Live data from Hacker News

Casio F-91W: The strangely ubiquitous watch (2011)

bbc.com

81–90 of 227 posts

Re: Casio F-91W: The strangely ubiquitous watch (2011)

#81
post #15

I bought a gshock about 16 years ago when going through military training - during the time I had two other watches stop working. The watch has been in some harsh conditions and has taking a beating, its worn down to the point you can no longer read the text captions, but you can still read the time perfectly, all functionality works, even the light, and its still on the original battery.

My main issue with G-Shocks is that the actual time digits are tiny in relation to the case size. Most of the face is covered with clutter.

Plus you never buy just one G-Shock. Even before the novelty of your new one wears out, you're already looking at other G-Shocks.

Re: Casio F-91W: The strangely ubiquitous watch (2011)

#82

I have had them for 30 years. They last on average three years. Three areas of failure: (1) The black plastic hooks to the watch bands fracture. Superglue doesnt seem to last. (2) The watch band tears. I duct-tape it sometimes. But that is temporary. If I have some bands left over from the other failures, I can replace it. (3) In high humidity states moisture sometimes gets into the works and shorts the electronics f…

So you spent 100 dollars on F-91W's over 30 years. 50 dollars could have gotten you a watch that would have lasted 30 years.

Re: Casio F-91W: The strangely ubiquitous watch (2011)

#83
post #17

> holding the right button for over 3 seconds in the main timekeeping mode; this will lead the display to show "CASIo", as a test for authenticity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W#Counterfeits

How difficult would be for a fraudster to implement such functionality?

The question should be, how much would it cost to make a convincing fake using custom circuitry?

The genuine product is so cheap, you probably can't compete with it unless you use a mass-produced generic movement.

Re: Casio F-91W: The strangely ubiquitous watch (2011)

#84
post #59

My incredibly niche use-case of the watch, in particular its low-profile face and band, is that I can do handstands while wearing it. Every other watch I've owned is too chunky and gets in the way of my wrist flexion, and have to take it off before I invert. Not the case with the Casio, and one of the reasons it doesn't leave my wrist

You can turn a watch 180 degrees on your wrist for handstands

Sometimes the moment needs to be spontaneous.

Re: Casio F-91W: The strangely ubiquitous watch (2011)

#85

I prefer an traditional dial watch (I don't care if it's digital internally). Is there something similar? A cheap, durable, reliable watch with hour/minute/second hands?

Casio makes analog watches, too. They come in hundreds of designs and they're just as cheap and reliable as their digital counterparts.

Re: Casio F-91W: The strangely ubiquitous watch (2011)

#86
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can turn a watch 180 degrees on your wrist for handstands

Sometimes the moment needs to be spontaneous.

Any watch can accommodate a handstand if you pair it with a sufficiently elastic watchband. :)

Re: Casio F-91W: The strangely ubiquitous watch (2011)

#88

Used to say I couldn't afford a watch I would wear. Then I got the modified F-91W ( https://n-o-d-e.shop/ ), now I wear a watch. Having a dumb watch gives me one more reason to leave my phone behind or off.

There's some other pretty remarkable watches you can get for 40$. Go up a bit and there's all sorts of various colorways for gshocks. The instant classic "casioak" can be had for 100$ https://www.casio.com/products/watches/g-shock/ga2100-1a1

The "100 and under" range is getting massively popular in the mechanical watch space as well. Vostok is a cult favorite and happens to fall in this range, then there's a whole range of homages (watches that are "inspired" by, typically nearly identical copies of in appearance, luxury watches such as omega or rolex) such as loreo, guanqing, and pagani.

The youtube channel "just one more watch" covers the budget watch category extensively. Here's a "under 100$" video by him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOsVmor5Qwc&t=1275s

I have no affiliation, I just am mildly obsessed with watches and wish more people were too lol

Re: Casio F-91W: The strangely ubiquitous watch (2011)

#89
I was really entertained by a little note in the manual for the watch:

"NOTE: THERE IS NO WAY unit components can be damaged or malfunction due to misoperation of buttons. If confusing information appears on the display it means entry sequence was incorrect. Please read the manual and try again."

I don't see many modern manuals stating this.

Post reply on HN