📕 Part 1: Watches

This episode's vocabulary

Keep track of (something) (phrasal verb) – to stay informed about something. → It's important to keep track of your expenses when you're on a budget.

Interactive display (noun phrase) – a screen that allows a user to interact with a device by touching it. → Modern smartwatches have a vibrant, interactive display.

Backlight (noun) – a light behind the screen of a device that makes it easier to see in the dark. → The watch had a backlight so you could tell the time in the dark.

Keep an eye on (something) (idiom) – to watch or take care of something or someone. → As a teacher, it's handy to have a watch to keep an eye on the time during activities.

Won't cut it (idiom) – to not be good enough to do a particular job or to be suitable for a particular purpose. → When you need your hands free, using your phone to check the time really won't cut it.

Appreciate in value (phrase) – to increase in monetary worth over time. → A vintage or gold watch will likely appreciate in value over time.

Status symbol (noun) – a possession that is thought to show a person's high social rank. → For many, an expensive watch is the ultimate status symbol.

Fashion accessory (noun phrase) – an item used to contribute, in a secondary manner, to the wearer's outfit. → A stylish watch can be a great fashion accessory.

Show off (phrasal verb) – to behave in a way that is intended to attract attention or admiration. → Some people wear expensive watches to show off their wealth.

Wave (something) around (phrasal verb) - to hold something and move it from side to side, often to show it to people. → Wearing a luxury watch is a way to show wealth without physically waving money around.

Vintage (adjective) – from the past, of high quality and lasting value. → Buying a vintage watch can be a very good investment.

Water-resistant (adjective) – able to resist the penetration of water to some degree but not entirely. → My watch is water-resistant, so I can wear it while swimming.

Questions and Answers

Do you wear a watch?

Rory: I do, actually, but only when I'm working in a classroom so I can keep track of the time. Not just the regular time, but also how long various activities have gone on for, like when I'm using a stopwatch or a countdown timer or something like that.

Maria: Have you ever got a watch as a gift?

Rory: I must have done at some point when I was younger, but I don't really remember. Oh, wait, yes. I was given one when I was about nine years old. It was one with an interactive display and a backlight so you could tell the time in the dark. That was quite cool.

Maria: Do you think it's important to wear a watch?

Rory: I suppose that depends on the context really. It's handy to have if you need to keep an eye on the time very closely, or you need your hands free for other things. So your phone really won't cut it in that case. It could also be useful as an investment, like a vintage or a gold watch that will appreciate in value over the time. That could be quite handy.

Maria: Why do some people wear expensive watches?

Rory: A good question. I think it's a status symbol or a fashion accessory, or it could be an investment, like I said, or something like that. They're a way for people to show off their wealth without physically waving money around in front of people. I can't see the point of it myself, but that's why other people do it.

Discussion

Maria: Watches, dear listener. So I have a watch. But if you have two pairs, like watches, many watches, but we say I wear a watch, like on one hand, you wear a watch, and you wear a watch, like wear clothes, wear makeup, wear a watch. And you do it to keep track of the time. To control the time, to watch the time, watch. So, you keep track of the time. What other things can you keep track of?

Rory: Progress.

Maria: Some people keep track of their weight, if they're on a diet.

Rory: Yeah.

Maria: Well, a stopwatch. But a stopwatch is this, they usually use it in sports, and stop, like a countdown stopwatch, a specific device.

Rory: It could be, but some watches have that as a function. At least I have them on mine.

Maria: Oh, okay. Okay. Usually, we use our smartphone, you switch on a stopwatch in your smartphone. You can also say I use my phone as a watch.

Rory: Why not?

Maria: And dear listener, you can say that I have a digital watch. I have a hybrid watch. Hybrid is like digital and usual watch, not a fully digital or I have an Apple Watch, right?

Rory: You could talk about the brand. It could be a Rolex, for example.

Maria: More likely to be a Casio in my case, which is a very cheap kind of watch, but it works. Yeah, or a smartwatch. I wear a smartwatch, for example. Yeah, it's digital and connected to Bluetooth and Wi Fi and GPS tracking. Or, for example, a fitness watch.

Rory: Oh, yeah.

Maria: They keep track of your calories and stuff.

Rory: Exactly.

Maria: Take care of your well-being. So I take care of my well-being, so I sometimes use or wear a fitness watch. I've never got a watch as a gift. Or once I got a watch as a gift when I was younger, when I was at school, but I don't remember it. It's okay for you not to remember things, that's fine.

Rory: Or you could remember halfway through and you can say, oh, wait, I do remember.

Maria: And you can name some features of the watch. For example, an interactive display. It's interactive, you kind of push and press and it interacts with you. Or a backlight. It has a light.

Rory: Yeah, it lights up so you can see it in the dark.

Maria: For example, a fitness watch.

Rory: You're obsessed with fitness watches.

Maria: No, but I think they're popular these days. Like Apple watches.

Rory: I know, but why?

Maria: Well, because people want to keep track of their heartbeats, of their calories, of how many steps...

Rory: Why do you need to keep track of your heartbeat? If you are alive and breathing, then you have a heartbeat, you'll be okay.

Maria: I don't know. We have Apple Watch for health, for example, dear listener.

Rory: What does it tell you about your health?

Maria: They tell you about your heart rate, they monitor your sleeping, oh blood oxygen, they measure blood oxygen.

Rory: Listen, if your blood is not getting enough oxygen, then you have bigger problems than if your watch is keeping track of it or not.

Maria: Yeah, but a smartwatch. Right, so we call them smartwatches. Or if, dear listener, you don't have a smartwatch, you can say, oh, I wish I had a smartwatch. I'd like to use a smartwatch because I cycle, I ride my bicycle, so it would be a nice tracker.

Rory: We didn't do it here, but you could talk about the type of watch as well. Maria already mentioned a smartwatch. But you can also have a digital watch, or you could have an analog watch, which is the one that has the hands that move around.

Maria: Yeah, you can also have a diving watch, for underwater activities, dear listener. Yeah, but why not, you can imagine stuff. So, to use vocabulary, you can say, all right, yeah, I wear an underwater watch, but you don't see this watch on me, dear dear examiner. Yeah. But it's quite professional and... It's water resistant.

Rory: You see?

Maria: My watch is water resistant, so I can put it in water, and nothing will happen. Diving watch. There you go. So it's a luxury accessory. And a watch is accessory, dear listener, this nice word. Accessory. C1, okay? Accessory.

Rory: Really?

Maria: I know. Yeah, something which is added to a machine or clothing. Accessory. A luxury accessory. Your diving watch, dear listener. Yeah. Yeah, when you go swimming once a year. Wearing a watch is important, again, to keep an eye on the time. So keep track of the time, control the time. Keep an eye on the time. So watch the time, look at the time. But we use a nice phrase, keep an eye on. We keep an eye on the time, all right?

Maria: And it's a useful investment. So buying an expensive watch is an investment. For example, if you get a vintage watch. Something which is vintage is old. Sometimes expensive, like vintage a vintage bag, a vintage car, from the past. Produced in the past. Vintage jewelry, vintage dress. If your watch is gold, you can say a gold watch. Not golden, but the watch is made...

Rory: Made of gold.

Maria: Some companies used to give you a gold watch when you retired. Or after a certain amount of time in the service. However, I don't think that happens now, sadly. Expensive watches or luxury watches. And the key word is a status symbol. A status symbol. So, expensive watches show a person's status symbol.

Rory: They show their social status.

Maria: Social status. Yeah. But a status symbol is this set phrase. Status symbol. Like a thing that people want to have because they think other people will admire or respect them if they have it. So if you have a nice car, well, this is a status symbol. If you have a Gucci bag, this is a status symbol. In business, usually, they look at each other's watches. And usually you expect your business partner to wear something like Rolex, or Omega, how do you pronounce it? Omega?

Rory: Omega. Well, that's the brand, anyway.

Maria: Yeah, that's the second kind of most popular brand, I think, after Rolex. Rolex watch. And you can say, oh, I wear a Rolex. It means that you have a watch made, Rolex is the brand. I wear a Rolex, or I wear an Omega, and Cartier is also there.

Rory: Oh, really? Cartier watch? Oh, yeah, I suppose so.

Maria: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, then there are some other names which I don't know. But yeah, these three. I think for me, they are the most famous, but yeah, Rolex and Omega, like top two luxury watches. And they are ultra luxury status symbols.

Rory: Ooh, that's a lot of adjectives.

Maria: A real Rolex, yeah, so that's an ultra luxury status symbol. Yeah. Or a fashion accessory. Okay? So a watch is a fashion accessory. Accessory, dear listener, all right? Accessory. That's a nice accessory. Having an expensive watch is having a fashion accessory. And people show off their wealth. So by wearing an expensive watch, people show off their wealth. Look at me, I'm so rich.

Rory: Look at my watch.

Maria: Show off. They attract attention. So they display their luxury watches to attract attention, to show people that yeah, I'm cool, I have money, look at my watch.

Rory: What a way to live.

Maria: So they don't wave money physically. They don't just take money and just wave money. Wave banknotes in other people's faces. But this is one of the ways how to show other people that you are rich.

Rory: If you're waving something around, you're showing it off.

Maria: Some people are show offs.

Rory: Yeah.

Maria: Some people are real show-offs. There we go. Right, Rory, so if you had a choice, would you wear a Rolex, a Cartier, some other brand? Omega? Which watch would you choose? Or a diving watch?

Rory: Whichever one would be the best long term investment. So if I could buy it and leave it in the box, and let the value build up so I can sell it later, then that one.

Maria: Yeah, then vintage Rolex, I guess. Because they are just getting more and more expensive. And now we are ready for a watch joke.

Rory: Oh, watch out.

Maria: Watch out for the joke. Yeah. All right. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of wearing two watches? On the one hand, you have a watch. But on the other hand, you have a watch. Now, Rory explains the joke.

Rory: So there's the idiom for writing when you compare things, on the one hand, one thing, on the other hand, the other thing. But you wear a watch on or near your hand, and if you have two watches, you'd have one on the left hand and the right hand. So if you look at one hand, you've got a watch. On the other hand, you also have a watch. Oh my God.

Maria: Yeah, dear listener. Here it's this literal meaning on your hand. On the one hand, on the other hand, you have a watch, you wear a watch, but yeah, in essays, we just say one thing but the other thing and still we use on the one hand, on the other hand. Thank you very much for listening. We'll get back to you in our next episode, okay? Bye.