Mired in high unemployment, a credit downgrade and fears of a double-dip recession, the United States seems in desperate need of a break. So young Americans, normally caught up in the moment and in the new and now, are indulging in a little bit of nostalgia.

For a generation steeped in glowing LCD screens, analog is now au courant as men in their 20s and 30s are drawn to the wristwatch's retro appeal after having cast it aside for a cellphone. "Right now there is no clearer indication of cool than wearing a watch," Michael Williams, 32, who runs the blog A Continuous Lean, told The Times. These men are buying vintage Rolexes, IWCs and Omega Speedmasters.

"A cool machine that is all moving parts has got to be intrinsically interesting to someone born into this generation, because there's just nothing like that in their life," Mitch Greenblat, a founder of Watchismo, a California online retailer of watches, told The Times.

J. Crew sells traditional Timexes, and American Apparel is betting that Generation Y consumers - too young to remember when MTV played videos and V.J.s were celebrities - will covet the Casios and Seikos of that era.

For those who do remember, MTV turned 30 this year, and it's also reminiscing. In July, it brought back one of its signature 1980s-'90s shows called "120 Minutes," which was dedicated to alternative music. It now mixes in old videos from Pearl Jam and Radiohead with clips from newer bands.

The show's revival is part of a broader nostalgia wave at Viacom properties, wrote The Times. Teen Nick started showing early '90s sitcoms; in the fall, VH1 will bring back "Pop Up Video," which went on the air in 1996; and MTV will feature new episodes of "Beavis and Butt-Head," which made its debut in 1993.

A yearning for the grunge years was also lighting up the Web in what the fashion world called one of the most anticipated comings of age in recent pop cultural history, that of Frances Bean Cobain, daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. A series of sultry black-and-white photos of Ms. Cobain, now 19, caused a stir when the photographer Hedi Slimane recently posted them.

"Her intense, pale stare hauntingly recalls her brilliant but troubled father, front man for Nirvana, who committed suicide in 1994, when she wasn't yet 2," wrote The Times. September 24 will be the 20th anniversary of "Nevermind," Nirvana's breakthrough album, which has sold more than 30 million copies.

Some are going way back, to the turn of the 20th century, craving a simpler and sweeter time when the choice was between an ice cream soda or egg cream. Young, modern soda jerks are updating the soda fountain for their own generation with seasonal, local and house-made ingredients.

Ryan and Eric Berley, brothers in their 30s and owners of the Franklin Fountain in Philadelphia, make the Maple Leaf Rag sundae, a homage to Scott Joplin's 1899 composition, with maple syrup, walnuts, pineapple and banana ice cream, The Times reported. Peter Freeman, 34, opened the Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain last year, envisioning it as a local hangout and market for artisans. He says he does not want to run a retro restaurant selling nostalgia without content.

Perhaps for this generation, the presence of the past is indeed of-the-moment. "When the older people come in here and start talking about the sodas they used to get, I almost want to say, 'I don't care about your memories,'" Mr. Freeman told The Times. "Don't screw this up for these kids by putting it in the past. This is happening now."

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(China Daily 08/28/2011 page9)