The only remaining reasons to wear a wristwatch are habit and status. Though obsolete, a wristwatch still conveys an old-school reliability. Businesspeople wear them for the same reason they still wear ties. and for the same reason banks still have big steel vaults even though money is now just digital information. It's iconic theater. A wristwatch says, "I'm important." And a bare wrist says, "I'm too hip and intelligent to buy into obsolete status symbols."

All those bare wrists represent a huge opportunity for both gadget makers and gadget fans to put something else there. A wild new world of wrist-based electronics has recently emerged. Here are some of the most innovative, cool and useful new wrist toys you can buy not "someday" or "eventually," but right now:

Thanko FMP3 Watch

A rugged new wristwatch from Japan's Thanko is an MP3 player and FM radio, which you listen to with the included earbuds. The watch recharges and enables song transfers via a USB connector. The concept isn't new, but the ruggedized styling and 1GB storage capacity are unprecedented.

MP4 Watch