My main thought is over voltage and current in micro fibers of a chip and how some think that wont destroy the circuit inside but freely admit esd from a carpet will...
ESD kills chips rather directly. There is a closed loop from electrostatically charged person to ground, flowing through a semiconductor junction. Thousands of volts is not out of the question.
With EMP - if a device is stand-alone (not plugged in or connected to something else) there is nothing to efficiently absorb the radiated energy of the EMP pulse, what energy is absorbed is generally far less than that required to bridge and destroy a semiconductor junction
So watch, cellphone, etc. are not likely to absorb enough energy to destroy it - if it’s in your pocket, or on your wrist.
That’s why ESD is different from EMP.