Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

SBlue1

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 17, 2008
2,215
2,835
Hey. I got a nice collection of mechanical watches but I am considering getting an Apple Watch just for health reasons. I am thinking about wearing it only at night or when I do sports and keep wearing my mechanical watches during the day.

Is there anybody here who doesn't want to quit on mechanical watches but still uses the health features at least at night? Or who isn't allowed to wear smart watches during work?

Does it even make any sense to wear them just for the night or would it be a waste of money?
 
Hey. I got a nice collection of mechanical watches but I am considering getting an Apple Watch just for health reasons. I am thinking about wearing it only at night or when I do sports and keep wearing my mechanical watches during the day.

Is there anybody here who doesn't want to quit on mechanical watches but still uses the health features at least at night? Or who isn't allowed to wear smart watches during work?

Does it even make any sense to wear them just for the night or would it be a waste of money?
Look here, and do some searching on sleep tracking and also mechanical watches, plenty yhreads
 
Thanks for the link. I also found threads on people switching back from Apple Watch to mechanical watches. I was curious if somebody wears mechanical watches during the day and the Apple Watch at night.
 
I wear mine all the time (except when bathing or charging) but I don’t think the sleep tracking is accurate.
 
I wear mine all the time (except when bathing or charging) but I don’t think the sleep tracking is accurate.
I think the sleep tracking is fairly accurate when I'm feeling well. The other day I had a fever and slept very irregularly, and the sleep tracking was completely off, having me awake when I was asleep and vice versa. But otherwise, I think the sleep tracking corresponds well with my perception of how I slept.

As for OP's question of whether it's worth it to wear Apple watch just for sleep tracking and exercise, I can't say. I wear mine 24/7 except when charging, and the data set that's collected that way is what I find useful. I imagine wearing the watch just during sleep and exercise would allow you to compare exercise sessions to other exercise sessions, and sleep patterns to sleep patterns. And that could be useful, I'm sure. But what I find more informative is my resting heart rate, which is my heart rate when I'm not doing anything, and how much that goes up when I do exert myself, such as it is.

I don't think it is a complete waste of money to get the watch just for sleep and exercise, and I think many people do use it that way. But wearing it 24/7 gives you a much fuller picture of your physical state.
 
I don’t use my Apple Watch for sleep anymore since I started using sleepbuds that track my sleep. But when I get a new Apple Watch, I repurpose my old Apple Watch for fitness and casual use around the house. Currently I have a 45mm AW 9 with a fancy Milanese band that I wear for work and evening wear, then when I get home, I put on my 40mm AW 6 with a silicone magnetic band before my workout. On the weekends, I put on the AW 6 all day since I do chores and projects around the house, then will switch to the AW 9 if I’m going out at night.

IMG_9623.jpeg
IMG_9621.jpeg
 
Did you guys own good mechanical watches before you switched to an Apple Watch? What did you do with them?

Just a few years ago I was picturing myself giving one of my watches to the kids when they turn 18. I guess they will look the same way at me the way I looked at my grandpa when he was telling me one day I will inherit his gold pocket watch. :cool:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Night Spring
Did you guys own good mechanical watches before you switched to an Apple Watch? What did you do with them?

Just a few years ago I was picturing myself giving one of my watches to the kids when they turn 18. I guess they will look the same way at me the way I looked at my grandpa when he was telling me one day I will inherit his gold pocket watch. :cool:
Mine sit in a case now. My 19 year old son, who was gifted an AW that he does not use anymore, recently picked one of my old mechanicals to wear so there hope for the younger generation. :D

He will one day inherit my grandfather’s Vasheron Constantin, and I think he will appreciate it.

IMG_5602.jpeg

IMG_5603.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: SBlue1
Did you guys own good mechanical watches before you switched to an Apple Watch? What did you do with them?

Just a few years ago I was picturing myself giving one of my watches to the kids when they turn 18. I guess they will look the same way at me the way I looked at my grandpa when he was telling me one day I will inherit his gold pocket watch. :cool:
There were a lot of posts from people switching from mechanical watches back when the Apple watch first came out. I'm not sure how to search this forum for posts from way back then, but clearly a lot of people felt ambivalent about setting aside their mechanical timepieces.
 
Mine sit in a case now. My 19 year old son, who was gifted an AW that he does not use anymore, recently picked one of my old mechanicals to wear so there hope for the younger generation. :D

He will one day inherit my grandfather’s Vasheron Constantin, and I think he will appreciate it.

View attachment 2500098
View attachment 2500099
Oh wow now that’s a collection!
 
  • Like
Reactions: dcpmark
I do wear my AW S10 during the week and switch to mechanical/quartz watches on weekends, when I don’t need the notifications nor the activity tracking. However, I tend to favor the AW more and more over other watches because of comfort - got used to the lightness of it and the others became intolerable to wear. Even my G-Shocks, which are very light, have stiff straps and are either too loose or too tight on my wrist, depending on the weather. People dismiss AWs, but they are really well designed watches.
 
Hey. I got a nice collection of mechanical watches but I am considering getting an Apple Watch just for health reasons. I am thinking about wearing it only at night or when I do sports and keep wearing my mechanical watches during the day.

Is there anybody here who doesn't want to quit on mechanical watches but still uses the health features at least at night? Or who isn't allowed to wear smart watches during work?

Does it even make any sense to wear them just for the night or would it be a waste of money?
I wore it at night to help understand if I have sleep apnea.
Which I do, and now have a CPAP machine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SBlue1
I wore my AWU2 24/7 (except for charging) for the first 4 months then I started to miss my mechanical watches. I tried wearing it for sleep tracking and during exercise only but after a month or so gave up the sleep tracking routine. I now only wear it for my training which is 5X per week and quick change to one of my mechanical watches after I showered.
 
In 2021 I switched to mechanical watches: Orient Kamasu and an old manual Longines, then a Rolex Submariner in 2022, using my AW series 4 during physical activities and sleeping. Since half of 2024-start of 2024 I’m double wristing: a mechanical on my left, AW Ultra 2 on my right.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BillGates1969
I wear my AW mainly for weather-message notifications- workout miles tracking- calendar. I don't pay attention to the sleep tracking but usually I put the watch on the charger during the night anyway. I do miss mechanical watches and have considered going back because sometimes I need a break from the notifications on my wrist.

oh, and I love to cook and will use the timer on the AW a lot.
 
I think the sleep tracking is fairly accurate when I'm feeling well. The other day I had a fever and slept very irregularly, and the sleep tracking was completely off, having me awake when I was asleep and vice versa. But otherwise, I think the sleep tracking corresponds well with my perception of how I slept.

As for OP's question of whether it's worth it to wear Apple watch just for sleep tracking and exercise, I can't say. I wear mine 24/7 except when charging, and the data set that's collected that way is what I find useful. I imagine wearing the watch just during sleep and exercise would allow you to compare exercise sessions to other exercise sessions, and sleep patterns to sleep patterns. And that could be useful, I'm sure. But what I find more informative is my resting heart rate, which is my heart rate when I'm not doing anything, and how much that goes up when I do exert myself, such as it is.

I don't think it is a complete waste of money to get the watch just for sleep and exercise, and I think many people do use it that way. But wearing it 24/7 gives you a much fuller picture of your physical state.
Have serious doubts about the accuracy of the sleep tracking as well. I think the REM and Deep sleep function is good but am convinced that a lot of awake time is listed as core sleep. if you are trying to get back to sleep and lie as still as possible I am convinced based on my experience that it counts it as core sleep.
 
Have serious doubts about the accuracy of the sleep tracking as well. I think the REM and Deep sleep function is good but am convinced that a lot of awake time is listed as core sleep. if you are trying to get back to sleep and lie as still as possible I am convinced based on my experience that it counts it as core sleep.
That's a difficult problem that's not likely to be solved by a wrist-worn device. If you are lying still trying to get back to sleep, your heart rate will go down and you aren't making any movements. So a wrist-worn device will get the same readings as when you are actually asleep. The only way to tell for sure if someone is awake or asleep in that state is to take EEG readings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ignatius345
Have serious doubts about the accuracy of the sleep tracking as well. I think the REM and Deep sleep function is good but am convinced that a lot of awake time is listed as core sleep. if you are trying to get back to sleep and lie as still as possible I am convinced based on my experience that it counts it as core sleep.
I think the same thing is true for me. I regard the AW's stats as a ballpark guide only, and if it's inaccurate at least it's probably consistent enough that I can compare night over night. (Also if my vitals are low enough that the watch thinks I'm asleep, I'm hoping my body does too 🤣)

All that said, I don't love wearing the Apple Watch to bed, and if Apple came up with a ring-based tracker or if there was another one that could feed into my existing stats in Health I'd probably use that instead.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.