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The history of Casio watches

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Re: The history of Casio watches

#41

Post by Findecanor »

function_seven wrote: post #22

I was really surprised to find out that the F-91W was first released in 1989. I had assumed it was even older than that! I wasn't too surprised to see their blurb leave out it's other (alleged!) known use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W#Usage_in_terrorism

There existed watches with the same digits, features and buttons before that, but they were in steel. 1989 is about when Casio transitioned from metal to resin.

The metal watches were succeeded by the A158W, which is chrome-plated resin on the outside, same electronics module as the F-91W on the inside, and likewise is still in production.

After the resin case of my A158W eventually broke, I got a vintage W-34 with a broken movement and put the A158W's module inside. (It will get a SensorWatch PCB once I am done with my firmware mods)

Steel replacement cases for a F-91W are now also available on Aliexpress, so you don't have to hunt down a vintage watch if you want real steel.

Re: The history of Casio watches

#42

Post by kridsdale1 »

tombert wrote: post #20
patwolf wrote: post #6

According to this their most recent innovation was in 2023 with a "virtual community where people can co-create and interact with one another via digital platforms like NFTs and the metaverse."

I facepalmed when I read that last entry. I had a G-Shock watch for a long time, it was a great watch, I have a lot of sentimentality towards it, but I do not see any reason why anyone would want an NFT for it.

Post pandemic was a wild time for executives. All the video game company CEOs too were on the NFT train.

AI mania wiped all that away instantly.

Re: The history of Casio watches

#43

Post by snicky »

rdtsc wrote: post #11

Some of cool and the wild ones: > The TM-100 was a highly unique wristwatch with the ability to transmit speech via radio. Outfitted with an FM transmitter and microphone, the watch allowed users to wirelessly broadcast their voice to a radio tuned to the right frequency simply by speaking toward the watch > The unique CMD-10 delivered remote control functionality for TVs and VCRs. Its function-minded layout of large…

I had CMD-10 as a kid. It was fun when it worked, but it wasn't pairing well with most TV sets and video players. Though it's possible I just didn't know how to set it up properly.

Re: The history of Casio watches

#44

Post by kridsdale1 »

zkmon wrote: post #30

It's interesting to see how the analog display remained dominant and kept the scope for being artistic and rich, while the digital display appeared exhausted of it's curiosity and awe of 70's and can no longer be made to look trendy.

Check out the Armitron 7-segment LED Watch. I bought it for the retro feel of having ultra lo-fi digital time but without an LCD.

Re: The history of Casio watches

#45

Post by pixelatedindex »

legitster wrote: post #29

> 2016 - First Casio outdoor watch to run Android Wear OS Could you imagine the situation they were in as the most high-tech watch company in the world? For mainstream relevance you now have to anchor yourself to a smartphone platform that is either a) hostile to your very existence or b) completely abandons their platform and leaves you and your customers out to dry. I know people complain about car manufacturers be…

> I still think about the way the CEO of Nokia back in 2010 describing what it would be like for them to abandon their in-house OS for Android: "Peeing yourself to stay warm"

This has intrigued me because eventually that’s what they ended up doing - although with two major caveats.

Firstly, the mobile space did not have room for 3 players - MS tried very hard and their Nokia phones were pretty good. But it was just one platform too many. They just couldn’t find a niche for itself as Android was being used everywhere due to their open source branch. Proves the point made by you though, there wasn’t space for a second Android if MS were to embrace open source. Nokia tried hard with Meego - I loved the UI but the market was moving at light speed back then.

Secondly, HMD started by branching off from the Nokia of yore and their Android devices are also very good.

I’ll always miss my old Nokias, they were the duopoly with the BlackBerry in the pre-smartphone era.

Re: The history of Casio watches

#47

Post by joecool1029 »

mrweasel wrote: post #26
function_seven wrote: post #22

I was really surprised to find out that the F-91W was first released in 1989. I had assumed it was even older than that! I wasn't too surprised to see their blurb leave out it's other (alleged!) known use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W#Usage_in_terrorism

The F-91W is such a fun watch. Super functional, you're not scared of damaging it, because A) You can't and B) it's like $25. The backlight is my absolute favorit feature. It's completely pointless. It can barely light up the hours, and only the left most digit and Casio never bothered to fix it. Absolutely delightful.

Casio is still super hit or miss with backlights. I have a Casio Lineage LCW-M100TSE-1AER and the light is even less useful for its display. Otherwise it's very nearly a perfect watch for me.

Re: The history of Casio watches

#48

Post by eahm »

I used to have the W-520U and it was the best watch I've ever owned ...also the only watch/thing I ever lost in my life, I left it at the gym class in school and the next day boom, gone.

http://www.digital-watch.com/DWL/1work/casio-w-520u

My favorite series since 10-20+ years ago is the ProTrek, which I guess it's part of G-Shock but I don't see them in the site. (I guess the PRT-1GPJ is there at 1999).

https://www.casio.com/us/watches/protrek

https://www.casio.com/europe/watches/protrek/brand/collectio...

https://www.casio.com/intl/watches/protrek/30th/history

Re: The history of Casio watches

#49

Post by somat »

hermitcrab wrote: post #32

Love my G-shock GW-6900. Only weak point is the resin strap, which needs replacing every few years. I do not want a 'smart' watch that needs to be regularly charged and is bleating at me all the time.

I run a 5600, I am not super familiar with the rest of the g-shock line but the straps do appear to be the weak point of the whole thing. I found an adapter that allows me to use nato style nylon webbing straps. I mainly wanted it so I could replace the straps easier, but I have not had a strap break yet. A word of caution and a recommendation. The first adapter I got was also made of resin and broke in about the same amount of time the resin straps did(~ year) I found a company called ritchie strap that sells a steel adapter which has so far lasted ~ 6 years.

On the needed adapter, webbing straps are intended to feed directly through the strap pins but g-shocks tend to have a very narrow and tight strap attach pitch(16mm), the webbing does not fit well and I wanted a wider 24mm strap. I do not want to be to damming, I think the narrow pitch is intended to be stronger than a wide pitch but it does make things inconvenient for us g-shock with webbing strap connoisseurs.

Re: The history of Casio watches

#50

Post by rvba »

pixelatedindex wrote: post #45
legitster wrote: post #29

> 2016 - First Casio outdoor watch to run Android Wear OS Could you imagine the situation they were in as the most high-tech watch company in the world? For mainstream relevance you now have to anchor yourself to a smartphone platform that is either a) hostile to your very existence or b) completely abandons their platform and leaves you and your customers out to dry. I know people complain about car manufacturers be…

> I still think about the way the CEO of Nokia back in 2010 describing what it would be like for them to abandon their in-house OS for Android: "Peeing yourself to stay warm" This has intrigued me because eventually that’s what they ended up doing - although with two major caveats. Firstly, the mobile space did not have room for 3 players - MS tried very hard and their Nokia phones were pretty good. But it was just o…

The tiles UI was simply not good.

The phones themselves were very good. I have a functional Windows phone in a drawer, that I sometimes charge (and it still works!), but after playing with the tile UI for few minutes... eww

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