You can check it for free on any mobile phone and passers-by are always willing to tell you if you ask nicely.
But if you have a spare £230,000 going then you could always tell the time with this Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner wristwatch.
The timepiece, which was made in 1965, went under the auction hammer today and was expected to fetch £7-8,000.
Luxury timepiece: This 1965 Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner wristwatch went under the auction hammer on Thursday and sold for a whopping £230,000, almost 30 times the amount it was expected to sell for
But its rare orange numerals helped it go for around 30 times that amount.
Around 100 online bidders took part in the sale at Lockdales Auctioneers in Martlesham Heath, near Ipswich in Suffolk, as well as several on telephones and others who turned up in person.
The successful bidder was an Italian collector who outbid a number of international rivals – paying the highest price ever recorded in the UK for one of the diving watches.
Auctioneer Chris Elmy said: ‘The Rolex was a record-breaking price for us.
Record-breaking: Auctioneer Chris Elmy (pictured) it was the highest price thee auctioneers had achieved so far since they began auctioneering in 1996
‘It’s the highest price we have achieved so far since we began auctioneering in 1996.
‘When the lot went under the hammer, over 100 bidders took part online.
‘There were ten telephone lines booked and the room bidders included some who had flown over from Italy, America and Holland.
‘The eventual buyer was an Italian who attended the auction in person.’
The sought-after item nearly saw its time run out a few years ago when the owner dropped it into a cement mixer in a freak accident after it fell off his wrist.
Luckily, he managed to fish it out and no damage was done.
The successful bidder, who wasn’t named, said the watch was unusually valuable not just because of its orange numerals but also because it is in such a good condition.
The successful Italian bidder, who wasn’t named, said the watch was unusually valuable not just because of its orange numerals but also because it is in such a good condition
Submariners have been built since 1953 and went on sale the following year.
They have featured in a number of James Bond movies including Dr No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Live and Let Die and Licence to Kill.
From GoldenEye onwards, Bond wore Omega watches.
As the name suggests, they were popular with divers but also became a mass market product.
Early models were water resistant to 660ft but they are now capable of withstanding depths of up to 1000ft.
A heavy-duty steel version of the Submariner, called the Sea-Dweller and later the DeepSea Sea-Dweller, was introduced from 1971. It was waterproof to 4,000ft and used a helium escape valve when decompressing.
A perpetual motor in the self-winding mechanism enable to watch to run continuously as even slight movements of the wrist wind the movement.