By Luke Benedictus
Left-handed people have endured a notoriously bum deal throughout history. The condition has been deemed symptomatic of a range of evils from neurosis to the mark of the devil. Practical challenges for lefties include using scissors (awkward), dispatching handshakes (weaker) and writing with pens (smudgy). Studies, meanwhile, suggest that southpaws earn less, have lower-quality sleep and are at increased risk of finger amputation when using heavy machinery.
Winding the crown on the right-hand side is awkward for the 10 per cent of the population who are left-handed.Credit: Getty Images
This cultural persecution also extends to watch-wearing. The reason people traditionally strap their watch onto their left wrist is purely for the convenience of the right-handed. If you’re part of this majority – which makes up about 90 per cent of the population – your right hand tends to be busier (not like that). Wearing your watch on this dominant hand therefore increases your likelihood of scratching or damaging it, while if you still write with a fountain pen, you face a higher risk of getting ink on the strap. It’s also far more convenient to check the time on your left wrist without stopping whatever it is you’re doing (seriously, again?). As a result of all this, a watch usually bears its crown on the right side of the case to allow right-handed people to quickly change the time or wind their watch without removing it.
Thankfully, lefties increasingly have an alternative option with the rise in destro watches. Designed to be worn on the right wrist (destro is Italian for “right”), they’re made with the crown on the left-hand side of the case to make it easier for this maligned cohort to twiddle using their dominant hand.
In the past, most destros had to be specially custom-ordered, which tended to make them pricier but also more rare and collectible. Today they’re becoming more common, with many watch brands now pushing this sinister agenda by releasing standard-issue destros to extend the ergonomic and practical benefits to all. In this new age of horological tolerance, it seems the right wrist is no longer the wrong choice. Even if it remains a potential hallmark of Satanic possession.
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