disliked the hassle that came along with it. It would be a shame if I scratched it up or worse, lost it.

I had a dilemma — I needed an everyday watch.

So, I got one.

I must say it is a climb down from a luxury watch to an everyday watch.

But, I am good.

I feel right at home throwing it into my gym bag or fiddling around under the hood of the car wearing it.

In reality, I barely look at it.

I rely more on my phone to tell time.

Duh!