Numerous reviews of the Apple Watch pay very little attention to the topic of ergonomics of this device, and in fact the physical interaction with the gadget worn on the body is no less important than the mental one. As it turned out, Apple has provided at least one non-obvious possibility to facilitate the work with the clock.

The first inconvenience to using the Apple Watch that I noticed was related to the digital crown. It turned out that pressing the crown of a watch worn on the left hand requires a rather awkward position of the index finger of the right hand. And an attempt to press the crown without using an additional finger to fix the watch leads to the fact that their strap turns out very inconveniently. If you try to hold the watch with your thumb, you will certainly touch the screen with it.

Luckily, I’ve been digging around in the clock settings long enough to remember the weird «Clock Position» item in «General». The choice of hand to wear the watch was so obvious that the ability to change the position of the digital crown seemed pointless — exactly until the moment I tried it.

I did not touch the wrist setting, but changed the position of the digital crown to the position on the left (by default it is on the right). This is how my watch looks after changing the settings:

I call this orientation «inverted crown»

With any changes in ergonomics, it makes sense to give yourself a few days to get used to the new conditions. I decided to wait three days before drawing conclusions.

I can say that my first reaction was positive: I could use my thumb to press the crown and still hold the watch with my index finger. This is useful considering that phones have already taught us to use our thumb as a quick navigation tool.

Another advantage of this arrangement of the crown is that speaker and microphone are now closer to the face, when you raise your hand. In this arrangement, sounds are much better heard, and Siri recognizes speech better. It will be especially interesting to check how it works in the cold season, when we wear warm winter jackets.

Inverted crown it became convenient to use the thumb to scroll. At first I was afraid that the hand would block the screen, but the watch display fits perfectly in the space between the thumb and forefinger:

With the thumb on the crown, the index finger is also in a convenient place for tapping or scrolling on the screen.

Apple never adds customizations without a good reason. And the ability to choose the position of the digital crown suggests that someone in the company knew there was a more ergonomic option.

But this option also goes against the watch world’s accepted standards, and Apple’s desire to make a visually appealing device took precedence over ergonomics. I’m the first to admit that a watch with an «inverted crown» looks strange.

Luckily, Apple has left us with a choice between looks and usability. It’s been a few weeks since I changed the settings, and so far I haven’t even thought about putting everything back. Try it too! [furbo]