Well, the kind of work I did when I worked with my hands was dangerous enough that I couldn't wear a watch if I wanted to. Especially not a dressy watch with pins and links and little metal parts that could theoretically fall out; I was an aircraft mechanic on the flight line in the Navy, and jewelry mishaps could endanger not only me but our jets and our pilots (even small bits of metal can destroy aircraft if they end up in the wrong place).
Didn't stop me, or anyone else, from wearing what we wanted outside of work. I'm not the sort of person who always dresses like I just got off work and wandered straight to the bar in my greasy coveralls. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it wouldn't get me laid (as a woman or a gay guy...even gay military/workingman fantasies don't involve actual hydraulic fluid and jet fuel)