A decrease in leather-band watches in the general public?

[stockjock1975]

The other day I was having lunch at a local pub. Being the typical WIS I never miss an opportunity to scan the room and gander at the watches on the wrists of others. Lately I seem to have noticed a trend: most people no longer wear watches on leather, but instead have gone to more sporty, stainless steel band watches.

Perhaps my unscientific poll has misled me. But I just have been noticing the lack of watches being worn on leather bands lately and instead going the way of the typical stainless steel band sport watch. Please don’t misunderstand the point of this post. This is not a “which is better” type of message, but instead I’m just curious why the population seems to have moved away from, or perhaps more aptly, moved TO full stainless steel watches?

As I think more about this question, I begin to wonder if leather band watches like my Patek Calatrava (see picture below) are now considered too old-fashioned and out of style? Is it perhaps no longer “cool” to wear a classic watch? Taking the example one step further, have traditional watches on leather straps gone the way of bell-bottom pants, cassette tapes, and the VCR?

At the end of the day, we all wear what makes us smile. I just long for the day when watches on leather was the norm and not the exception. Anyone else agree? I look forward to your thoughts and comments.