I’m over big, bulky watches. I’ve got my Suunto and a couple G-Shock watches. I still wear them, still love them, but mostly I just want a watch that keeps nice, precise time, doesn’t stand out from my wrist 3/4 inch and hopefully looks juuuust a little dorky. I’m also cheap. Waterproofness is important to me. I work a desk job. I commute by bus or train- watches help with that. I like to go on a run a couple times a week and wear a watch. I don’t sleep or shower with my watch on unless I’m camping or in a hotel. I like digital over analog because I kind of like to know exactly what time I think it is and I only ever estimate when I’m reading an analog watch because I’m lazy. Also, when I’m in a meeting or I’ve been pinned-down by someone I don’t want to talk to and I want to know if this really is taking forever or if my perception of the passage of time is just being warped- it’s easier to sneak a peek at a digital watch and get a precise read. I realized a few months ago that I really am just as happy wearing a $15 Casio as I am with my $250 Suunto and that most days I don’t need to know the barometric pressure. Some days, yes. Most days, no. But I like having a variety of watches (including the Suunto, which is fabulous). And I like to choose which watch to wear each morning. That’s fun for me. Recently I got on Amazon and ordered a bunch of new cheap Casio watches. I got four new watches for $52. I think Timex’s are over-priced. That’s how cheap I am.
Casio W-800HAV ($20-ish) Digital Black. My eight-year old son and I each got one of these watches for Christmas 2016. We both love it. We both have other watches but wear this one the most. It has a fairly low profile- doesn’t catch on pockets or shirt sleeves. I love the light- it looks stupid, like piddly. But it actually lights the face well. I go jogging at night sometimes. The light works well enough for me to see how slow I am even while I’m bouncing down the road. And it’s got “Dual Display”. I don’t know what else to call that. It shows the time on one part of the screen and at the same time it show the stopwatch numbers. Nice to keep track of both. Or, If I’m out and about, I’ll set a stopwatch when the train goes by because I know that the train comes by every 15 minutes. So I can see when I’m coming up on another 15-minute mark and also see the time on the sub-display.
Casio F-201WA ($10.47) Digital Black. Comfortable. Lightweight. Easiest buttons to push. Good light. I like that it has countdown timer and lots of alarms. I miss being able to see the time when it’s in stopwatch mode like I can with the W-800HAV and the WV-200A.
Casio WV-200A ($40-ish) Waceceptor Digital Black with chrome and red. Looks good. Like the steel case. Good protection for the glass. Relatively heavy. A liiiiitle too thick. Really nice buttons. Great electro-luminescent light. This one is the only watch of the group that you can set it so it doesn’t beep every time you push a button. I really like being able to turn the beep off. Sometimes I like to set a stopwatch in a meeting so I can see how long somebody is going on with some bullsh*t. Strangely, timing somebody’s bullsh*t is a nice distraction from the bullsh*t. But I don’t like my watch to beep when I’m doing pushing buttons. “Dual display”- you can still see what time it is when you’re in other modes. Countdown timer is nice and many of my other watches don’t have one. I don’t give it extra points for the whole Wave Ceptor thing. Doesn’t add any value for me and it kinda sucks battery. This watch has been on my wrist for a full day of snorkelling and handled it beautifully. I live in a land-locked state, so when I get to the ocean, I’m in the water ALL DAY LONG. I can’t dive deeper than maybe 20 feet, so it’s not a serious test for a watch that says it’s good to 200m. But if you’re diving to 200m and time is critical, you’re going to spring for something more than a $40 Casio. (I love you, Casio).
Casio HDA-600 ($14.79) Black Analog. Not the most comfortable. Kinda squeezes my wrist from bone to bone or flops around a bit. I dunno, it just fits weird. YMMV. Love the face protector. Can’t wait until it starts to look a little banged up. Glowy dots on the hands aren’t really impressive. Date window works perfectly. Looks tough but it’s probably not. I like it a lot.
Casio MQ24-7B2 ($14-something) White-faced Analog. Incredibly light. Truly forget that you’re wearing it. Easy to read. No date window. No lumi. Nice, simple and never catches your sleeve in a dress shirt. Yes, I’m fancy. Some people are smart enough to read an analog watch that doesn’t have numbers on it- just dots. I’m not one of those people. I screw it up enough when there’s numbers. This has numbers. I like numbers. Haven’t tested this one for waterproofyness. Casio only says it’s water resistant. I hardly ever do underwater demolitions anymore.
Casio A168W-1 ($16.15) Stainless Digital. I love / hate this watch. I don’t know if Casio was really trying to make a watch that looks fancy but it’s really a dork-bomb, or if they we’re going for dork-bomb as their aim. Either way. This watch is a stunning success. I think this watch is the pinnacle of nerd-swank. 1980’s wannabe stockbroker, cool old guy who doesn’t give a sh*t, little bit of silver under the sleeve to catch someone’s eye- oh wait it’s a friggin Casio digital. I mean, it’s chrome-plated PLASTIC for crying out loud. How awesome is that? I love all of that. Love it. It’s got the Illuminator light, which works great. Clock, date, stopwatch and alarm. No countdown timer. The metal band is not comfortable. It’s got edges and it pulls on my arm fur. Clasp works great and it’s wicked-easy to adjust. Slips under a dress shirt easily. Again: super-dorky. Makes me smile every time I put it on. Then wince when it pulls the fur.
Casio F91W-1 ($11.35) Black Digital. I like this watch a lot. It’s super thin. Very lightweight. The light looks stupid but it works well. The buttons are easy to hit. It ranks pretty high on the ‘Dork’ scale. People recognize it. Hold that one button down and it says CASIo. It’s great. Proud to say I’ve never worn this watch along with flannel and a beanie. Never.
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