Casio Men’s Classic Black Resin Strap Watch Digital F91W-1

Excellent value, ludicrously accurate. The watch is fully functional, shows you all the important current-time information on one screen, is light weight, and is very inexpensive. It is specified as drifting by up to 30 seconds a month, but the one I got runs fast by only about 0.3 seconds a month or 0.011 seconds a day. That’s just crazy! I wish my more-expensive watches were this accurate! Its one flaw is that its light is inadequate for reading in the dark. It’d be better if the light were positioned on the bottom of the screen under the “:” symbol. Other than this, the display is high-contrast and very legible in most lighting conditions. On an absolute scale, it rates 4/5 because of its poor light, but on a relative scale considering its very low price, it rates 5/5.

I initially got this watch to time myself while performing stand-up comedy. I’m no longer a stand-up comedian, but I can assure you that this watch had no part in the demise of my comedy career – this is an excellent watch.

I found this watch while searching “basic digital watch”. I simply wanted a simple device that would allow me to tell the time as quickly as possible – and the Casio F-91W has definitely fulfilled that purpose with comfort, water resistance, and a few other bells and whistles.

It’s been two and a half months since I received and set this watch to my local time zone and as of right now, it’s about 11 seconds too slow. The settings are pretty intuitive – I was easily able to figure out how to set and use the clock and stopwatch. I haven’t used the alarm function yet.

My only complaint is that the light only illuminates the left side of the screen, but that’s definitely not worth docking a star over – even at night the numbers are still easy enough to read from most angles. I can say with the utmost confidence that this watch is an $18 well spent.

The product description said the length was 11″ and width was 14″. In either case I thought it would fit my wrist (adult man). When it arrived, it’s length is just over 8″. Disappointing as F, b/c now I have to arrange for a return and refund and buy another one. I gave Casio a shot on Amazon, but I’ll be going to Wal-Mart so I can actually see what I’m buying. Too bad the webmaster of this prodcut page didn’t do their homework; and I’m paying the price in inconvenience.

I am not really a fan of digital watches! Except this watch (or one as close to this in looks as makes no difference) was the one that I used during my military training back in 1988… As such, and purely for nostalgia and the retro styling, I bought this.

When I bought my original Casio watch back in 1987-88, I think it cost more than £20-£30 (that was quite a lot of money to me then!) so it really was a no-brainer to buy this iconic slice of time-keeping design history for £10 almost 35 years later. It looks slightly incongruous next to the other more traditional watches in my collection but it does have a nostalgic hold over me!

So – what do I think about this watch now?

It tells the time. It does this simply, accurately and the battery seems to last forever (around 3 years so far – that’s longer than one of my more ‘flashy’ analogue watches costing almost 30 times more from a ‘good’ manufacturer which seems to go through a battery a year).

The display is easy to read and the back light is good enough for night time use (which beats the lume on some of my more expensive watches). It’s splash-proof and quite tough – at this price point, I have no qualms about taking this watch out on hiking and cycling trips (which is another plus over some of my other watches).

The design is iconic – and it looks cool, not flashy… The only thing that did shock me was that the watch did seem much smaller than I remembered but that is probably just my memory playing tricks.

In short – this is a good buy – if you want a functional, iconic and accurate watch it probably can’t be beaten! It certainly makes more sense than spending hundreds of pounds!

The quintessential watch for any collector. Bought this first for myself and passed it down to my 6 year old who loves it. This is a great little watch and should be a part of anyone’s collection. It is water resistant but I have taken it swimming etc and it works like a charm. Easy to read. If I had to come up with a negative, it would have to be the light. It is weak and small. You can see the face but it could be brighter. Definitely not as good as the newer illuminator models but not horrible. I would highly recommend this watch. It does wear small BUT that helps it to almost disappear on the wrist. Extremely light and comfortable. The strap is soft and supple and conforms nicely to the wrist. For the price, this is one of the best values you can get. PLEASE purchase this watch for your kids if you are getting them their first… don’t get swayed by the “Spiderman” etc watches at Walmart that are cheap (cheaply made not cheap price $30 bucks for a kids watch?!) because you are simply paying for the name. I just purchased another F91-W for my other son. This watch will start a lifetime love of watches! Do it!

I bought this renowned watch for its iconic status. Many reviews have already been done on the quality and functionality of the watch, so I’m instead going to add the following interesting facts:

1. Most folk say this watch was released in 1991, but in fact it was released in Japan in 1989. This makes it the longest manufactured digital-watch in history.

2. Casio state that these watches continue to sell around 3 million of these watches worldwide EVERY SINGLE YEAR making it the best selling digital-watch in history.

3. The watch was worn by Barack Obama AND Osama Bin Laden….more or less simultaneously!

4. Due to its construction and availability, the Casio f91w was adopted by terrorists for use as timers in Improvised Explosive Devices. The CIA considered possession of the watch as an identifier for their ‘terrorist watch list’. At one point, it is alleged that over 30% of inmates at Guantanamo Bay had been found in possession of either a F-91w or a variation carrying the same module.

5. With a good battery and the watch kept at body-temperature, accuracy over time is said to be more accurate than mechanical/analogue designs….including Rolex!

6. This model has been displayed in the London School of Art, due to its iconic design.

7. Purists refer to this watch as the ‘happy meal watch’ due to the fact that, wherever you are in the world, the watch generally retails at the same price as a Macdonald’s meal.

Some people are worried about the ‘Water Resist’ standard? Well the following is the official standard (ISO 2281) which the watch is able to exceed:

Resistance when immersed in water at a depth of 10 cm.

Immersion of the watch in 10 cm of water for 1 hour.

Immersion of the watch in 10 cm of water with a force of 5 N perpendicular to the pusher buttons for 10 minutes.

The watch shall be placed on a heated plate at a temperature between 40 °C and 45 °C until the watch has reached the temperature of the heated plate (in practice, a heating time of 10 minutes to 20 minutes, depending on the type of watch, will be sufficient). A drop of water, at a temperature between 18 °C and 25 °C shall be placed on the glass of the watch. After about 1 minute, the glass shall be wiped with a dry rag. Any watch which has condensation on the interior surface of the glass shall be eliminated.

Immersion of the watch in 10 cm of water at the following temperatures for 5 minutes each, 40 °C, 20 °C and 40 °C again, with the transition between temperatures not to exceed 1 minute. No evidence of water intrusion or condensation is allowed.

Immersion of the watch in a suitable pressure vessel and subjecting it within 1 minute to the rated pressure for 10 minutes, or to 2 bar in case where no additional indication is given. Then the overpressure is reduced to the ambient pressure within 1 minute. No evidence of water intrusion or condensation is allowed.

Exposing the watch to an overpressure of 2 bar. The watch shall show no air-flow exceeding 50 μg/min.

(No magnetic or shock resistance properties are required.
No negative pressure test is required.
No strap attachment test is required.
No corrosion test is required)

So there you have it: The Casio f91w. Probably the most astute £10 purchase you’ll ever make!