Songfacts®:

• "Wristwatch" presents a droll sketch of a boastful character who loves to flaunt his wealth, including a Buffalo beach home, a houseboat and an expensive wristwatch. At first, the boasts are comical. Who doesn't love a good yarn about someone whose possessions seem to be the glue holding their fragile ego together? But as the song unfolds, MJ Lenderman turns the screws, peeling back layers to reveal the character's aching loneliness:
  
  A wristwatch that's
  A compass and a cell phone
  And a wristwatch that
  Tells me you're all alone
  
  By the time Lenderman drops that final line, what started as a lighthearted jab morphs into something surprisingly tender: a brief yet impactful character study wrapped around the tech-laden hubris of a man trying (and failing) to buy his way into happiness.
• The inspiration for this satirical track, Lenderman told The New York Times, was Andrew Tate, the self-proclaimed "alpha male" whose unabashed bravado and dubious advice for aspiring macho men inspired him to write about the absurdity of modern masculinity. "People spend thousands of dollars thinking they can learn how to be the 'perfect man' or something," Lenderman remarked. "It's embarrassing."
• During a concert on October 14, 2023 at The Grey Eagle in his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, Lenderman introduced this song by saying: "This one's about the Apple Watch."
• Lenderman plays nearly every instrument on the track, save for the pedal steel, which is handled by his Wednesday bandmate Xandy Chelmis, and the piano, played by his pal and co-producer Alex Farrar. Another Wednesday collaborator, Karly Hartzman, contributes additional vocals.
• Released as a single from his fourth solo album, Manning Fireworks, "Wristwatch" fits snugly into an album teeming with flawed characters - deadbeats, has-beens, and men who've made a mess of things. The album title, as Lenderman explained to Uncut magazine, nods to the volatile masculinity that threads through the songs. "A lot of the songs are about characters who are f---ing up," he noted.
• Lenderman performed "Wristwatch" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, marking his solo TV debut.