When I was in grade school, a sign of status and importance among the students was whether you owned a watch. During that time (the 1960’s), watches were expensive and most parents didn’t see the need for a young student to have a watch. The rule in the home I grew up in was that unless we received a watch as a gift from a relative or bought our own, we had to wait until we were in 8th grade before our parents would buy us a watch.