I like Casio watches but I'd like them more if the watch faces weren't splattered with "Water resist", "Chrono alarm", and such labels. Yes I don't need to be reminded this watch indeed is an chrono alarm, like an advertisement, every time I look at it.
Personally I like it more with the labels. Reminds me of web design where sometimes you have to add some unnecessary text or icons or else it looks too bare.
Thinking about it, even a lot of fancy fashion watch brands seem to do this, “Quartz”, “water resist 20m”, however many jewels. The old Casio watches are a bit worse for it though.
But check out the Casio MQ-24, it’s cheap and cheerful but has a much plainer face.
Weird? It looks much more elegant, if you know what I mean. They should also remove the "WR" sign. But I guess Casio knows what sells and what doesn't.
My A159W is my daily driver. I prefer it to my Apple Watch, which I've pretty much stopped wearing. I am not in a wealth bracket to afford wearing mechanical watches.
My Casio is a cheap watch, kind of quirky, and I love it!
If only they would stop putting 'Water Resistant' on the dials. It seems such a silly thing to boast about. 'This watch has bottom rung water proofing', great.
Great watches and good value for money but that seems an odd design choice to me. Perhaps it makes sense in the Japanese market.
Come to think of it, this reminds me of how LLMs fill every empty space in a design with technical jargon that is technically correct but doesn’t serve any purpose. Basically typographic cornice.
I saw a newish Subaru this week and there was a thin strip near the left rear light that spelled out “symmetrical AWD”. That gave me a slight chuckle. Same with 16g, Turbo or Platinum or “sea salt”.
If you're Japanese and don't know or interact much with English characters and words it probably looks cool. Similar to how people tattoo random Japanese/Chinese characters on their bodies.
I remember when digital watches became so cheap/ubiquitous that they were give-aways if you bought a large pizza or whatever during some promo month at a restaurant chain.
I've lost my apple watches recently, and I've been using different versions of apple watches for about 7 years. I thought I won't come back to regular watches, but I've decided to try and bought a cheap classic Casio watches for ~30 bucks. After 2 months I must admit that I don't really need smart watches :D
Do you already sleep with a wrist watch on? I got one for the same and realized I can't stand sleeping with something on my wrist. Also realized if I want to use it for anything else throughout the day, that's the best time for me to charge it.
Sleep tracking was important for me too, but I've solved that by having whoop (it was a gift, though). It's tracking that stuff nicely, and I only have to charge it once in 1-2 weeks.
You're probably better off with a cheap Garmin for that. The battery will last a month instead of a day. (Or multiple months if you only wear it at night and turn it off every morning)
That would be a reasonable answer most of the time, but as the topic was sleep tracking I'd disagree. Consensus I've seen seems to be that Apple has better sleep tracking (having used both, I would agree). Even if they don't, one can swap out to use another sleep tracking app. I think you're stuck with what you get out of the box with Garmin. (Though I've not looked at Garmin's app store. Knowing what I do about their SDK, I doubt a 3rd party could write a usable replacement app.)
I find that Apple sleep tracking concentrates on how early you go to sleep and how many times you get up. I haven’t tried anything else, but the Apple thing doesn’t tell me what I don’t already know. Any suggestions for something basic, BPM and simple alarms ant timers? About to ditch my Ultra S3.
So many of the cool, revolutionary features of these watches look so hard to use and can't possibly have been used regularly by their owners (translation dictionary lookup? scientific calculator?). Reminds me of the Windows CE devices I was kind of obsessed with as a teenager that were amazing but kind of useless because of their form factor.
I wear my A159W not only because it is quirky, but also because it reminds me of my grandfather.
He had the same watch, and the backlight is so horrible. I have fond memories of him holding it up at an angle to check the time.
I only knew him for a few years of my life in early childhood. We'd go on long walks together in the late afternoon. He'd check the time when it started getting dark so we'd be back home in time for dinner!
In case you didn’t know, there’s a lightspreader mod for the backlight which makes it a lot less terrible. I did it on my f91, the backlight still looks a bit odd but it’s much more readable
I had a CFX-400 back in the day and it was much more convenient to use it than to not use it. The option of running newtons method by hand on paper was much more annoying than using the watch. I mostly used trig features IRL.
As you can see by the small text above and below the screen you pushed F1/F2 to select the scientific operation you wanted and then "exe" it. I don't recall how "inv" worked, if you selected sine and then inv to arcsin() it or if you tapped inv as a modal and then "exe" while its inverted.
It really wasn't any harder to use than any calculator watch ever shipped. I imagine no one under age 40 has ever used a calculator watch but they were pretty easy to use, just imagine a basic phone calculator app on your wrist but easier to use tactile because of the keyboard.
Its primary downfall was 1) being very expensive compared to carrying a HP calculator in your pocket 2) the buttons and general construction were extremely delicate, the body was just chrome plated plastic IIRC.
Watches in the 80s were like phones in the 2010s it was assumed you'd only get a couple years use out of them before "having to" replace them due to poor components or style, so there's no reason to ship a long term reliable one. These were not "Rolex" lifetime purchases LOL.
Watch bands were also designed to rapidly fail, kind of like fitness bands today.
Watches in the 80s were a very consumerist hobby. Consumerism changes the individual items but the pattern never changes.
Extreme sensor watches were similar to extreme calculator watches but in the 90s. I had a DPX-500, very nice. The barometer drifted too much to be usable. The compass worked very well. As an "outdoor" watch it was fairly durable, rather like desk workers buying "offroad" SUVs that are never driven offroad as the only way to buy a reliable car.
I had a Casio watch in the early to mid 1980s that tracked the tides based on geo coordinates you entered and would tell you the best time to go fishing. They still promote them for this purpose:
I was looking at the Casio calculator catalogue recently, and I noticed there are a lot of different models. They're all broadly the same, but each one has slightly different combinations of features and appearance. The watch collectors on YouTube show that there's been hundreds of different Casio watches as well. I wonder why they create so many different models. Could it be related to the work culture of the Japanese companies? Or do they just want to have a different product for every use case?
My uninformed guess is: that makes their section of the watch store take up more space, making a customer think: "so many casios, i don't even need to look at the other brands"
A cheap quartz watch from Japan and later Hong Kong was more accurate than a 5k handmade Swiss mechanical watch.
Remember that the 1980s was a time when people still needed a watch for PRACTICAL purposes- they needed to tell time.
Which a digital watch does so perfectly that you can use it for celestial navigation. And without any maintenance.
Chips. Tiny batteries. Mass production. The Oriental black magic of the eighties.
> Watch with Phone Dialer function enabling audio-based dialing
> Introducing Phone Dialer functionality. This new feature worked in tandem with the Telememo function, which stored up to 50 telephone numbers. Simply holding the watch’s built-in speaker up to the receiver of a push-button telephone allowed users to place calls to stored numbers, which were output in the form of touch-tone signals. At a time before mobile phones really hit the scene, this was an extremely revolutionary feature. Eliminating the need to manually dial numbers digit by digit while checking a telephone directory, people used it in a broad range of settings, including business.
One of my core memories as a 80s kid was the absurd G Shock tan line I had when I was around 8. I put that thing on and never took it off for probably a year or more. Also it stunk like the inside of a cast but it was like a challenge I put on myself to never take it off. Eventually the wrist band broke and I could never find a replacement (or my mom refused to look?). I carried it around in my pocket for a year or so after as well. Loved that watch lol.
Definitely had the TS-1000 growing up in 80s. I remember looking at the window display of some electronics store where all these watches and Nintendo Game & Watch games where all lined up.
I was in Japan a few years back and I bought two F-91Ws, they look so small compared to today's watches. Too bad they're so flimsy, I wore one for a week but must have bumped it against something and broke the glass (at least it's glass). The other one is still in the original packaging, I'll probably leave it there. Nowadays I wear my G-SHOCK as a daily driver.
I had a Casio in 1985 that I swear fell out of a time portal. It had a large touch screen face and allowed me to enter 50 contacts (name + phone) and had calculator functionality via touch screen (no key pad). It is not shown on this Casio page and I’ve never seen a reference to it despite it being years ahead of its time.
The founder announced a week ago you'll soon be able to write custom apps using JS, and released an emulator to begin testing.
Too bad you need an account on their app to use history features like step count etc, it's all sent to their firebase and no storage in the app.
I hope the Gadgetbridge implementation will be complete someday.
I have both and I thought so too at first, but compared to the F-91 the F-105 has significantly lower contrast display (darker background) and is harder to read in daylight. The F-91 has slightly larger numerals too.
I've come to the conclusion that the F-91 is better for urban conditions where there's always light and/or a cell phone available, but the F-105 is probably better for going off-grid.
(some context for bystanders: the F-105 is the "illuminator" version of the F-91, so the light feature works much better.)
I wish I had more uses for my Casio calculator watch (CA53W). But these days it's faster to hold down the power button on my phone for half a second to activate a voice assistant. Now, if Casio made a smart watch that could run a micro-model on-device to do voice input for the calculator...
I often tell myself that I am conscious and rational when it comes to gifts. I don't care about brands, but rather the value something offers. Yet I do have a soft spot for "Made in Japan" Casio vintage watches and Sony devices.
To me, they represented the highest form of functional and consumer utility at a justified price. No fluff, no marketing that bordered on propaganda. Japanese consumer technology meant something incredibly precious to people in underdeveloped and developing nations.
It wasn't just about utility. It was about social status, too, and owning a generational asset that would continue to work for decades.
A Japanese consumer device meant that you had worked hard to afford a luxury, and that luxury did not derive its merit from a brand name, but rather from manufacturing ethics, quality, and the long-term, sustainable value it offered, all while being at the cutting edge of technology.
A Rolex watch uses essentially the same mechanical principles that have existed for generations. Its merit today is largely in its brand, not in being at the cutting edge of technology. An iPhone, on the other hand, is largely seen as consumable. Most modern electronic devices are treated as disposable, depreciating products.
But a Made in Japan Casio watch in the 1980s or 1990s was an asset.
There is a beauty and a tragedy in those vintage Japanese watches.
I see it when I talk to people in their 60s or 70s who struggled to raise families in developing countries on middle-class incomes. A Casio calculator for their children when they start their high school. A Sony TV for the family to gather around and watch. A Toyota as their first family car.
These weren't merely consumer products. They were milestones. They represented years of hard work, sacrifice, aspiration, and the dignity of finally being able to afford something that was genuinely well made. Something that would last. Something that could be passed down.
I don't want to hear about GDP, artisanal blue jeans, or deer based tourism industry when it comes to Japan. I see how an industry and an economy that once produced these things on such an extraordinary scale have been diminished.
I don't want to rationalize it or dissect it.
I simply find it truly beautiful what that nation once built on an industrial scale.
I can totally relate. The quality of Japanese-made products is incredible and that's as true today as it was back then, for the most part. Especially woodworking tools like chisels and saws are outstanding. And I don't just mean the expensive, handmade ones. Even the mass-produced tools feel years ahead of their Western counterparts.
Casio watches especially gschock really feel like they solved the goal of watches. Let people know the time accurately and cheaply.
I have a few “dress” watches I’ll wear to weddings and my smartwatch which is nice for the gym and general. But I still have a gshock I keep around for traveling or when I just want something that will work.
The idea you can toss it in a bag or throw it on and it will just tell you time accurately without worrying about it dying or having to maintain it is still incredible.
I went down the watch rabbit hole for a while. When I was looking for a travel watch, I was stubbornly looking for a mechanical watch. I also wanted it to handle the issue that arises with countries like India, which are 30 minutes off all the other time zones. This was a nearly impossible task, and prices grew to the point where I didn't think I would even feel comfortable traveling with such a watch.
I stewed with this problem for the better part of a decade, without a solution.
I then stumbled across the Casio AE1200, their world timer. As I thought about it, this was the perfect choice. With a 10 year battery, I could just grab it and go (changing the battery whenever I renew my passport), I didn't have to deal with setting a bunch of complications, because the quartz movement just kept it going all the time. It solved the IST problem. The low cost meant that I could travel without having to worry about my watch... if something happened, oh well, get another one. Along with that, I wouldn't make me a target for pickpockets. I had been so caught up in watch culture that I didn't realize being cheap could be a feature in the right context.
I've had it for about 3 years now and still smile every time I wear it. Sure, it's a cheap Casio I picked up at some random retail store... but it took me 10 years to grow into the person who could appreciate it and it solved a problem that I thought about way too much for the previous decade. It's one of my cheapest watches, if not the cheapest, yet I think it's my favorite one.
A tip for anyone in the market: There is a lot of ugly text on this watch. It can be erased with an eraser. I used a white plastic eraser. At first it doesn't seem like it's doing anything, and then the text is gone. This is much better than the chemical solutions some videos online use.
I was tempted to upgrade the bracelet, case, and crystal. There are options for metal and sapphire from 3rd parties, but if I did that, I'd then be more worried about losing it, which is an anti-feature when traveling. I have intentionally kept it stock other than erasing the text on the case itself to stay true to that realization I had a few years ago.
And credit where credit is due, I think it was the Talking Watches episode with John Mayer and Ed Sheeran that made me realize cheap was a feature. They were showing all these crazy one-of-one watches they had custom-made from AP and alike, but they both just traveled with a G-Shock for some peace of mind.
> These weren't merely consumer products. They were milestones. They represented years of hard work, sacrifice, aspiration, and the dignity of finally being able to afford something that was genuinely well made. Something that would last. Something that could be passed down.
That’s basically what Rolex and other Swiss watchmakers say about their products.
> They represented years of hard work, sacrifice, aspiration, and the dignity of finally being able to afford something that was genuinely well made. Something that would last. Something that could be passed down.
you're probably not thinking plastic Casio. Casio are great watches that are accessible to just about everybody on the planet.
> No fluff, no marketing that bordered on propaganda
Your comment sounds a lot like propaganda to me.
> ... devices are treated as disposable, depreciating products.
I would argue that this shift really happened in the last 30 to 40 years. We can say it started earlier, but that wasn't true of the majority of goods until around then. Things became "disposable" when the functional innards were reduced to a blob IC. LED lighting taking over pushed it even further.
> Japanese consumer technology meant something incredibly precious to people in underdeveloped and developing nations.
I'm sorry, but I can't agree with this. I grew up pretty damn broke (like unreliable water kind of broke). Perhaps not as broke as you're describing, but there has always been some bittersweet resentment in the back of people's minds this whole time too. Casio watches are the poster child for exactly the decline you claim to be concerned about. Older people I grew up around were not so materialistic.
Yes, they are stylish in a very cool and functional way that deserves more credit. It's a very ethically justified and postmodern-inspired genre of design. It's like jazz. It's fantastically free of dogmas and tropes. People can fearlessly contribute their own cultural perspectives and elevate everyone's taste in the process. Let's keep it that way, by not hugging it to death.
> There is a beauty and a tragedy in those vintage Japanese watches.
Yes, exactly. That's the tragedy. We finally got what we wanted since the beginning of human history, but at what cost?
Whilst not one of the 80's watches. The 90s watch with the VCR controls was amazing during highschool. As soon as that TV got wheeled out in class we all knew that thing was going to randomly pause, play, stop etc. Hahaha.
SDB-300W and its descendants are still unmatched as a runner's wristwatch. Just give me a watch with buttons like that that reliably trigger instantly with a satisfying beep.
Is there anything like that around, suitable for timing to the 0.1s level?
I used my paper route money saved up for 2 or 3 months to buy a C80 when I was in 5th grade. I loved that thing so much. It was a fun moment of nostalgia clicking on this link.
I loved window shopping for watches as a kid. idk if it was a Casio, but I did eventually convince my parents to get me one with a calculator. it was one of the coolest things you could have as a kid in the 90s, imo.
They didn't mention the watch I wanted so badly and my parents got for me in 1981 - the "Melody Alarm" or "12-Tune Musical Alarm/Chronograph by Casio".
I'm sure the $50 was a huge expense for them at the time, but I sure loved that watch! Westminster chimes on the hours. Staying up to hear it play Jingle Bells for 12am on Christmas and have it wish me Happy Birthday. Having it accidentally go off in Church or school.
It introduced me to some classic songs I hadn't known before, and I'd run through its repertoire for fun, or just cycle through the modes to play the scales.
I wore it long after its stainless steel was scratched and worn.
It used to be harmless things like a watch, or a portable music playing device. After 2000 you started to worry about what technology extracted from you, and now we're getting to the stage where are worrying about what it's going to do to us intellectually, and soon, physically.
Some of these not just I recognized, but they were my wishlist dream to buy! The TV IR one tho I remember it different? Unless they were multiple variations. Also, I like how calculators are in all these models in 80s and 90s, it was really a big deal to use a calculator and transfer the burden of using your brain, like AI now and smartphones, oh wait!
I understand the massive difference between these and a mechanical watch, but I just cannot see myself ever using a digital watch. Ever... not even one these new super cool Garmin ones or even an Apple watch, I almost put them all in the same bag, including these Casio legendary watches.
There is something so beautiful about a mechanical watch... I am not even talking hyper expensive stuff, there's always Seiko, Citizen, Rotary and hundreds more... so its not a flex, its just an understanding of having to look at the time and not seeing a nasty digital number. Maybe its because i work looking at screens all day.
What you're describing is how the watch market bifurcated after quartz watches came out. Mechanical watches were previously utilitarian devices, made to be as thin as possible and sold at a premium because they were the most accurate timekeeping devices that could be possibly made at that size. If you had a large watch, it meant it was cheap. After quartz watches came out, mechanical watches could no longer compete on size, accuracy, or features, so they took their current role of being personal accessories for men, a sort of socially acceptable jewelry. They got larger and flashier because the point of the watch became personal expression (or social signalling at the high end) rather than simply telling the time.
You can see that digital watches are superior by every non-aesthetic measure. Reliability, resistance to mechanical shock, timekeeping (You had one job!) , life before "charges", size, weight, life without maintenance etc. I found a digital watch I hadn't touched in ten years, and it was still running, and still close to the real time.
I wear a mechanical watch (Bremont F15 watch) as a kind of fancy-dress jewelery. It's a fashion / social thing. As a tool, it does not compare favorably.
If I'm digging up the garden or changing the tyres on my car, I'm going to want my G-Shock. Quartz, solar powered, radio synchronized, and basically indestructible. After WW3 it's going to be just cockroaches wearing G-Shocks.
Good point. I have recommended G-Shocks in the past, to people that, like yourself, like to be out there and do stuff... it is most definitely about lifestyle too. I dont garden and I dont really go out for long walks a la Into the Wild... so a mechanical is just fine to tell me its about time to fuck off from the office, but I get that its just not going to cut it if in the middle of nowhere running from bears.
I have a digital Casio with an analog display. It's solar, so it never needs to be charged. It sets itself to the correct time, and date, across DST and timezone changes.
It doesn't have the mechanical beauty of an automatic with a perpetual calendar, but is otherwise better in every way that matters, and it is just as pretty.
True. It can be a pain in ass, but it can also be part of the allure... plus, you do also have non-mechanic analog beauties like some of these Citizens that come with the craziest thing, they automatically set the time based on radio towers in the northern hemisphere, i mean who the fuck thinks about stuff that? And they charge with light, not the sun, light... forgot the name of the technology... then you have the Bulova Super Seville that also has a super interesting quartz mechanism, keeps the heartbeat of the watch operating at a rate that makes the seconds hand move as if it was a mechanical watch,and battery last a decade or something... those also super interesting watches...
I don't understand the allure of something that doesn't do what it's supposed to do.
Time keeping is a solved problem. Why would anyone spend varying shades of fortune on something that is functionally inferior, but explicitly labels itself a "superlative chronometer"?
I have a quartz-powered mechanical, with deep water proofing, radio sync and solar power, and sapphire glass. I don't have to worry about charge/battery, or scratches, or any water, and it's always 100 accurate. I will literally never have to think about those things, which is why I like it.
I like Casio watches but I'd like them more if the watch faces weren't splattered with "Water resist", "Chrono alarm", and such labels. Yes I don't need to be reminded this watch indeed is an chrono alarm, like an advertisement, every time I look at it.
It really was part of the aesthetics in the 80s. I had a gorgeous red cassette player from Sanyo that had text and lines drawn all over it.
There are a few Casios that have cleaner designs.
My favorite is the (partly analog) PRW-7000FC-1JF, as seen on https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-e31c8/images/stencil/1280x12...
I love that, but have dainty little bird wrists. Men's watches look OBNOXIOUSLY large on me.
I wish they made something like that, that wasn't 500mm.
> I wish they made something like that, that wasn't 500mm.
That doesn't sound dainty in the least ;)
I don't agree this is exclusive to the 80s. We kept getting this shit plastered onto everything until well into the 2000s.
The Gen Z obsession with Frutiger design wouldn't be the same without the matching typography.
Last year they made a few minimal versions of the f91w with those labels removed https://www.casio.com/europe/watches/casio/product.F-91WB-1A...
Personally I like it more with the labels. Reminds me of web design where sometimes you have to add some unnecessary text or icons or else it looks too bare.
Thinking about it, even a lot of fancy fashion watch brands seem to do this, “Quartz”, “water resist 20m”, however many jewels. The old Casio watches are a bit worse for it though.
But check out the Casio MQ-24, it’s cheap and cheerful but has a much plainer face.
I imagine it's because they need to put something on the area around the screen, otherwise it would look weird. Casio do make plainer variants of their watches so you can see what I mean: https://us.firstclasswatches.com/casio-black-382mm-digital-d... . It just kind of looks empty. The F-84W has stuff around the screen but is a bit more understated compared to the F-91W: https://i0.wp.com/centreseconds.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/...
> otherwise it would look weird
Weird? It looks much more elegant, if you know what I mean. They should also remove the "WR" sign. But I guess Casio knows what sells and what doesn't.
I actually love that :)
My A159W is my daily driver. I prefer it to my Apple Watch, which I've pretty much stopped wearing. I am not in a wealth bracket to afford wearing mechanical watches.
My Casio is a cheap watch, kind of quirky, and I love it!
I think it suits me very well.
> I am not in a wealth bracket to afford wearing mechanical watches.
The excellent Seiko 5 can be had in a wide variety of styles, many for under $100. Seriously, they're very good.
Orient makes nice mechanical watches for around $300. I have below and wear it every day.
https://orient-watch.com/en/orient/collection/classic/classi...
If only they would stop putting 'Water Resistant' on the dials. It seems such a silly thing to boast about. 'This watch has bottom rung water proofing', great.
Great watches and good value for money but that seems an odd design choice to me. Perhaps it makes sense in the Japanese market.
Casio is a fashion brand. They have G-shock watches in matte black if that’s what you want
https://www.casio.com/us/watches/gshock/product.GA-2100LXB-1...
They also have entire lines that aren’t G-shock such as their edifice line that are more dress oriented
https://www.casio.com/us/watches/edifice/product.EFV-160D-1A...
Fact is g-shock is their most popular line and they release collabs with streetwear brands all the time. People really like the styling
Those are part of the charm. Fuck 2020s minimalism
Come to think of it, this reminds me of how LLMs fill every empty space in a design with technical jargon that is technically correct but doesn’t serve any purpose. Basically typographic cornice.
The secret is reminding them that blank space is a design choice.
AND PUT THE FUCKING THING ON A TRANSPARENT BACKGROUND AND DON'T JUST PUT IT ON CHECKERBOARDS
I'm designing some fun stickers for my nieces and can't draw. It's been a learning experience.
models like the Casio AE-1200 (Casio Royale) look pretty good if you rub off some of the printing: https://i.imgur.com/q1cpCOS.jpeg compared to stock https://www.casio.com/content/dam/casio/product-info/locales...
granted that requires taking out the face plate and rubbing off the print you want to remove
This was also a thing in the 90s and possibly early 00s, I remember my PC had a bunch of logos and crap written all over it.
Minimalism didn’t really take off until Apple made it fashionable.
I saw a newish Subaru this week and there was a thin strip near the left rear light that spelled out “symmetrical AWD”. That gave me a slight chuckle. Same with 16g, Turbo or Platinum or “sea salt”.
If you're Japanese and don't know or interact much with English characters and words it probably looks cool. Similar to how people tattoo random Japanese/Chinese characters on their bodies.
Casio watch with Japanese characters would actually be sick.
Turbo, 16V, Electronic Fuel Injection. All over Japanese cars from the 80ties, those were the aesthetics of the time.
I remember when digital watches became so cheap/ubiquitous that they were give-aways if you bought a large pizza or whatever during some promo month at a restaurant chain.
I've lost my apple watches recently, and I've been using different versions of apple watches for about 7 years. I thought I won't come back to regular watches, but I've decided to try and bought a cheap classic Casio watches for ~30 bucks. After 2 months I must admit that I don't really need smart watches :D
I wish there was a minimal Casio watch which only had heart rate tracking (with high frequency polling too).
I've been thinking about buying a cheap Apple watch just as a sleep tracker.
Do you already sleep with a wrist watch on? I got one for the same and realized I can't stand sleeping with something on my wrist. Also realized if I want to use it for anything else throughout the day, that's the best time for me to charge it.
Sleep tracking was important for me too, but I've solved that by having whoop (it was a gift, though). It's tracking that stuff nicely, and I only have to charge it once in 1-2 weeks.
You're probably better off with a cheap Garmin for that. The battery will last a month instead of a day. (Or multiple months if you only wear it at night and turn it off every morning)
That would be a reasonable answer most of the time, but as the topic was sleep tracking I'd disagree. Consensus I've seen seems to be that Apple has better sleep tracking (having used both, I would agree). Even if they don't, one can swap out to use another sleep tracking app. I think you're stuck with what you get out of the box with Garmin. (Though I've not looked at Garmin's app store. Knowing what I do about their SDK, I doubt a 3rd party could write a usable replacement app.)
I find that Apple sleep tracking concentrates on how early you go to sleep and how many times you get up. I haven’t tried anything else, but the Apple thing doesn’t tell me what I don’t already know. Any suggestions for something basic, BPM and simple alarms ant timers? About to ditch my Ultra S3.
Apple watch starts at $250, Fitbit does sleep tracking too and starts at $70.
And you don't even have to charge them nightly. I kind of want a smartwatch, but not until this is solved.
YES! it's really one of the most annoying things about smart watches. I had a reminder for myself for every evening to charge my watches :D
We use cheap Garmins that track sleep and many other things. Battery lasts a week before it needs charging.
So many of the cool, revolutionary features of these watches look so hard to use and can't possibly have been used regularly by their owners (translation dictionary lookup? scientific calculator?). Reminds me of the Windows CE devices I was kind of obsessed with as a teenager that were amazing but kind of useless because of their form factor.
I wear my A159W not only because it is quirky, but also because it reminds me of my grandfather.
He had the same watch, and the backlight is so horrible. I have fond memories of him holding it up at an angle to check the time.
I only knew him for a few years of my life in early childhood. We'd go on long walks together in the late afternoon. He'd check the time when it started getting dark so we'd be back home in time for dinner!
In case you didn’t know, there’s a lightspreader mod for the backlight which makes it a lot less terrible. I did it on my f91, the backlight still looks a bit odd but it’s much more readable
Neat! Thanks
We used the calculator back in the 80s
If you think about it instead of pulling out your phone to calculate something back then you could use this
I had an early one and I vaguely remember it had a game on it.
Funny what we had to endure before the age of the touchscreen. The buttons were always so mushy, too. I do miss the tactile feel, though.
I had a CFX-400 back in the day and it was much more convenient to use it than to not use it. The option of running newtons method by hand on paper was much more annoying than using the watch. I mostly used trig features IRL.
As you can see by the small text above and below the screen you pushed F1/F2 to select the scientific operation you wanted and then "exe" it. I don't recall how "inv" worked, if you selected sine and then inv to arcsin() it or if you tapped inv as a modal and then "exe" while its inverted.
It really wasn't any harder to use than any calculator watch ever shipped. I imagine no one under age 40 has ever used a calculator watch but they were pretty easy to use, just imagine a basic phone calculator app on your wrist but easier to use tactile because of the keyboard.
Its primary downfall was 1) being very expensive compared to carrying a HP calculator in your pocket 2) the buttons and general construction were extremely delicate, the body was just chrome plated plastic IIRC.
Watches in the 80s were like phones in the 2010s it was assumed you'd only get a couple years use out of them before "having to" replace them due to poor components or style, so there's no reason to ship a long term reliable one. These were not "Rolex" lifetime purchases LOL.
Watch bands were also designed to rapidly fail, kind of like fitness bands today.
Watches in the 80s were a very consumerist hobby. Consumerism changes the individual items but the pattern never changes.
Extreme sensor watches were similar to extreme calculator watches but in the 90s. I had a DPX-500, very nice. The barometer drifted too much to be usable. The compass worked very well. As an "outdoor" watch it was fairly durable, rather like desk workers buying "offroad" SUVs that are never driven offroad as the only way to buy a reliable car.
I had a Casio watch in the early to mid 1980s that tracked the tides based on geo coordinates you entered and would tell you the best time to go fishing. They still promote them for this purpose:
https://www.casio.com/us/watches/types/activity/fishing-watc...
It looked something like this:
https://www.wilberforcewatches.com/products/casio-fish-en-ti...
Maybe the FT-100 or the more simple W-100?
I was looking at the Casio calculator catalogue recently, and I noticed there are a lot of different models. They're all broadly the same, but each one has slightly different combinations of features and appearance. The watch collectors on YouTube show that there's been hundreds of different Casio watches as well. I wonder why they create so many different models. Could it be related to the work culture of the Japanese companies? Or do they just want to have a different product for every use case?
My uninformed guess is: that makes their section of the watch store take up more space, making a customer think: "so many casios, i don't even need to look at the other brands"
Wristwatches are sort of unique in that they are technology that you literally wear, so it's important that they look and work exactly how you want.
A decent number of "gotta have them all" fans/whales?
https://shockbase.org/watches/stats.php
Watches: 6670
I do love that from a 15$ Casio to a 15k one, the community loves them all.
You can get a 40$ watch that has radio accurate time keeping!
A cheap quartz watch from Japan and later Hong Kong was more accurate than a 5k handmade Swiss mechanical watch.
Remember that the 1980s was a time when people still needed a watch for PRACTICAL purposes- they needed to tell time. Which a digital watch does so perfectly that you can use it for celestial navigation. And without any maintenance.
Chips. Tiny batteries. Mass production. The Oriental black magic of the eighties.
> Watch with Phone Dialer function enabling audio-based dialing
> Introducing Phone Dialer functionality. This new feature worked in tandem with the Telememo function, which stored up to 50 telephone numbers. Simply holding the watch’s built-in speaker up to the receiver of a push-button telephone allowed users to place calls to stored numbers, which were output in the form of touch-tone signals. At a time before mobile phones really hit the scene, this was an extremely revolutionary feature. Eliminating the need to manually dial numbers digit by digit while checking a telephone directory, people used it in a broad range of settings, including business.
One of my core memories as a 80s kid was the absurd G Shock tan line I had when I was around 8. I put that thing on and never took it off for probably a year or more. Also it stunk like the inside of a cast but it was like a challenge I put on myself to never take it off. Eventually the wrist band broke and I could never find a replacement (or my mom refused to look?). I carried it around in my pocket for a year or so after as well. Loved that watch lol.
Definitely had the TS-1000 growing up in 80s. I remember looking at the window display of some electronics store where all these watches and Nintendo Game & Watch games where all lined up.
I was in Japan a few years back and I bought two F-91Ws, they look so small compared to today's watches. Too bad they're so flimsy, I wore one for a week but must have bumped it against something and broke the glass (at least it's glass). The other one is still in the original packaging, I'll probably leave it there. Nowadays I wear my G-SHOCK as a daily driver.
I had a Casio in 1985 that I swear fell out of a time portal. It had a large touch screen face and allowed me to enter 50 contacts (name + phone) and had calculator functionality via touch screen (no key pad). It is not shown on this Casio page and I’ve never seen a reference to it despite it being years ahead of its time.
Okay, AI found it for me. I can’t believe they didn’t add it to that page:
https://chatgpt.com/s/t_6ae62084ab4081918e5fa21a4ec916a2
For anyone who might be interested, Ollee Watch from Canada is a VERY interesting project to tinker with.
The founder announced a week ago you'll soon be able to write custom apps using JS, and released an emulator to begin testing. Too bad you need an account on their app to use history features like step count etc, it's all sent to their firebase and no storage in the app. I hope the Gadgetbridge implementation will be complete someday.
F91w and g-shock are top tier. Love them
The F-105W is the F-91W perfected.
I have both and I thought so too at first, but compared to the F-91 the F-105 has significantly lower contrast display (darker background) and is harder to read in daylight. The F-91 has slightly larger numerals too.
I've come to the conclusion that the F-91 is better for urban conditions where there's always light and/or a cell phone available, but the F-105 is probably better for going off-grid.
(some context for bystanders: the F-105 is the "illuminator" version of the F-91, so the light feature works much better.)
CGW-50 showing the planetary orbits and Hailey’s comet is really cool.
Out of curiosity went to check if I could buy it but they unfortunately discontinued and now secondary markets list it in the thousands.
I wish I had more uses for my Casio calculator watch (CA53W). But these days it's faster to hold down the power button on my phone for half a second to activate a voice assistant. Now, if Casio made a smart watch that could run a micro-model on-device to do voice input for the calculator...
Archive in case the site is giving you an error: https://archive.is/XD4QB
I often tell myself that I am conscious and rational when it comes to gifts. I don't care about brands, but rather the value something offers. Yet I do have a soft spot for "Made in Japan" Casio vintage watches and Sony devices.
To me, they represented the highest form of functional and consumer utility at a justified price. No fluff, no marketing that bordered on propaganda. Japanese consumer technology meant something incredibly precious to people in underdeveloped and developing nations.
It wasn't just about utility. It was about social status, too, and owning a generational asset that would continue to work for decades.
A Japanese consumer device meant that you had worked hard to afford a luxury, and that luxury did not derive its merit from a brand name, but rather from manufacturing ethics, quality, and the long-term, sustainable value it offered, all while being at the cutting edge of technology.
A Rolex watch uses essentially the same mechanical principles that have existed for generations. Its merit today is largely in its brand, not in being at the cutting edge of technology. An iPhone, on the other hand, is largely seen as consumable. Most modern electronic devices are treated as disposable, depreciating products.
But a Made in Japan Casio watch in the 1980s or 1990s was an asset.
There is a beauty and a tragedy in those vintage Japanese watches.
I see it when I talk to people in their 60s or 70s who struggled to raise families in developing countries on middle-class incomes. A Casio calculator for their children when they start their high school. A Sony TV for the family to gather around and watch. A Toyota as their first family car.
These weren't merely consumer products. They were milestones. They represented years of hard work, sacrifice, aspiration, and the dignity of finally being able to afford something that was genuinely well made. Something that would last. Something that could be passed down.
I don't want to hear about GDP, artisanal blue jeans, or deer based tourism industry when it comes to Japan. I see how an industry and an economy that once produced these things on such an extraordinary scale have been diminished.
I don't want to rationalize it or dissect it.
I simply find it truly beautiful what that nation once built on an industrial scale.
I can totally relate. The quality of Japanese-made products is incredible and that's as true today as it was back then, for the most part. Especially woodworking tools like chisels and saws are outstanding. And I don't just mean the expensive, handmade ones. Even the mass-produced tools feel years ahead of their Western counterparts.
Casio watches especially gschock really feel like they solved the goal of watches. Let people know the time accurately and cheaply.
I have a few “dress” watches I’ll wear to weddings and my smartwatch which is nice for the gym and general. But I still have a gshock I keep around for traveling or when I just want something that will work.
The idea you can toss it in a bag or throw it on and it will just tell you time accurately without worrying about it dying or having to maintain it is still incredible.
I went down the watch rabbit hole for a while. When I was looking for a travel watch, I was stubbornly looking for a mechanical watch. I also wanted it to handle the issue that arises with countries like India, which are 30 minutes off all the other time zones. This was a nearly impossible task, and prices grew to the point where I didn't think I would even feel comfortable traveling with such a watch.
I stewed with this problem for the better part of a decade, without a solution.
I then stumbled across the Casio AE1200, their world timer. As I thought about it, this was the perfect choice. With a 10 year battery, I could just grab it and go (changing the battery whenever I renew my passport), I didn't have to deal with setting a bunch of complications, because the quartz movement just kept it going all the time. It solved the IST problem. The low cost meant that I could travel without having to worry about my watch... if something happened, oh well, get another one. Along with that, I wouldn't make me a target for pickpockets. I had been so caught up in watch culture that I didn't realize being cheap could be a feature in the right context.
I've had it for about 3 years now and still smile every time I wear it. Sure, it's a cheap Casio I picked up at some random retail store... but it took me 10 years to grow into the person who could appreciate it and it solved a problem that I thought about way too much for the previous decade. It's one of my cheapest watches, if not the cheapest, yet I think it's my favorite one.
A tip for anyone in the market: There is a lot of ugly text on this watch. It can be erased with an eraser. I used a white plastic eraser. At first it doesn't seem like it's doing anything, and then the text is gone. This is much better than the chemical solutions some videos online use.
I was tempted to upgrade the bracelet, case, and crystal. There are options for metal and sapphire from 3rd parties, but if I did that, I'd then be more worried about losing it, which is an anti-feature when traveling. I have intentionally kept it stock other than erasing the text on the case itself to stay true to that realization I had a few years ago.
And credit where credit is due, I think it was the Talking Watches episode with John Mayer and Ed Sheeran that made me realize cheap was a feature. They were showing all these crazy one-of-one watches they had custom-made from AP and alike, but they both just traveled with a G-Shock for some peace of mind.
> These weren't merely consumer products. They were milestones. They represented years of hard work, sacrifice, aspiration, and the dignity of finally being able to afford something that was genuinely well made. Something that would last. Something that could be passed down.
That’s basically what Rolex and other Swiss watchmakers say about their products.
Sure, but the Japanese brands can deliver this for $100, not $10,000.
When somebody says:
> They represented years of hard work, sacrifice, aspiration, and the dignity of finally being able to afford something that was genuinely well made. Something that would last. Something that could be passed down.
you're probably not thinking plastic Casio. Casio are great watches that are accessible to just about everybody on the planet.
> These weren't merely consumer products. They were milestones.
Right. Thanks, ChadGPT.
> No fluff, no marketing that bordered on propaganda
Your comment sounds a lot like propaganda to me.
> ... devices are treated as disposable, depreciating products.
I would argue that this shift really happened in the last 30 to 40 years. We can say it started earlier, but that wasn't true of the majority of goods until around then. Things became "disposable" when the functional innards were reduced to a blob IC. LED lighting taking over pushed it even further.
> Japanese consumer technology meant something incredibly precious to people in underdeveloped and developing nations.
I'm sorry, but I can't agree with this. I grew up pretty damn broke (like unreliable water kind of broke). Perhaps not as broke as you're describing, but there has always been some bittersweet resentment in the back of people's minds this whole time too. Casio watches are the poster child for exactly the decline you claim to be concerned about. Older people I grew up around were not so materialistic.
Yes, they are stylish in a very cool and functional way that deserves more credit. It's a very ethically justified and postmodern-inspired genre of design. It's like jazz. It's fantastically free of dogmas and tropes. People can fearlessly contribute their own cultural perspectives and elevate everyone's taste in the process. Let's keep it that way, by not hugging it to death.
> There is a beauty and a tragedy in those vintage Japanese watches.
Yes, exactly. That's the tragedy. We finally got what we wanted since the beginning of human history, but at what cost?
As 70s child, I used a few from that list, naturally as nerd the goal was eventually to get the databank one.
Whilst not one of the 80's watches. The 90s watch with the VCR controls was amazing during highschool. As soon as that TV got wheeled out in class we all knew that thing was going to randomly pause, play, stop etc. Hahaha.
SDB-300W and its descendants are still unmatched as a runner's wristwatch. Just give me a watch with buttons like that that reliably trigger instantly with a satisfying beep.
Is there anything like that around, suitable for timing to the 0.1s level?
Timex Ironman has a nice big start/stop button, plus some running-oriented features. Most models also have the Indiglo backlight which I like.
https://timex.com/products/ironman-classic-30-mid-size-resin...
I used my paper route money saved up for 2 or 3 months to buy a C80 when I was in 5th grade. I loved that thing so much. It was a fun moment of nostalgia clicking on this link.
unfortunately the list is incomplete: quite some of the watches i had aren't listed (i mean, how could they _not_ list the GD-9?).
nevertheless nice to see these golden oldies again and read about all the stuff they were adding to them.
Casio Pro Trek PRW-30Y: solar powered, radio controlled, tough, big digits… a zero maintenance marvel. Peak watch IMO.
No DBX-100 ? My keyboard unplasticized.
so much sovl.
I loved window shopping for watches as a kid. idk if it was a Casio, but I did eventually convince my parents to get me one with a calculator. it was one of the coolest things you could have as a kid in the 90s, imo.
They didn't mention the watch I wanted so badly and my parents got for me in 1981 - the "Melody Alarm" or "12-Tune Musical Alarm/Chronograph by Casio".
I was delighted to find a youtube video of it - the music brings back such memories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJdKt9JwRkc&t=90s
https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1981-Sea... (#21 third from bottom left) https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1981-Sea...
I'm sure the $50 was a huge expense for them at the time, but I sure loved that watch! Westminster chimes on the hours. Staying up to hear it play Jingle Bells for 12am on Christmas and have it wish me Happy Birthday. Having it accidentally go off in Church or school.
It introduced me to some classic songs I hadn't known before, and I'd run through its repertoire for fun, or just cycle through the modes to play the scales.
I wore it long after its stainless steel was scratched and worn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T71hN_VW2aI
Maybe if I make an emulator I'll start wearing a watch again!
I didnt know i have memories of this watch till you mentioned. One of my friends had it :).
It's hard to describe how optimistic society, and futuristic such consumer technology felt as it rapidly advanced in the 60s-80s. There used to be television shows about the technology of the future, like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow's_World and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Tomorrow_(TV_series)
It used to be harmless things like a watch, or a portable music playing device. After 2000 you started to worry about what technology extracted from you, and now we're getting to the stage where are worrying about what it's going to do to us intellectually, and soon, physically.
They worked then, they still work.
Exactly what a watch should do.
Casio nailed it!
Tried some other watches for kids, the interactions are so confusing compared to casio.
I have a data bank and a pela thin watch, still great today!
Wearing a Casio watch right now (gifted to me by my brother), I really love Casio ;)
One watch is enough for me and that's casio for me.
None of them turn into a little robot. Lame.
Weird, they did not have J-100s and AQ-500 images in the 1980s collection, but I can find them on the internet.
Also, in the 2020s, they seem to have given up on watches.
The chinese clones were more interesting. You had 7 songs to choose from.
This site is a great flex in innovation over decades.
g-shock is also an excellent first watch for kids/teens ; indestructible and runs forever (like the '90s Toyota or Honda Civic)
Some of these not just I recognized, but they were my wishlist dream to buy! The TV IR one tho I remember it different? Unless they were multiple variations. Also, I like how calculators are in all these models in 80s and 90s, it was really a big deal to use a calculator and transfer the burden of using your brain, like AI now and smartphones, oh wait!
I understand the massive difference between these and a mechanical watch, but I just cannot see myself ever using a digital watch. Ever... not even one these new super cool Garmin ones or even an Apple watch, I almost put them all in the same bag, including these Casio legendary watches.
There is something so beautiful about a mechanical watch... I am not even talking hyper expensive stuff, there's always Seiko, Citizen, Rotary and hundreds more... so its not a flex, its just an understanding of having to look at the time and not seeing a nasty digital number. Maybe its because i work looking at screens all day.
What you're describing is how the watch market bifurcated after quartz watches came out. Mechanical watches were previously utilitarian devices, made to be as thin as possible and sold at a premium because they were the most accurate timekeeping devices that could be possibly made at that size. If you had a large watch, it meant it was cheap. After quartz watches came out, mechanical watches could no longer compete on size, accuracy, or features, so they took their current role of being personal accessories for men, a sort of socially acceptable jewelry. They got larger and flashier because the point of the watch became personal expression (or social signalling at the high end) rather than simply telling the time.
You can see that digital watches are superior by every non-aesthetic measure. Reliability, resistance to mechanical shock, timekeeping (You had one job!) , life before "charges", size, weight, life without maintenance etc. I found a digital watch I hadn't touched in ten years, and it was still running, and still close to the real time.
I wear a mechanical watch (Bremont F15 watch) as a kind of fancy-dress jewelery. It's a fashion / social thing. As a tool, it does not compare favorably.
If I'm digging up the garden or changing the tyres on my car, I'm going to want my G-Shock. Quartz, solar powered, radio synchronized, and basically indestructible. After WW3 it's going to be just cockroaches wearing G-Shocks.
Good point. I have recommended G-Shocks in the past, to people that, like yourself, like to be out there and do stuff... it is most definitely about lifestyle too. I dont garden and I dont really go out for long walks a la Into the Wild... so a mechanical is just fine to tell me its about time to fuck off from the office, but I get that its just not going to cut it if in the middle of nowhere running from bears.
I have a digital Casio with an analog display. It's solar, so it never needs to be charged. It sets itself to the correct time, and date, across DST and timezone changes.
It doesn't have the mechanical beauty of an automatic with a perpetual calendar, but is otherwise better in every way that matters, and it is just as pretty.
I’ve owned a few mechs and eventually sold all of them. Too fiddly, hated worrying about the accuracy.
True. It can be a pain in ass, but it can also be part of the allure... plus, you do also have non-mechanic analog beauties like some of these Citizens that come with the craziest thing, they automatically set the time based on radio towers in the northern hemisphere, i mean who the fuck thinks about stuff that? And they charge with light, not the sun, light... forgot the name of the technology... then you have the Bulova Super Seville that also has a super interesting quartz mechanism, keeps the heartbeat of the watch operating at a rate that makes the seconds hand move as if it was a mechanical watch,and battery last a decade or something... those also super interesting watches...
I don't understand the allure of something that doesn't do what it's supposed to do.
Time keeping is a solved problem. Why would anyone spend varying shades of fortune on something that is functionally inferior, but explicitly labels itself a "superlative chronometer"?
I have a quartz-powered mechanical, with deep water proofing, radio sync and solar power, and sapphire glass. I don't have to worry about charge/battery, or scratches, or any water, and it's always 100 accurate. I will literally never have to think about those things, which is why I like it.
Even Casio started recently to produce mechanical watches, and for their prices they srent bad at all, love the design lf the efk-11