Being able to tell the time as an adult feels like a skill we've been born with.
Yet if you cast your mind through the decades back to primary school, one might recall the stress of distinguishing between telling the time on an analogue clock and a digital one.
After all, we had just learned numeracy. Then, we were tasked with the seemingly impossible notion of adding and subtracting a mixture of big and little numbers to solve the equation of when lunchtime is supposed to be. Big hand this, little hand that - isn’t it just when we’re hungry?
Telling the time is an essential life skill, even in the digital age when just the flash of your phone will tell you all you need to know.
For growing children, ensuring a watch is comfortably strapped to their wrist all day will teach them the importance to time management, not to mention how short a day really is.
From timing mock exams and getting to after-school clubs to being in no doubt of their curfew, an analogue or digital watch will also stop kids from constantly checking a smartphone and getting distracted by whatever's ding the round on TikTok.
What’s more, if you’ve found that your child simply can’t leave your smartwatch alone, there are plenty of hi-tech options that allow kids to track their steps, sleep and even play old-school games.
Best watches for boys at a glance
- Best for first-timers: Swatch Retro Blue Flik Flak - £40, Swatch
- Best for educational: Kiddus Educational Watch for Children - £26.95, Amazon
- Best for cool colour: Ravel Children's Time Teacher Watch - £8.97, Amazon
- Best for child's play: VTech KidiZoom DX2 - £39.90, Amazon
- Best for sports: Casio Retro Blue Resin Strap Watch - £14.99, Argos
- Best for Marvel fans: GARMIN vivofit jr. 3 Kid's Activity Tracker - £79.99, Currys
- Best for stealth teaching: Minecraft Children's Black Silicone Strap Watch - £19.99, H. Samuel
- Best for pre-teen investment: Boy's Casio Quartz Watch Dial Analogue Display - £42.78, Amazon
- Best for swimming lessons: Slouthcloud Kids Smart Watch for Boys - £35.99, Amazon
- Best for cool points: Pokémon Boy's Digital Quartz Watch - £9.99, Amazon
Not only might the addition of a child-friendly smartwatch get your kids up and running around the park to see who can complete the most steps, but it’ll also keep their little paws off of your own, more expensive tech.
Keep scrolling for a round-up of the best watches for boys, from practical digital options and first-time analogue styles to smartwatches.
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Swatch Retro Blue Flik Flak
Best for: first-timers
Has your child already cultivated an enviable knack for style? If they binge-watched Stranger Things and decided they absolutely needed to replicate that ultra-cool 80’s aesthetic? If so, they’ll be delighted with Swatch’s analogue design.
The Flik Flak watch from the Swiss expert has been specifically designed for kids and comes in an array of designs if this retro style isn’t quite suitable. It’s also personalisable – so if you’re buying multiple watches for all your kids, you can get different options for each one.
Buy now £40.00, Swatch
Kiddus Educational Watch for Children
Best for: educational
A beginner’s option for the child who’s still learning, the Kiddus Educational watch is a brilliant aid. Featuring all the minute numbers as well as a reminder of which hand is which, this starter watch will help your child make telling the time entirely second nature.
Plus, the comfortable snag-free rubber strap comes with eight adjustment holes to fit the smallest of wrists.
Buy now £26.95, Amazon
Ravel Children's Time Teacher Watch
Best for: cool colour
Available in an array of design styles, this educational watch makes time-telling fun. The face splits the dial in half, with one side denoting the 'to' numbers and the other marking out the 'past' figures. So as well as knowing the time, your child will become more sophisticated at saying it out loud, raising their confidence.
Buy now £8.97, Amazon
VTech KidiZoom DX2
Best for: child's play
Slightly more of a toy than a smartwatch but great fun for younger children, the VTech KidiZoom DX2 comes with a variety of fun motion sensor games that encourage kids to get up and move around - counting steps using an inbuilt pedometer.
Simple to use, the KidiZoom DX2 comes with a large, vivid full-colour touchscreen and menus that are intuitive and easy to navigate, sliding between options before pressing to select their choice.
Using the interactive Time Master app, children can learn to tell the time in both analogue and digital clock faces whilst the Monster Detector app allows them to track monsters in their home or garden using augmented reality (think Pokemon Go style).
Using the built-in dual cameras, children will absolutely love taking photos and selfies before adding cool stickers and effects. With an internal 256MB memory, they can save them up and then with help, transfer them to a computer via USB.
With an alarm, timer and stopwatch, the DX2 has some practical yet fun functionality and offers great entertainment for long journeys, however like many of the younger smartwatch models, it is fairly bulky with a tendency to catch on coats and jackets.
Buy now £39.90, Amazon
Casio Retro Blue Resin Strap Watch
Best for: sports
This stylish bright blue timepiece comes equipped with a fancy backlight, day and date display, alarm and even a stopwatch feature if your kiddo is a regular park racer. These hardy digital watches from Casio are water-resistant and battery-operated, though you’ll find that the battery is able to last what feels like a lifetime before replacing.
Buy now £14.99, Argos
GARMIN vivofit jr. 3 Kid's Activity Tracker - Marvel Iron Man, Adjustable Band
Best for: Marvel fans
Another fantastic smart-watch from Garmin, and this time for the kiddos. A far simpler model than your usual smart-watch, this superhero inspired design solely tracks steps and sleep.
Kids unlock new adventures on the daily as they reach their 60-minute activity goals, inspiring them to stay active. You can also download the Garmin Jr. app to see your child’s acitivity, sleep and more.
Buy now £79.99, Currys
Minecraft Children's Black Silicone Strap Watch
Best for: stealth teaching
Got a Minecraft maniac on your hands? There's no better way of encouraging them to learn telling the time than by dangling this particular carrot in front of them. Themed on the wildly popular game, this analogue design offers helpful assistance with a clear, easy-to-read dial and 'hour' and 'minute' markings on the hands.
When it's time, upgrade to a digital model.
Buy now £19.99, H. Samuel
Boy's Casio Quartz Watch Dial Analogue Display
Best for: pre-teen investment
This luxurious-looking watch is a value for money option that, while mimicking the appearance of mum and dad’s fancy watches, won’t be a devastating loss if it goes missing. With extra large numbers in bright white to contrast the deep black background, this is a fantastic watch for 7–9-year-olds who have mastered the art of digital time telling and are ready to move on to the next level.
Buy now £42.78, Amazon
Slouthcloud Kids Smart Watch for Boys
Best for: swimming lessons
A winning option for sporty types, this inexpensive smartwatch from Slouthcloud offers activity tracker features, meaning they - and you - can see exactly how hard they worked in their last PE class.
It's also waterproof with an IP68 rating, so no need to worry about them forgetting to take it off before swimming lessons.
You'll need to download an app to see all the stats, so this is best suited to older kids who already own a smartphone.
Buy now £35.99, Amazon
Pokémon Boy's Digital Quartz Watch with Silicone Strap POK4322
Best for: cool points
Prepare to be the envy of the schoolyard with this watch, themed on the phenomenally popular Pokémon series. A printed silicone strap anchors an LED display which flashes big and bright figures to make time-telling a breeze.
Buy now £9.99, Amazon
