Time will tell

It's funny how technology can destroy and create trends. Like fashion, sometimes it can even bring them back from the dead. Consider the pocketwatch.

A small device carried in the pocket used to tell time.

Sounds like a cell phone to me. I know maybe one or two people that still wear wrist watches, but nearly everyone I know has a cell phone. Ask them for the time, and that's where they'd check. Don't count on seeing the little chains anytime soon, though.