Introduction

I was given my first Braille or tactile watch by my parents when I was about six or seven years of age.  Over the years, I suppose I have had about half a dozen of them, all offering Braille or tactile dots under the glass lid which I opened at the six or nine o’clock positions in order to feel the time.  These timepieces were sold by RNIB, and usually came with a leather buckle strap which my dad took to the jeweller and had replaced with an expandable strap with several links removed so it could fit my wrist properly.  I wore my watch every day at school, at college, and at work, discreetly checking the time when I wanted to, and finding a way to quietly close the lid to avoid the clicking sound it made as the hands were covered.  As the years have passed, mechanical watches have been replaced by battery ones, and perhaps they have been designed to look smarter with imitation diamonds on them instead of generic Braille dots to indicate the minutes and hours on the watch face.

But with the convenience of Smart speakers, phones and devices that also offer the time, wearing a traditional Braille or tactile watch has become less of a necessity.  Yet I still have three or four stylish tactile watches that I wear on my right wrist so that I can discreetly feel the hands when I want to know how many minutes I have left in a presentation, or find out the time during the night without disturbing my husband.

Then, around 10 to 12 years ago, Apple introduced its first Apple Watch with built-in accessibility that became a real game-changer in the world of wearable technology.  I saw the first iteration of the Apple Watch when a friend lent me one to try.  Back then, the watch was bulky, and didn’t offer nearly as many features as it does today.  Consequently, I didn’t like it and never thought any more about buying an Apple Watch despite the introduction of several new features with every incremental update.  That is until this year …

What To Buy

During the recent Christmas period, I talked to a good friend of mine about his experience with the latest Apple Watch, the SE3.  He told me how useful it could be, and put forward a convincing argument that made me start to think exactly what today’s watches can offer.  My primary phone is an iPhone so it made sense that I would want to research the various iterations of that watch brand.  Apple seems to have three lines of watch on sale, the Ultra range, the standard range, and the SE range, the latter being the cheaper end of the scale.  The Ultra is on its third model, the standard on its eleventh, and the SE also on its third model.

I guess my first question was: what would I want the watch to do that a normal, tried and tested Braille or tactile one doesn’t?  When I thought about using it to make and receive calls, read all my notifications and text messages, set it up to remind me to move about more than I do already, oh and get the time, I figured there was actually enough in it to make a purchase worthwhile.  Phones have got ever so slightly bigger with every few upgrades, and removing it from my pocket or bag in a public place isn’t always the safest option.  Yet having a watch on my wrist to hear notifications or calls coming in was actually quite appealing.

So once I had decided on the Apple Watch model to buy, I then looked at size, colour and strap options.  I didn’t want a large watch so it was always going to be the 40mm version.  I thought that going for a neutral colour was probably safer, so I opted for an aluminium midnight cellular version with a straightforward Velcro strap that would be easy to adjust.

Using The Watch

When the watch arrived, my first hurdle was getting VoiceOver to talk, and I struggled to achieve this until those more knowledgeable about these watches than me advised me to press the crown on the watch three times very quickly, then the penny dropped and VoiceOver started to co-operate.  From then on, linking it to my Apple account, adjusting the voice and speed thereon were all straightforward steps.  Putting the strap on the watch was slightly fiddly and required a couple of Gemini AI descriptions to help me along.

I have had my watch about a month now, and I can’t imagine being without it.  The fact that I can receive my news and other notifications on the watch, instead of grabbing my phone, is worth the expense on its own.  It is discreet, convenient and sits comfortably on my left wrist without being intrusive or clumsy.  I still can’t quite get used to leaving it on to wash the dishes so I do take it off when I am going to have my hands in a sink of water, even though I know these watches are built to handle water now.

You will note that I said I wore my Braille or tactile watches on my right wrist, yet wear the Apple Watch on my left wrist.  This is because my primary Braille reading finger is my left index finger so have always worn a watch on my right wrist to facilitate this.  But my primary finger for swiping and typing on my iPhone is my right index finger, so I wear the Apple Watch on my left wrist and swipe or double-tap on it with my right index finger.

When my husband - who is a Google Pixel user - saw the benefits of what my Apple Watch could do, he decided to purchase the Pixel Watch 4.  He set his up similarly to mine, and finds it particularly useful for setting timers when he is making bread, or calling a taxi when he has completed the grocery shop on a Saturday.

Conclusion

Comparing the two watches side-by-side, we have both concluded that the Apple Watch has a better sound through its speaker than the Pixel 4; there are more voices on the Apple Watch than on the Pixel 4; but that the Pixel 4 has Gemini on your wrist which is our favourite AI bot right now.  They both come with a USB C to magnetic charging base, and a choice of straps you opt for before checkout.  In terms of size, my Apple Watch is square whereas Martin’s Pixel 4 is round, but they both have roughly the same diameter.

In terms of pricing, the Pixel 4 and Apple Watch SE3 are about the same cost, given the straps we chose for our respective timepieces.  For our use, perhaps our purchases were extravagant even though we went for the lower end price range because they don’t really offer us anything additional to using our phones.  But the convenience, discretion and safety aspects are definitely worth having.  As someone who hated the typical talking watch that sounded so cheap and loud, I have changed my stance on Smart watches even though I am rather late to this particular wearable party.  And my Braille or tactile watches still have their place in my home.  I am, after all, known as queen of the dots!