25pc people use mobile phones instead of watches to check time

London, Sept 27: Watches are falling out of fashion, with a quarter of people preferring to use a mobile phone or computer to tell the time, a study has revealed.

This is up from 18 percent just a year ago, suggesting that the clock on their demise is ticking rather rapidly.

And among the under-35s, the proportion relying on digital devices for timekeeping is even higher, at four in ten, the Daily Mail reported.

Market analysts Mintel, who conducted the research, said the trend is expected to continue in line with rising ownership of mobile phones, with 93 percent now owning a handset.

“As mobile phones allow consumers to do lots of things, watches need to become more technical and have multiple functions as well as telling the time, such as GPS, temperature gauge, etc,” the report said.

“For example, Seiko has developed a GPS solar watch that can identify the time zone, date and time using the global network of GPS signals,” the report added.

The report, which surveyed 1,522 adults, found that in an office setting using a watch to tell the time is seen as looking more professional, while taking out a mobile phone in a meeting was viewed as time wasting. (ANI)