A billionaire’s watch is back, but it’s not for time
Mark Cuban’s Apple Watch tracks data, not time, proving even freedom has its metrics.
The story
Mark Cuban removed his watch after becoming a millionaire to symbolize control over his own time, but now uses an Apple Watch for health data rather than timekeeping.
Source: fortune.com
Our reading
Mark Cuban took off his watch when he became a millionaire, not to measure time but to reject the idea of working for someone else’s clock. Now he wears an Apple Watch, but it’s not for timekeeping—it’s for data. The same man who once swore off watches now uses one to track his heart rate, sleep, and steps, proving that even a man who wants to control his time can’t escape the modern obsession with quantification.
His Apple Watch doesn’t tell him what time it is, but it does tell him how much he’s moving. The irony is that he’s still measuring something, just not in the way he once rejected. The watch is no longer a symbol of servitude, but it’s still a tool for control—just a different kind.
So Cuban’s watch is back, but now it’s not about time. It’s about data. And maybe, just maybe, he’s still trying to control something, even if it’s not his own time anymore.
