Reviews: Casio F91W 1 Classic Resin Digital

My friend James Davis experience still love them, but mostly I just want a watch ....

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.

Another customer inspired skeptic tell us The minimal ego watch.

This is the watch you buy when you are sick of bulky expensive watches. When you have no ego attached to your watch purchase, and when you realize a nice watch only attracts other "watch guys", then you buy this. It tells time and day, even in the dark. You can set it to military time or 12 hour time. It has an alarm that beeps at you at a time of your choosing.

Review Christine Talk Great for tiny wrists. Fits NATO 18mm straps.

I wanted a cheap watch to bang up since I scratched a nicer one while lifting. It's the perfect size, not too big, not too small. My wrists are 5.75 inches for reference.

I swapped out the plastic band for an 18mm NATO strap for durability.

Review R. L. Ware (that's Mr. Ware to you) say A True Classic. The Patek Philippe of Digital Watches.

This is probably the most practical watch one can own. Great job Casio!

I do not understand the current trend of “cookie on a strap” when it comes to watches. You really want an 8 ounce watch made from steel salvaged from a sunken ship? This watch confidently bucks that trend both in size but also in practical value. The F91 is for those with more brains than money.

If you take a look back in watch history when watches were made to tell time and not function as high fashion, watches were smaller. The common man sized watch was about 35mm wide. Guess how wide the F91 is, yup, about 35mm wide. Do you suppose there might have been a reason watches were smaller? Perhaps weight and comfort? Ever try wearing one of the “cookie on a strap” watches with a long sleeved shirt or with gloves? As Dr. Phil would say, “how’s that working out for you?”.

The F91 fits under shirts easily and doesn’t catch on the cuff. It’s so light you forget it’s on your wrist, unlike a Seiko monster I once owned that I could not wait to take off. After you have forgotten it’s on your wrist, no reason to baby it. It’s water resistant and will survive getting knocked around just fine.

Unlike our smart watches of today, battery life is measured in years, not hours. I can’t believe I didn’t get one sooner and I can’t believe people by watches that won’t run more than 18 - 24 hours without a power source to charge the battery. That’s not progress, that’s regress. Funny how with a enough marketing some believe black is really white and the moon is just the sun at night.

As Ben Wilson say Much like in the age of early man.

In this day and age ‘greatness’ is a term used too often and too frequently, to truly achieve greatness one must bring things back to first principles. Much like in the age of early man, the importance of measuring the passing of time, the arc of the sun and moon across the sky and the changing of seasons has been core to surviving, thriving and dominating, and, in the F91-W we have the essence of the 200,000 year journey mankind has made. When man’s time on earth has passed, the F91-W will remain, keeping time in dutiful simplicity, abiding by its key tenets of dependability, timelessness and quartz precision. Other watches may come and go and, like the trappings of youth, you might be tempted to look to the glitz and shine of a gold Rolex. For this affliction I’d recommend the F-91WM-9ACF Casio Men's 'Classic' Quartz Metal and Resin Casual Watch, color: gold. Once the F91-W is on your wrist you will notice the subtle but definite shift of your stress levels, sort of like the soothing feeling of writing on a banana with a ball point pen. Who do I recommend the F91-W for? Well, simply the person who wishes to have a watch that tells the time, especially in dark environs that call for a subtly lit time check instead of the retina-frying, ‘distant explosion’ light flare of an iPhone screen. Imagine being able to time check the remaining run time of a big screen movie without lighting up the entire theatre? Imagine never having to worry about charging a device you carry with you every single day? Imagine being able to take that device with you even into the shower? Imagine that, even if you break it (which is difficult to do), you need not fear the cost of the loss, nor the time lost trying to navigate an appointment with the Apple Store to fix the ‘gorilla glass’ (which let’s face it should be re-named ‘delicate flamingo’ glass). Imagine that nobody will even notice you are wearing a watch or even consider mugging you for it and imagine that you can get all this for the princely sum of $10.35 (at time of writing). Well, imagine no more because, in the words of famed 2005 Sydney Swans Premiership Coach Paul Roos, “HERE IT IS!”.

Another customer Jacky Talk Casio forged this to survive the apocalypse.

Back in the dreaded years of high school, I really needed a watch for the SAT, something simple and efficient. I stumbled across this baby by looking up the highest rated digital watches on Amazon. At roughly $11 with endless stream of 5-stars, the watch seemed to be exactly what I needed. Little did I know that this Casio F91W-1 was much more than just a throwaway item. This baby has lasted through extreme usage. I hike with it; it's resistant to scratches. I swim with it; it's water-resistant. I've dropped it a few times when putting it on (I've got butter fingers) and there are no dents or scratches. You may as well nickname this the Nokia 3310 watch.

This may seem like a cheap watch, but Casio forged this thing to survive the apocalypse. If you're a fellow zombie hunter and want a sturdy, indestructible watch, this is the watch for you! All jokes aside, it is a great piece and you can't go wrong with it. Highly recommend it.

This a word from Enrico Romano Talk World's best watch?.

To address some of the negative reviews.

1) There are a lot of fakes of this watch. The genuine watch comes in one color, black, according to the Casio website. Given there's a pink version available on Amazon, apparently they don't know the difference! (See youtube on telling fakes apart.) I bought directly from Amazon, not simply fulfilled, and received the genuine article in a Casio box, with documentation, and warranty papers. If your watch breaks early or is inaccurate, you have a fake. If water killed your watch, it's probably fake. If your watch came in a plastic bag, it's probably fake. If the watch smells like plastic, it's fake.

2) This watch is the perfect size for smaller wrists. If you want a big watch, this is not for you.

3) The resin band is very comfortable. It's waterproof, won't absorb sweat, and it nicely designed. I don't see it breaking anytime soon.

This is a great watch. It stays perfectly accurate for days and days. It's been to the pool and rained on, and it still looks new.

Note: The correct country of origin is Thailand. Amazon incorrectly lists China and sometimes USA.

Another customer J. tell us LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. Amazing watch!.

Good:
Have had this watch for about two weeks and I LOVE it. It is EXTREMELY light weight (almost impossible to feel on your wrist unless you have it so tight it is cutting off circulation which you shouldn't be doing anyway). If it is tightened properly, you cannot feel it. The time is easy to read. The band is plastic, meaning it is waterproof and you don't have to take it off to wash your hands (like I was having to do with all my leather bands and getting annoyed). Also shows the day and the date, which is super helpful during a hectic work week when everything starts to blur together.

Has a retro 1980s vibe that is totally in right now with Stranger Things and hipsters and I've gotten a lot of compliments on it. Somehow, after all of these features, the watch still costs only $9. Thus, I offer this watch up as the very best value in any watches anywhere. I thought my $20 Timex was a good value, but after buying this watch the Timex just sits in my drawer since it seems so comparatively heavy, high maintenance (canvas band that starts to smell funky after a few weeks and needs watching). I wear this watch daily and get a weird kick out of putting it on. The best $9 I have spent in a long time. Has an aesthetic that is 100% functional/pragmatic, which just makes it a fun thing to use. I wish I had purchased this watch YEARS ago. I am excited about using this watch to backpack since I am not afraid about it being stolen, quickly tells me the time (digital), won't absorb odors or show dirt, and weighs nothing.

Bad:
The one thing I wish this watch had was an Indiglo feature like Timex watches have, since the light up feature on this watch is sufficient to see, but not nearly as nice as Timex Indiglo.

Another customer William A. Fuller say Obviously intended for child rather than an adult.

All of these cheap watches have pretty much the same internals, and this is no exception. I tend to replace them when the band breaks, which in this case figures to be about a week. The band is tiny, barely fits around my wrist and so thin and flimsy, it stands little chance of surviving for any length of time. Package arrived in an envelope with the box and plastic stand the watch ships on both smashed. I buy cheap plastic watches because my arm gets banged around a lot. Never got one this flimsy, though. Obviously intended for a 4 year old to play with for a couple of days before he loses it. Bave owned a lot of Casio watches over the years, but never got one this unlikely to survive. Don't buy this product. Decided to buy a different watch from a different seller via prime. Should be here in a couple of days. Need a watch so, I'll hold on to this until the one I ordered today arrives and return this one if it's not too complicated from out here in the boondocks which it frequently is.

Another customer Zero tell us Excellent watch for the price..

I like this watch because it keeps it's simplicity without compromising craftsmanship. I needed an everyday watch that could endure different environments I may subject it to. Needless to say, I am pleasantly satisfied with the expectations I hoped for.

It has clear digital readings, boast a 7 year battery, has an illumination feature for low light environments, an alarm feature, a stopwatch feature, 12 and 24hr modes. All for $7! Other things I like is the 30 meter (98 feet) water resistantance, the resin straps which hold up better to sweat and water, and the fact it's a Casio. If you need a beater watch, and everyday watch, or a spare watch, I highly recommend this one. It's worth every penny spent.