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I’ve been wearing a wristwatch since I was a teenager. If I happen to leave home without a watch on my wrist, I feel as if I’m naked, uncomfortable. For the last ten years, I’ve been using smartwatches almost exclusively.

Three months ago, my smartwatch stopped functioning and I decided to try and live with an ordinary watch for a change. I dug out my old quartz watch, put in a new battery and set the time. The battery is still good three months later and will run for a couple years more, which is awesome compared to smartwatches. The rest of the experience was frustrating.

For several weeks my wife was constantly mad at me for missing her calls and taking hours to answer her messages. I gradually learned to react to the phone vibrating in my pocket, but I’d still miss a message now and then. And needing to reach for the phone in my pocket for everything turned out to be very annoying. Want to know whether the message that just came was important and needed a promt answer? Get the phone out. Want to switch tracks or adjust the volume? Get the phone out. Want to know whether the incoming call is from someone you know or likely another spam call? Get the phone out. Want to check when the next scheduled conference call is? Get the phone out. Get the phone out for everything!

I’ve had enough. I’m back to wearing a smartwatch now. The charging routine could be less often, of course. It could also be much more bearable, yet there’s a feature missing in every smartwatch I’ve ever used. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why, as this is the most obvious scenario.

When I’m wearing the watch, I want my phone on silent. I have all my notifications on my wrist, there’s no point in the phone beeping and buzzing. But when I take my watch off my wrist, I want my phone off the silent mode, to start beeping and buzzing again, so I don’t miss anything important. It’s so simple! Every modern watch can figure out if it is on the wrist or on the table, but even if it couldn’t: it can certainly figure out when it is being charged, and I only take it off for charging anyway. I want my phone to go off the silent mode every time I put my watch on the charger, and I want my phone to go back to silent as soon as I take the watch off the charger — really simple, right?

Impossible. No manufacturer has the feature, and not even Tasker can help. Why? No idea.

But I can handle charging the watch every now and then, even if it means switching the mode on the phone manually.

It’s worth it.