Do you wear your watch on your left wrist or your non-dominant one?

by Jared Meyers on 05 Mar 2021

Picture of a watch sitting on a rock on the beach during the sunset

For a long time, I've wondered whether the proper way to wear a watch is on my left wrist or on my non-dominant one.

According to Wikipedia, this wouldn't be a problem for about 90% of people (source), because those two are the same.

The problem is, I'm left-handed.

On the one hand, watches are typically made to be worn on the left wrist. The crown sits to the right of the watch's face, so it is easily accessible with the right hand. Since right-handedness is so common, this really opens up the number of watch choices I have. However, on my Apple Watch, using the scribble feature is a simultaneous test of both my patience and my dexterity since I'm forced to use my right hand to write.

On the other hand, it makes sense to keep the watch out of the way of day-to-day activities by putting it on my non-dominant (right) wrist. If I'm writing, there's no watch case or band preventing my wrist from resting on the table. Also, I'm much more dexterous with my left hand than my right hand, so the crown and other features would be easier to manipulate.

To keep my options open, I could just flip the watch and have the crown face away from my hand. Unfortunately, I don't think I'd be as cool as Jimi Hendrix's playing an electric guitar upside down.

Image of Jimi Hendrix playing an electric guitar upside down to account for his left-handedness.

I typically wear watches on my left wrist because it feels "right," although now I'm thinking about trying it out on my right wrist for a week or two. I didn't wear watches very often when I was younger, but the Apple Watch has made a much more compelling case for me to wear it.


This post is part of the Daily Blogging Challenge. The theme for this article was "Watch." Thanks to Chris Hannah for sharing the challenge and Jeff Perry for organizing it!

Header photo by Tadeusz Lakota on Unsplash

Picture of Jimi Hendrix from Wikipedia.