FGD135
I am sure you are absolutely right, your analogy of the watch is a very good one. Many years ago I did some work with Boeing when they were evaluating PFD displays during the design stage for the 747-400. We had to fly several complicated procedures using various displays - some with tapes and some with round dials. Provided the scaling was right they were all flyable but I much preferred the old round dials, particularly for airspeed.
The problem I had was to try to decide how much of my preference was due to familiarity with round dials (which I had flown throughout my career) rather than the fact that they were better for the reasons FGD135 has stated.
I believe FGD135 to be correct.