Male Jewelry
Posted on March 25, 2007 Posted by John Scalzi 122 Comments
Just out of curiosity, and for the guys (although women can answer as well, about guys they know): How much jewelry do you wear and why?
I ask because I myself wear only my wedding band, and really have no interest in wearing any other jewelry, nor ever really have: No class ring, no earrings, generally no pins either (I put my Hugo pin on my suit lapel during the ceremony, because it seemed appropriate to do so at the time, but otherwise kept it on my LACon IV badge).
I think the acceptability of male jewelry comes and goes, but as I don’t really wear it myself, I have no idea where we are in the cycle at the moment. Any thoughts about that would be appreciated, too.
Wedding band, and that’s it. I hate being encumbered by “extra stuff” on my person, including watches, coins, big bunches of keys, etc. I wouldn’t even carry a phone if I didn’t have to, but at least it makes a watch unnecessary.
The only kind of jewelery that I wear would be my wedding band. But I do not wear it all the time. I do not wear it at work where I am an electrician. That would be bad.
I have my wedding ring (custom build BTW), and a steel ring on my right hand (it’s like a permanent string on my finger to remind me to “lighten up, Francis.”). Sometimes I wear another ring to honor a writing mentor of mine (a hematite ring). I also occasionally wear an medallion (pewter trisckle), but that’s under my shirt.
When I was younger I wore an earband.
I wear a string (its a long story. it has sentimental value), a bracelet for the ONE campaign, a sweatband, and a watch. And a Jewish Star necklace. And, when doing homework, I wear Mardi Gras beads.
Well, I used to shun jewelry as a young man, but I seem to have picked up a few bits here and there. I wear a St. Dominick medallion, in honor of my grandfather. And I wear a claddagh (I think I spelled that correctly) ring on my right hand, and a Celtic knot band on my left, both gifts from my sister. And that’s about the extent of it. And while I’m at work, banging away at the keyboard, I take the two bands off, because I find them cumbersome.
An engagement ring on the one hand, and my high school graduation ring on the other. The fianceé says she wouldn’t mind me with more jewelry (especially earrings :P), but I never really got into the habit.
Just my wedding ring. I used to wear my high school class ring, but I lost it somewhere at the Weyburn Inland Grain Terminal when I worked there one summer (if you ever find a silver ring with a green stone in it in your bread, it’s mine). Then I wore my college class ring for a while, but lost it on a vacation to Orlando. (I think the Mouse stole it.) It’s actually quite amazing to me that I’ve managed not to lose my wedding ring in ten years.
My husband wears his Canadian engineering ring and that’s about it. We’re still working on our wedding ring designs, years after the City Hall ceremony. We’ll get there.
Wedding band, and a steel band on my right ring finger that I used to wear on my left ring finger when we were in a committed relationship that was not yet sanctioned by the State.
I’ve got one large golden earring (not one of those big “Hello, I’m a prostitute” hoops, but one about an inch across and a bit under half an inch wide) in each ear. But I’ve had those for more than ten years so I neither know nor care whether they’re fashionable right now.
I’ve also been wearing some India-bracelet-type bangles on my right wrist for some years now because, frankly, have you ever tried getting bangles off over big fat man hands? I’d have to cut ’em off and they have some minor sentimental value, so they’re staying until there’s some pressing need to take them off.
Oh, and I’ve got a matched pair of gold/black necklace chain things that I wear with some outfits, one little and one large. They’re the kind with black thread running around the groove of a twisted gold chain, so you get like a spiral thing going on.
I don’t wear jewelry. I’ll wear a wedding band if I ever get there…
It’s trendy in the hipster douche-bag community to wear a couple steel/titanium/platinum bands. I always want to hit those guys in the head with a frozen tuna fish.
Nothing.
I have destroyed two wedding rings doing Kendo (a long time hobby), so now the wedding ring stays safely in a box on my dresser.
By the way, breaking wedding rings doesn’t seem to make the gals as upset as losing them (which meant you had to take it off, to lose it in the first place). I think she’s just happy I haven’t had my teeth knocked in yet.
I wear my wedding ring, and an earring. I got the earring when I was 19, and have now had it for 20 years. I pretty much don’t even think about it. I’ll swap it out for a different one every 3 years or so.
Wedding band, and occasionally a wristwatch.
In 1989, I wore a silver neck chain that my then-girlfriend gave me, but that habit did not outlast the relationship.
My husband wears only his wedding band and plain Timex watch.
My son wears jewelry on his kilt to keep the front apron down. If it’s functional, is it jewelry?
Wedding ring. Big stainless steel earring. Several other bits you don’t want to hear about.
About 15 years ago, I was working on “Made in America” in Berkeley, CA. We’re on the street one day and the set dressing included all sorts of vendor kiosks on the sidewalk. One of them was a “Get your ears pierced” booth.
The director’s assistant walked up to me while I had my cell phone to my left ear and tells me to move it to my right ear. Then this lady who’s with her holds up some device to my left ear and WHAMMMO! I have an earring. I’ve worn a small gold hoop ever since. For formal occasions I have another that looks like a porpoise leaping through my earlobe.
No wedding ring, but my girlfriend has ideas on changing that.
I’ve always worn a watch. And up until recently, I’ve only worn my wedding band. On our 30th Anniversary, my wife gave me a ring. So now I wear that on my right hand.
My husband wears a wedding band and a watch. I wouldn’t have thought of a watch as jewelry, but then someone else mentioned it. I don’t think he even owns any jewelry beyond the ring and the watch.
Wedding ring on my finger and a celtic cross (with triquetra) on a silver chain around my neck. But the cross stays under my shirt, except rarely at church.
Wedding band only. I’ve carried a pocket watch since high school, except for two months in 1993 when I wore a Jack Skellington watch from Burger King. It had a great spiderweb-pattern band. I bought a class ring but wore it intermittently for less than a year.
As for the other question, I’m a terrible prognosticator of fashion and would expect the trend to go immediately in the opposite direction of the one I’d call. I once thought referee shirts would make a fun statement; no one agreed. With jewelry, I think less is more. I have a personal aversion to piercings (and tattoos and flip-flops, for the record). Again, few seem to agree with me. Which, on reflection, is probably for the best.
My husband doesn’t wear any jewelry, including a wedding band or watch. He finds jewelry in general annoying. (It’s also not safe around power tools, and rings are uncomfortable if you forget to take them off before weightlifting.)
Aside from a belly ring, though, I rarely wear jewelry of any kind either.
I wear a wrist-watch, and that’s for utilitarian value.
Wedding band and and sometimes a subdued gold and silver Naval Officer’s ring on my right ring finger. My wife gave me the Officer’s ring when I was commissioned after 16 years enlisted service. Since the ring has great sentimental value (and monetary value too, she had it custom designed by a jeweler in D.C) I only wear it when there’s no chance of loosing or damaging it. My family and friends gave me a custom made Naval Warrant Officer’s sword, made by the Toledo Knifeworks in Spain (Sword maker to Kings!), I’ve worn that exactly twice, but I guess a sword doesn’t really count a jewelery.
I never had much use for jewelery, I spend a lot of time in the wood shop, jewelery is a good way to get things ripped off you body by machinery.
On my right hand I wear two celtic-style bands, one on my middle finger, one on my pinky. On my left hand, I wear a torc-style ring which consists of two celtic dragons staring at each other.
When I get married in a few months, I’m going to stop wearing the dragons on my left hand, and just wear my wedding band on my left ring finger. I might stop wearing my pinky celtic ring, but I can’t stop wearing my ring on my middle finger, at least without heavy equipment. I tried it on in the store, and my knuckles are a little large, and it was just the perfect size, and when I tried it on, I couldn’t get it back off. Nothing can get the ring off – I’ve tried oil and soap and both cold and warm water. Fortunately, I like it, and I was probably going to buy it anyway, but it does make going through security difficult sometime.
K
My beloved wears the wedding ring and an anklet that served as a wedding ring before we could get married.
Other than that, his weakness is for cufflinks, but I don’t know whether they count as jewellery. They are an lazy present option for people who couldn’t be bothered to think about it, though in that much they do count.
Nuthin’. Since I’m not married, not even a wedding ring. And I can’t stand wearing wristwatches. Nope, no jewelry for me.
Nuthin’. Since I’m not married, not even a wedding ring. And I can’t stand wearing wristwatches. Nope, no jewelry for me.
Watch, earrings, and a (non-wedding) ring. When I’m racing, I wear my good luck charm around my neck. I’ve got enough tattoos where I don’t feel the need to wear a ton of metal. :-)
I don’t wear anything, and generally don’t like jewelery (including on women, although not to the extent that I care enough to make a big deal of it). I used to wear a watch, but then I got an iPod which I carry around all the time anyway. I could see wearing a wedding ring, but other than that nothing I’ve ever seen appeals to me enough to be worth the hassle.
I wear my wedding band on my left ring finger, a ring that belong to my grandfather on my right ring finger, and a watch. That’s it. My Hugo pins reside on a badge holder that I wear at cons.
I only wear my wedding band, and I used to make jewelry in high school. I occasionally sport a tie-tack for keeping the damn thing out of the soup.
I wore an old Hmong bracelet for years, but finally put it away. These days I wear a plain gold wedding ring and that’s all I’ll ever wear.
I do carry a pocket watch and have several, including my father’s old railroad watch. He was a fireman for a while, back when they were coal-fired.
Two surgical stainless hoops in one ear (pierced since 25+ years ago), one surgical stainless hoop in nostril (pierced approx. 10 years). Sometimes when I’m feeling festive, a silver celtic-knotwork thumb ring. Glasses (like another commenter, I feel ambiguous about whether functional items count). No watch.
I own several other rings, but don’t wear them much.
My observation on public transportation in Boston is that men’s jewelry is increasingly popular with all ages. Growing up, men tended to not wear jewelry of any kind–it is dangerous when working with farm equipment. So it’s kind of funny to see older ethnic (macho) men with gold wedding bands–with precious stones in them! And (at 47) I must say it still seems a little funny to see men older than I with an earring. So call me ageist.
Wedding band and a watch (if that counts) and that’s it. Anything else would be too much to keep track of. ;-)
I wear my wedding band, which was designed for us by a friend with a interesting ivy pattern on the platinum. Other than that, when I can afford it I consider my glasses a form of jewelry and have had two or three pairs to interchange. I also like nice watches. I’ve got a facsimile Russian sub commander watch and a very interesting rectangular Toykoboy watch.
But, if it isn’t *functional* first, I’m not interested in it as “jewelry”. But if it’s something I have to wear anyway, I prefer it to be as unique as possible.
JeffV
A wedding band on my left hand, and that’s it. I wore dog tags while I was still doing the “weekend a month” thing, but I’m not sure that counts, as such.
I’ve got a “The Phantom” skull ring that came with a comic-book… but I never find a proper occasion to wear it.
Not even my wedding band. Gold and silver jewelry give me a rash, oddly enough. Found that out the hard way when I had my ear pierced, but I thought it was more of an internal thing than a skin thing at the time.
I was a cheapskate in high school so I passed on the gold ring and got the “ultrium” version. Never got a rash from that.
I also have to make sure I only get titanium frames for my eyeglasses.
I suppose I could get some kind of titanium wedding ring, but I’ve never been one to wear jewelry anyway.
My husband wears a watch and a wedding band. He owns cufflinks but no shirt that needs them, and we’ve discussed but not purchased tie clips.
I wear my wedding and engagement rings on my left ring finger and a silver and turquoise ring (gift from my mother) on the right. And a Timex. When I get dressed up, I’ll add either a pin or a necklace.
My husband wears his wedding ring, a hematite or silver necklace, either a chain mail bracelet or a leather cuff, and a watch. Which reminds me that I’ve been promising to make him a new necklace for months now, and it still hasn’t happened. :P
I wear as much as I can carry out of the store.
That said…
I wear my platinum wedding band, which I love. I wear a silver ring made by one of our students, a gifted jeweler named Pamela Bosco. It’s of an old Roman design, is one single loop of metal and is awesome. Oh, no need to google her, cuz here’s her site!
I also wear some stuff on a chain around my neck. A feng shui medallion for warding off EMI and stuff; a coptic cross because I like it; and a lil’ pendant of Ganesha, because he’s way cool AND he’s the remover of obstacle AND he’s the Hindu god of computerized stuff.
Also some earrings every so often. When I can find them and when my ears aren’t sore from them.
My brother wears ear cuffs– sometimes two or three at a time. He could probably get a cartiledge piercing and just do normal earings, but I don’t think the idea’s occurred to him yet.
He also has a bracelet that matches a necklace my SNQIL wears. My other brother used to have a necklace with a hemetite ring on it, but I don’t know if he still wears it.
My dad’s a firefighter and an electrician, so no jewelry for him. Can’t say I blame him– I nearly swore off jewelry myself after First Responder training (EEEEEEEW! Ew Ew ew ew EEEEEW! And that’s all I have to say about that!). My parents didn’t exchange wedding rings, which isn’t terribly unusual given that they’re Quaker.
Oh, I also wear some Buddhist mala beads on my left wrist near my Timex with the busted indiglo. The beads remind me I am engaged in discipline. The watch reminds me I have to be somewhere else.
A wristwatch, always: a consequence of being so nearsighted that I can’t read the alarm clock on my nightstand from the bed. Beyond that, a captured-bead hoop in one ear and a bar through the tongue. (The acquisition of the latter led to one of the most hilarious business meetings of my life due to none of my smartass friends bothering to mention the whole “four weeks to learn to talk again” aspect of that particular piercing.) I used to wear a few other bits and bobs during my college years, but mostly can’t be bothered these days; it all sits in a box on my dresser.
My husband wears a wedding ring and usually a watch, but that’s it. We’re in agreement in our total hatred of pinky rings on men.
When we first met, he wore a crucifix on a chain around his neck – a gift from his parents. I absolutely hated it, but never mentioned my dislike (his bod, his rules). The chain went wonky a few years ago, and he had it fixed, but never put it on again.
My husband wears his wedding band, a watch, and one more silver with single stone ring on the other hand — all rings I designed and had made by a ringmaker we both really liked.
My fiancé: engagement ring only. He used to wear an earring, but now just wears the scar from it.
Me: engagement ring sans giant rock that gets in the way, 5 earrings and a navel ring. I’ve recently started wearing again a buddhist medallion that I’ve been wearing since childhood and stopped for a while. I almost always wear a necklace. I sometimes wear a thai silver thumb ring. almost everything i wear has some meaning beyond the aesthetics. Anything on hands and wrists come off if I’m doing fabrication, or playing the piano.
I am pro male jewelry, or basically, I’m pro-jewelry on other people. Because jewelry is not strictly necessary, I think it gives you something to read into and imagine about other people, even more than their functional clothes.
What about tattoos?
Chris wears his watch, but most often when he’s going out for a run or something, and needs it to time stuff.
He says he’ll wear his wedding ring, once we’re married, since he woould rather do that than face my ire. (That’s a direct quote, btw.)
Oh, and I personally think you should do a female jewelry thread too; you might get some interesting results.
I wear a cheap digital Casio watch everyday, though I have a very nice and thin solar-powered Citizen for dressy occasions. I have a great three-gold wedding band, but generally do not wear it, as I’ve gained some weight since the wedding, and it’s not comfortable at the moment. I’ll put it on when I’m at more formal events with my bride.
Just a Timex Ironman watch with a black band. Wedding ring was inconsistent with spending days fooling around with stuff designed to blow things up – although I admit that since I had never worn jewelry that wearing the ring bugged the crap out of me until I found a straight face reason not to. Never been an issue with my wife in 38 years.
Wedding band in the usual place, and on the other ring finger a Hawaiian Sweetheart ring that we bought from a street vendor in Honolulu on our honeymoon.
Let’s see…. Copper bracelet I made myself and hematite bead bracelet that the LOML made for me and a a plume agate on a neck chain to remind me that I need to stay sober. All have particular meanings to me and remind me to not be an asshole!
Not sure I consider a watch jewelry — utilitarian as it is – though I haven’t worn one for about ten years. My cellphone’s all I need now, and I went several years without knowing what time it was.
I wear a religious necklace I’ve worn non-stop for 25 years (since age 13). I removed it once so I could replace the ‘chai’ at the end of the necklace with a mezuzzah.
Hopefully I’ll wear a wedding band someday, but if you do the math in the paragraph above, time’s passing.
Hubby wears a wedding ring. That’s it. If I hadn’t brought it up at the time of the wedding, I don’t’ think even that would have occurred to him.
I make up for it, though. I’m a veritable Christmas tree. I currently wear eight rings on my fingers (okay, seven, if you count the grandparents’ wedding rings which I have had joined into an interlocking band as one ring), a bracelet, two chains around my neck with two pendants on each, and an anklet. I currently am not wearing earrings, but those go in too if I’m going out.
Hubby thinks I’m nuts. “Rocks,” he says, shaking his head at my diamonds.
But one of my rings is a heart-shaped diamond which HE gave me. So go figure.
More than most of my friends, as it happens: red gold wedding ring, which was made from a cast of the (silver) knot ring on my right ring finger; and a gold chain that I received for my 21st and has been taken of only once – on the first date with my now-wife, to place upon it one of her rings. She thought she was getting it back :).
I do get asked, quite frequently, why I have a ring around my neck; but I like the story, so don’t mind.
Heavens, you mean that you don’t wear the Campbell Tiara????
Four pieces, counting the watch.Tomorrow I’ll have been wearing the wedding ring for thirty-five years, so that’s to brag. Lately, though, I also brag by taking it off for a few seconds. A year ago I weighed thirty pounds more and couldn’t do that. Gave my wife a little extra security.Also a medium weight gold chain around my neck that I bought with my first performance bonus. The idea came from John Wayne in The Sea Chase.Then there’s another heavier chain on my wrist that was an anniversary gift from my wife and means nearly as much as the ring. Despite the chains, nobody has mistaken me for a used car salesman. Well, except when I was trying to sell my used car.The watch is not very expensive, but I like it enough functionally and aesthetically to think it will be the last one I own.
IMHO (which I know I’ll catch grief for) I’ve always been wary of guys who wear a lot of jewelry such as chains & pinkie rings. As a single person, I’ve found that those who wear a lot of jewelry turn out to be players. I’ve had better luck with those who wear a minimum of jewelry. Of course the wedding ring is a definite no-no!
::SHIELDS UP, PREPARE FOR INCOMING!!::
I don’t wear anything except for metal stuck through various pierced pieces and parts. I mean ears, tongue, nipples, and navel. Nothing goes lower than that (navel), thank you very much, because some things have just the right number of holes already.
I wear a watch and a nipple ring. I have a wonderful bracelet that my girlfriend bought me, but I don’t wear it.
1) Wedding Band
2) A Silver Ring with 3 Angels Holding a Moonstone.
No Tatoo’s.
No Ear Rings.
No Piercings.
No Watch
Not even a necklace.
Just a wedding ring. I used to wear a ring my wife gave me on my other hand, but my four year old lost it. I don’t wear watches because they seem to always break when I do.
When I was younger, I wore an earring, but tired of the habit.
My dad never wore any jewelry until I started making it. Now he wears a plain gold wedding band I made in high school and, when he’s dressing up, a pin I made for him in a college class a couple years ago.
My husband wears his wedding band, a watch and a gold ring set with diamonds that I gave him for Christmas.
My 23 year old brother has his ear pierced (diamond stud) and wears at least one gold chain.
None. I’ve always worked with my hands, and rings and other frippery would have gotten in the way. I don’t even wear a watch, because during those summer jobs the sweat and dirt would build up under the band, and I’d get these nasty cyst-things in the skin.
I do wear glasses, but only because contacts irritate my eyes to no end.
Wristwatch when the battery isn’t dead (which it is now)…
Nothing at all except a smart silver metal watch when I’m required to dress business/formal. When I marry I’ll probably have a plain platinum band but I’ll probably not wear that all the time – it would get in the way doing many sports or manual labour.
2 earrings(in the left), one necklace with pendants that I switch out periodically and one bracelet. And 3 tattoo’s if we’re counting those. Got the ear pierced 20+ years ago in HS, but stopped wearing it after a while. But when my oldest daughter got her ears pierced about 2 years ago I decided to dig mine out. And now its my job to switch out my girl’s earrings because my wife can’t do it right and she hurts them. I got the other piercing and jewelry because I wanted to have a mid-life crisis but couldn’t afford the Porsche.
I’m guessing the Campbell Tiara gets classed with the Hugo pin and only worn when appropriate?
I’m guessing the Campbell Tiara gets classed with the Hugo pin and only worn when appropriate?
Wedding band, my own custom engraved design, that isn’t the way I’d like to have it, but after reading more about rings, what I wanted probably wouldn’t work anyway… (depending on which way it’s facing, people think I’m straight, gay or lesbian. It’s the four combinations of the male and female symbols, representing twins (and almost twins) for your information
I’d like a necklace, but I haven’t bit for that yet. The only piercing I’ve ever thought of was in an ear, and then that would be a real small gold ring/wire. And that’s not really ever going to happen at this point.
A cool watch would be nice, but I seem to be hard on watches, so I use my cell for time keeping purposes.
A wedding ring and a flying-squid-and-eight-trigrams pendant I’ve worn for 14 or so years. The cord for that one changes as it wears out, but I haven’t worn a metal chain since high school.
White gold wedding band. Occasionally, I’ll wear my high school ring and a watch. Been thinking about getting a long band for my right middle finger, but it would probably only be worn a few times a year.
Wedding ring (Celtic interlace, custom made by a friend) and college class ring (hey, it’s from Yale). I used to wear a watch before cell phones took care of that. I take everything off if I’m showering, eating sloppy food, or working around moving machinery.
Wedding band, and one of about a half-dozen Skagen wristwatches. (They’re not expensive, but they are well-designed and so I have many. Yeah, it’s a fault.)
For years I wore a diamond stud in my ear. The lovely wife *hated* it. So now it comes out only on special occasions, like Christmas with her parents, that kinda thing. ;)
I have a necklace I sometimes wear. (Malachite thingy from Africa). Somehow it turned into a nervous habit to put it on before I go on a long trip, and I’ve kept it that way.
Oh, I forgot to be specific. I have three earrings in one ear (two captured-bead hoops and a simple stud) and two in the other (both captured-bead hoops), a barbell in each nipple and one in my tongue, and a crescent barbell in my navel. They’re all silver. Plus I have six tattoos.
As for what they mean, the piercings are there because I like them. It’s my body, after all, so I figure I can decorate it how I like. As for the tattoos, each means something creatively or directly–plus I love the darn things.
I doubt I’m done adding to either collection.
I didn’t wear any jewelery for years. I worked with big photo processing machines and the chemistry and wanted to avoid losing any fingers or inadvertently getting a broken neck or strangled wearing a necklace in the vicinity of lifting mechanisms.
Since my late 30s I’ve worn a thin gold necklace my twin sister gave me. In ’98 I added a gold ring that caught my eye at the Baltimore WorldCon and convinced the goldsmith to size up to fit on my right pinkie, and small gold studs in each earlobe that I gifted myself about 5 years ago.
I also wear a Black Casio watch with a velcro band- don’t like the feel of plastic nor the weight of metal watchbands. I have some other earrings I wear on special dressy occasions. I have a bunch of cool aircraft/rocket lapel pins/tie tacks that I’ve picked up at airshows but I’m not much of a tie or blazer guy so those mostly gather dust.
Wedding band.
Never trust a man that wears more gold than your mother.
Foth those whose work/hobby procludes a wedding band, I have been looking at an alternative – tattoo.
I am still vetting tattoo artists and finalizing the design, but it sure beats trying to remove rings from my oversized knuckles (thanks alot, arthritis).
Yes, tattoos are permanent, so are marriages (supposedly). I am a child of divorced parents (did so when I was rather young). Now that a son has entered our life, my wife and I have agreed that the only way out is feet first.
I wear a watch, because I like to know what time it is, and a silver ring that I got when I went to Stonehenge. I’m not normally one for jewlery, but when I was there I wanted to get something to remember it and the ring really struck my eye. Wearing a ring has grown on me, but I don’t think I’d get anything else. I mean, a ring from Stonehenge seems pretty cool, it has a good story to tell, but I don’t want to overdo it.
A silver ring with an Aztec inscription on it. That’s it.
I have an iron ring. It’s a tradition among Canadian engineers; a faceted iron ring worn on the pinky finger of your working hand. To get one, you have to participate in a ritual instituted by Rudyard Kipling, I kid you not. I had to swear an oath.
The iron ring is supposed to make you take your work seriously by calling to mind an iron bridge on the Ontario/Quebec border which repeatedly collapsed.
Since I’m not doing engineering work right now, I tend to keep it in a box on my desk. I used to wear it all the time.
Wedding band, and steel necklace w/ small cross. Neither comes off during the typical day.
Pocket watch in side pocket, with chain to belt, so that I know what time it is without inducing RSI.
That’s it.
I wear only a wedding band, and oddly enough on the right hand. I worked as a Quality Assurance Tech for many years in the CRT (TV Picture Tube) industry and had to reach back behind ‘live’ CRTs with my left hand while adjusting the magnets. (Live = running 29 to 36 thousand volts.) So I either took off the ring or wore it on the right hand. However, I lost it at one point shortly after getting married (fell down the crack in my car seat while coming home from work one night) much to my chagrin, so I simply learned to wear it on the right hand.
I used to sport an earing many years ago, but I started studying traditional Japanese martial arts and soon ditched it. And I do remove the wedding ring during class as well. (I had to smile at Christian’s Kendo story.)
So, other than the wedding ring, no jewelry. I do carry a wrist watch, but don’t actually wear it. Again, getting bitten by high voltage has a lasting affect on the learning curve.
I wear a ring (the equivalent of a wedding ring; complicated explanation elided :-) and occasionally neck jewelry that reflects my beliefs/faith. (Does a functional watch count? It wouldn’t be allowed on Shabbat under Jewish law, as it’s not decorative but merely functional.) I occasionally wear a second ring on the other hand, as it’s got great sentimental value, but its fit needs adjusting and I am not comfortable feeling it slip around (and occasionally off, when I reach into my pocket for keys or change).
My husband wears a silver celtic cross on a chain around his neck, and usually wears a wedding band. Oh, also a not-fancy watch. All three items given to him by myself.
Wedding band on the right hand (because I’m a lefty, and I don’t want to get it…dirty)
Also, my mother fell in love with an antique men’s ring on an auction website and bought it for me when I turned 18. I have to wear it on my right pinky, because that’s the only finger it’ll fit on.
So, two rings on the right hand, and occasionally a watch on the right wrist.
Wedding band, wristwatch and a chain around my neck that looks a little like barbed wire, that my wife bought for me about 10 years ago…
If functional jewelry counts I have a Penny Necktie chain that belonged to my Grandfather I wear. I gave up on watches when I moved to salary, however I still have a good one I wear to formal ocasions; other than that nothing.
I’m a bit of an anomaly among WASP men, as I wear a wedding band, and an engagement band. That’s mostly to do with the fact that my wife is an Italian Catholic, and I adopted many of her traditions when we got married. I used to wear a thin gold chain with a “corno,” or Italian Horn good luck pendant, but when the chain broke after twenty years, I never bothered to get it repaired.
i used to wear my class ring, but i stopped. and for a time i had a claddaugh (bought for me by a ladyfriend) but i also stopped that. mostly because it just seemed like “too much”. no watch either.the only think i wear now is my order of the engineer ring, which is a stainless steel pinky ring which is worn on the working hand. cuz that’s kinda cool.
oh crap. and i almost forgot: two body piercing rings in my left ear. i suppose i forgot because i don’t do anything with them. never take them out, etc. which is why i got them. stainless body rings equals no maintenance. i got them after i cut all my hair off. (used to be a long-haired freak metal head.)and i cut the hair off because i graduated from undergrad and it was time to join the working world. and i got the earrings because i didn’t wanna look like the grey flannel suited everyman.of course, now i’m in grad school and working toward a PhD. so. i suppose i didn’t quite like the working world anyway…
I wear my steel engineering ring on my right hand too. I only take it off if I actually have to do work, instead of being in the office.
Absolutely, positively no jewelry of any kind. Too many stereotypes of gold-chain wearers ingrained into my poor little impressionable brain. Thanks American movie makers, thanks a lot!
The only exception is of course my wedding ring.
My boyfriend has a little camping pocket watch he wears and that’s it. He has several lovely rings that I would love to see him wear, but he’s gained weight since he bought them over 20 years ago and can’t wear them any longer. He has no interest in any other jewelry.
I balance that out, as I am a jewelry fiend. Bare minimum are earrings (only one in each ear…so far) and necklace (though I have many of each). When I’m feeling the need to be extra decorated, I can wear the above plus up to three rings, six bracelets and a barette. Depends on the day. If I go outside the house without earrings and/or necklace? I feel naked.
I’ve worn an earring since 1972 so now I pretty much don’t feel dressed without it. Wedding band, of course. That’s it.
Wedding band.
I used to wear a class ring but I gained weight and it didn’t fit; when I lost the weight I was out of the habit.
I used to wear a watch but broke my left wrist and stopped wearing it until the cast came off; I was out of the habit by then. Cell phone, computer, and clocks fill in almost all the time.
Always wear the wedding band.
I used to always wear an earring, but the new one is uncomfortable to sleep in. I only wear it when I go out.
On special occassions I wear a leather necklace.
My watch was stolen in a Walmart parking lot back in 2001. If it comes back to me, along with the jumper cables, I’ll wear it. Otherwise, I’m good.
Wedding band, period.
Earring. Watch. I used to wear a ring that my friend made for me (yay metalsmith class), and now instead I wear a ring from Ireland my fiancee gave me.
When I’m at work, I wear the Fossil “Lord of the Rings: Silver Tree of Gondor” watch, in part because fellow geeks recognize it for what it is, everyone else think it’s just a normal watch.
On occasion, I have a WWII Polish Army ‘crowned eagle’ tie tack that I’ll wear.
When I’m doing tree-hugging, dirt-worshipper stuff, or sometimes just going out, I wear a handmade Thor’s Hammer necklace made from raw bog iron mixed with meteor iron.
I have ring claustrophobia, and don’t know what I’ll do if I ever get married.
I’m going to be the outlier in your survey. I wear a white gold ring with a blue-gray star sapphire that was my father’s all the time. I’m getting to the point where I might be wearing a simple titanium engagement ring.
I also regularly wear necklaces of various stone and glass beads. I generally forgo them when in a conservative environment, but whenever I’m out partying or at a convention I’m pretty regularly wearing at least a pride necklace. Plus the nipple rings which I got when I was feeling crazy about four years ago.
When wearing a suite cuff links are a part of the ensemble and I just bought a new tie bar.
Even when I’m camping I wear some jewelry. My hats have decorative bands made out of hematite and tiger’s eye.
My ex hubbie wore his wedding band & his handfasting necklace everyday. He also had an earring (that he rarely changed).
My current b/f has worn a special pendant on occasion, but it is not an every day thing for him.
When I was a younger man, I wore an ear ring. Gave it up when I joined the service, don’t really miss it.
Nowadays, just a wedding band – $20 silver thing with priceless sentimental value – and a St. Michael medallion on the chain with my dog tags.
Oh, and Jim: for my money the sword is a uniform item and worn infrequently enough that it shouldn’t count. In fact, I could count the number of times I’ve worn mine on one hand were it not for that unfortunate accident that last time.
Just kidding – I could stand to lose two more fingers and still be able to count the number of times I’ve worn mine. :)
When I was a younger man, I wore an ear ring. Gave it up when I joined the service, don’t really miss it.
Nowadays, just a wedding band – $20 silver thing with priceless sentimental value – and a St. Michael medallion on the chain with my dog tags.
Oh, and Jim: for my money the sword is a uniform item and worn infrequently enough that it shouldn’t count. In fact, I could count the number of times I’ve worn mine on one hand were it not for that unfortunate accident that last time.
Just kidding – I could stand to lose two more fingers and still be able to count the number of times I’ve worn mine. :)
None.
I do to many things just often enough that danglers and metal bits would be dangerous to me or the jewlery.
I wore my wedding band for the first couple of years, but when it broke (just snapped in half at dinner one evening) we never got it fixed. Has not seemed to have any affect: we finish 25 years this May.
No jewelry – nothing – but it’s because the metals make my skin change to a puke green and fibers pick up my sweat and stink. Perhaps some of the expensive stuff wouldn’t do anything but I’m too cheap to try it out and possibly have something I can’t use.
Watch.
Wedding ring – red gold (it’s the exact same color as my wife’s, which is “pink gold”.)
Two small hoop earrings, one in each ear.
As to where we are in the cycle, I wear my earrings in professional contexts, with never any comments. Of course, I also go by “Fuzzy” in professional contexts. And I’m in IT.
4 earrings/2 in each ear, 2 capture ball rings, 2 circular barbells (8 gauge). Been pierced for 20+ years. Necklace, z(cluster) chaostar pendant. Occasionally, wedding ring (custom silver, rune inscription). Occasionally, bracelet my wife gave me, odd woven-wire serpentine deal. I think it’s Indonesian. Tattoo on left inside forearm, blackwork double spiral. Funding permitting, I plan to get more ink, and also plan to expand the earring holes and put plugs in. No bigger than 3/4 inch, though. Also plan to reopen the other two holes in my left ear soonish. And maybe get my bottom lip pierced. I dunno when, though.
My wedding ring and a large, silver ring I made back in high school.
Casually, I wear a steel wristwatch, and occasionally a silver pendant with sentimental value.
When I’m dressing up, I wear a tie pin and cufflinks and occasionally a simple gold and amethyst ring that belonged to my grandfather.
The only jewelry I wear is a Ruby earring….in the left ear (following the fashion of 1985 for being a “straight” male). why?? for the only reason possible….I lost a bet to my first wife. I still think we broke even as a ruby sets me apart from other 46 year old males, and she had to get her driver’s license, which I thought she should have at the age of 21(remember — 1985). I of course took the physiological reaction of fight or flight and almost passed out when it was installed…but that’s another tale.
One Maori greenstone pendant. It’s my wedidng necklace. I had a ring from the previous marriage. It seemed right to start a new tradition.
Like many men here: A big chunky wedding band, and a wristwatch (a Seiko in an understated fake-Rolex style).
And I wear big glasses with shiny metal rims that went out of style 20 years ago, because my head’s too damn big for me to rock those little John Lennon glasses people have worn since 1990.
Gold ring with blue star sapphire on right hand. Large aviator style watch with gold and silver band that’s fancy enought to be jewelry even though functional on the left wrist.
I have a few other watches including one that belonged to my father that I wear very occasionally.
I have high school and college gold class rings (oddly, the high school one still fits my left hand ring finger but the college one does not fit any finger). Been meaning for years to get them resized (at least the college one) but never seem to get around to it.
I also have some other rings and a bracelet and necklace or two that I wear occasionally. Some of them are Star Trek or Lord of the Rings related but not obviously; just enough so that only the geeks notice and comment (a great way to make new geek friends, BTW). Somewhere I have a Bajoran ear-ring-and-cuff that I never actually wear, too.
Most commonly of all those I wear a silver cuff style bracelet with Elvish writing on it. Very low key. Stealth-geeky.
Speaking of that, back when they made us wear suits at work, I collected bunch of cool tie tacks over the years, including two or three little Star Trek combadges and IDICs and such. Those were also great geek-identifiers. To most folks they just looked like your typical abstract-design tie tack (of which I also had quite a few).
And I have one or two really nice Escher-pattern silk ties that I liked to wear so much that I’d have to consider them jewelry. They were really classy without being in-your-face “geek”, too.
Nice to be able to be geeky without scaring the mundanes.
With all the portable electronic devices I have, I guess could wear more geek jewelry too (if I really wanted to look like I was wearing a Batman Utility Belt). Cell phone, PDA, iPod, Digicam I have belt clips or holsters for all of ’em, but the only one I ever actually wear is the cell phone clip.The PDA is in the shirt pocket (where the original Palm was designed to be) and the iPod’s and camera (in belt holsters) are in the brief case, or on the desk or VERY occasionally on the belt if I’m in a situation where I want ’em with me but not where they can fall out of my pocket. Especially the PDA (a.k.a my auxiliary brain)
Oh, and I forgot, when it’s not in use (i.e. most of the time) my Bluetooth headset is in that little “watch pocket”, or whatever you call it, that’s inside the right pocket of most jeans.
It surprises me that there hasn’t been a lot more blinging-up of bluetooth headsets. It’s always seemed something that should be TURNED into a piece of jewelry….and hasn’t been. Weird.
I guess I’d have to consider the two gold Cross pens I always seem to have in my pocket “man jewelry” too. I have some silver ones too. And a bunch of Cross pens in various colors. I have a few MontBlanc and Watermans pens I’ve received as gifts or inheritances too. I wonder that no one has mentioned those…some are fancy/expensive enough to be considered such, I think.
I wear glasses, but don’t really consider them jewelry…they’re alway slim metal and understated.
Whew. Amazing how much “shiny” stuff I have on or about my person (in both the jewelry and “geeky” sense of the word “shiny”). I own a lot more, but wear very little of it.
I wear no jewelry at all no wedding band nothing !
I’m looking for a classic, clean mans ring. I understand tha t Kathy Ireland has jewrely does she have mens?
Wedding band, period.
Wedding band, and watch. I alway thought that much more than that you were just a douche….