CASIO AQS810W-1AV BEST WATCH EVER

Bought it for my son - it's favorite watch. The Tough Solar AQS810W-1AV. Best. Casio. Ever. (Old picture showing July)

 

Specs:

CASIO SOLAR POWERED 

• Tough solar 

• World time

 • 1/100-second stopwatch

 • 5 alarms

 • LED light (LCD part only) 

• 100-meter water resistance

 • Sporty design

G-Shock G-Lide DW-004 from Japan

My friend's DW-400 which he won from an auction Japan. Meticulate condition, in a very tasteful white and gold. According to him the price wasn't too bad either. There's a reason why G-Shocks are popular.

Photos will now do the talking:

The (Notorious?) Casio F-91W

Watch and photo by my friend Bryan.

  Ah yes the (Notorious?) Casio F-91W digital watch. The case of the F-91W measures 37.5mm by 33.5mm by 8.5mm and weighs 21 grams. A small and light watch even by small and light watch standards, the venerable Casio F-91W is one of the most accurate time keeping watches in the world. It sports a stopwatch function, date and day calendar, and an alarm. With the CR2016 battery it would last at least 10 years before needing a battery change.

  The watch gain notoriety in early 2000s for having been linked to Al Qaeda members to be used as bomb detonators, and are one of the profiles to watch for in a potential terrorist. A Casio watch had been used in the bombing of Philippine Airlines Flight 434. And Osama Bin Laden himself wears this watch.So unfortunately for a lot of people, having this watch on their wrist automatically ticks off the suspected terrorist check box.

  But for us watch fanatics, this is a piece of history. It's the bad side of history, it's still history - a reminder of how the world was and also testament to Casio's watch making abilities.

  Fear not, for while the terrorists liked Casios on their wrists, so did the counter-terrorists. That story would be for a later post.

Get your Casio F-91W here.

The JDM Casio G-Shock MTG-900DJ Won from Japan

My friend Bryan won it off of a Japanese auction site. I have little knowledge about this watch, but the Casio page spec list is very impressive.

Plus, it's a G-Shock, what could go wrong with a G-Shock? G-Shocks will famously outlast its wearer when the going gets tough. This makes a great apocalypse watch, and how appropriate, considering the virus apocalypse we're facing currently. Should the whole world go wrong badly I can see how G-Shocks can become priceless commodity for time and date keeping...


Specifications

• Multi-Band Atomic Timekeeping (US, UK, Germany, Japan, China) Receives time calibration radio signals which keep the displayed time accurate Auto receive function (up to 6 times per day/up to 5 times per day for China) Manual receive function
• Signal: US WWVB, UK MSF, Germany DCF77, Japan JJY40/JJY60, China BPC Frequency: US 60kHz, UK 60kHz, Germany 77.5kHz, Japan 40/60kHz, China BPC 68.5kHz
• Tough Solar Power Shock Resistant
• 200M Water Resistant Full
• Auto EL Backlight with Afterglow
• World Time 31 times zones (48 cities + UTC), city code display, daylight saving on/off 4 Daily alarms and 1 Snooze Alarm Hourly time signal 1/100 second stopwatch
• 
  
• Measuring capacity: 23:59'59.99"
• Measuring mode: Elapsed time, split time, 1st-2nd place times
• Countdown Timer
•  Measuring unit: 1 second Input range: 1 minute to 24 hours (1-minute increments and 1-hour increments)
• Full Auto-calendar pre-programmed from the year 2000 to 2099)
• 12/24 hour formats Button operation tone on/off
• Accuracy: ą 15 seconds per month (with no signal calibration)
• Battery power indicator
• Power saving function
• Storage battery: Solar rechargeable battery
• Approx. battery life: 6 months (from full charge to Level 3 when the watch isnot exposed to light) under the following conditions:• Display on 18 hours per day, sleep state 6 hours per day• 1 backlight operation (1.5 seconds) per day• 10 seconds of alarm operation per day• 4 times calibration reception per day

Leather Zulu on Black & Gold Casio G-Shock GA-300

Looks rugged, doesn't it? A friend's leather Zulu on a Black & Gold G-Shock GA-300 with a 24mm strap converter.

This leather Zulu strap makes the G-shock GA-300 look so much more rugged and outdoor-sy. According to him it also makes the watch so much more comfortable.

This makes a nice upgrade for anyone thinking about changing the strap on their G-Shock, but bear in mind that there needs to be a strap converter that connects the watch case itself to the strap.

You can check out the G-Shock GA-300 here.

You can get the Zulu Strap here.

The strap adapters for the G-Shock can be gotten here.

Casio Edifice EFR-303

My friend's Casio Edifice EFR-303 DY. I'm can't find the exact model on the web (PVD coated), perhaps it is region-specific.  Most of what I found are stainless steel without PVD coating.

Nevertheless, pictures: -

Dual Dial World Time
• 100-meter water resistance
• Date display
• World map dial
• Alarm

Specifications

• Case / bezel material: Stainless steel
• One-touch 3-fold Clasp
• Stainless Steel Band
• Mineral Glass
• Screw Lock Back
• 100-meter water resistance
  
  World time

  24 time zones (24 cities)

  Alarm (one-time)

  Low battery warning

  Date display

  Regular timekeeping
  Analog: 3 hands (hour, minute, city),
  3 dials (world time hour and minute, second, alarm hour and minute)

  Accuracy: ±20 seconds per month

  Approx. battery life: 3 years on SR927W
  The Casio Edifice EFR-303 in PVD can be found here.
  
  
  
  

   

   

   

   

Reflecting on Quartz Watches

I've had some time on my hands recently and reflected on my Quartz watches - Both Casios and both Edifices.

See, even if the mechanical watches have 'soul', or a heart beat, and needs attention to wind it up, set time, etc.. the quartz just ticks on and on and on. In the case of both of my Edifices, they last almost a lifetime of the watch themselves. (There was one instance where my EF-125 stopped which I thought was the battery running out, but a bit of tapping and adjusting the hands it has gone on working since.)

This is because the EF-125 has a 10-year battery, on which it is still ticking on, and the EQS-500DB is solar.

It's easy to see why quartz watches are so popular with the general populace - especially with long life batteries or solar watches - they are basically set once and forget. In the case of my EQS-500DB, it is also perpetual.

So, with the EQS-500DB, you get:

- Water resistance up to 100m
- Reliable and toughness to abuse
- world time, 1/100 chronograph, alarm, 24 hour indicator
- solar, never needing a battery change so often
- being a quartz, the time is always spot on
- perpetual calendar so you never need to set for months that skip the 31st or leap years
- essentially almost needing no service

...and all for about the same price as my Orient automatics that only just tell the time.

In essence, these two are essential to my time keeping for all my other watches - I set all my automatics to the Quartz watches (and sometimes my phone, if I could even be bothered to turn its screen on).

So if you're rational, all you need is just this one watch.


But, and this is irrational, because I like my automatics. It's like a little engine ticking away on my wrist. It's like jewellery and fine machinery combined into one. It's precision engineering. And it's a joy to watch the movement do its thing in a transparent caseback. Quartz itself is an engineering marvel in its own right when it first came out.. it's too good for its own good.

Oh well. Quartz is important - but don't let the mechanicals become obsolete (or become high-end curiosities only for the rich). I hope the likes of Seiko and Orient keep producing affordable, reliable, mechanical little spring driven engines for our wrists and I hope people keep buying them.

Casio Edifice EQS-500DB-1A2 Wrist Shot

I've been neglecting this one for quite a while. I've put it on a brown leather strap I have lying around and it does look pretty good like this.

So Casio EF-125D-7AV Bracelet Broke After 7 Years..

My Casio EF-125D-7AV's bracelet broke. Luckily, it was a spring bar that broke and fell into pieces, and doubly luckily, it was not on my wrist when it did. A simple fix. However, the 7 years of hard use has not been kind to the bracelet and spring bars.

Yes, the EF-125D-7AV is by no means a watch meant to last the eons, especially the folded metal bracelet construction, but it does worry me a bit since it has the integrated bracelet which isn't changeable when the time comes, the bracelet has gotten very loose from stretching and rattly over the years.

The watch may have stopped once in the past but that was probably due to accidental bumping of the crown. It's almost been 7 years to this day and the 10-year battery has kept ticking non-stop, with essentially zero maintenance. That is pretty darn amazing. Also, I have dropped it once to a tile floor from arm height, standing up. Dented the case a bit, but no other damages.

If you didn't know, the EF-125D was my first 'proper' watch I got for myself, back in late 2008. It is the watch that got me into watches.

On a Cloudy Day..

Casio EF-125D-7AV

Casio WS200H Tough Solar Digital

Casio WS200H Tough Solar Digital , 100m water resistance. Inexpensive but extremely tough and

 resilient tough practical watch like all Casios.

Very Nice Ladies Casio G-Shock

 

 Took these photos some time ago of a friend's Casio G-Shock, but neglected to put it up for a while. I forgot to check the model number, but fairly high end watch (can't recall but might be stainless steel or even titanium).

So My EF-125 10 Year Batteries Finally Needed Replacement (Updated)

 Alas, it had to happen sooner or later. The 10 year batteries in my EF-125 finally has weakened enough that it stops intermittently at random. I bought this watch in 2009, and it's been 5 years (2014 as I write this), so give or take heat, wear, and some time sitting in shops, it's time to replace the batteries in it soon.

 Meanwhile I'll just wear my other watches.

UPDATE: Actually, it works fine now for the past 24 hours. And first thing I did was to check that the crown is pulle out, it's not. So it's a sign that there is some battery low voltage, or some dust has gotten inside and stopped the gears. I will not replace the batts for now.

Casio Baby-G Ana-Digi (BGA-200)

This Casio Baby-G Ana-Digi belongs to a friend. As I didn't check what model it is, a little searching on the internet and the closest I found should be the BGA-200 model. This is one very nice black model, very minimalist and stylish at the same time.

I like the white over black display. The date displays 2 alphabets instead of the usual three (as can be seen "WE" instead of "WED" which takes some getting used to I guess. Not sure what the upper right corner (lower right in this shot) shows, looks like an element to show the time passing. Not sure about the "04" as well, but I'm guessing the seconds counter.

It was strapped to a basket so I just took a shot like that.

Casio MTP-1336

Here is a Casio MTP-1336, belongs to a friend. Classic rectangular shape, and very durable. Because it's a Casio. His shows a ton of wear and scratches, because it is 'much loved'. Quite lightweight, not displaying the heft of like some of the Edifices. Fold-link bracelet at this price point. It says water resist, but not sure about the resistance - I'm going to guess it is 30 or 50M. That's a snap-on caseback, going to guess it is 30M.

I knew it was too good to last...

Well earlier I had posted about my Edifice EQS-500DB-1A2 bending a spring bar and the watch fell to the floor without damage? Well, turns out it dented the watch and I totally missed it until this afternoon, when I got new springbars and put the bracelet together. Sigh. Oh well, first cut is the deepest they say, here's to many more years with my Edifice EQS-500DB-1A2!

....meanwhile, an excuse for a new watch!! How about Casio Edifice EQS-A500?? Or the EQS-700DB-1AV I've been eyeing?

 Decisions decisions..

Bad Luck Today

Hit some bad luck with my new Casio Edifice EQS-500DB-1A2. I snagged it against a door catch and bent the spring bars, which came apart from the watch case and it fell onto the floor.

Fortunately, however, there aren't any scratches on the watch itself, surprisingly, since when it fell, it landed on the bracelet side, on a smooth tile floor. Even the bracelet didn't show much of a scratch, I am extremely lucky. The only damage on the case appears to be very tiny scratches on the side of the impact, which looks like wear against the bracelet anyway. Needless to say, Casios are tough.

I will be heading over to my watch guy for some new spring bars. 

Sorry for the bad pics, evening pics with iPad..

Casio MTP and LTP-1183A-7ADF for my sister-in-law and her husband

So, my wife has this wonderful idea that we not only gift their children the digital watches in the previous post, but we also gift her sister and her husband matching watches. Here they are:

Yes, Casio again.. But why not? they are affordable, they look great and they last a long time. Great "bang for the buck".

These models are the MTP and LTP-1183A-7ADF. They are the classic design, no lume, elegant silver dial that will look good for years. A bit lightweight, but the design should work for most environment, whether in office, at dinners, etc. Pretty sure they will like it. They used to have watches, which are of questionable brand, and for some reason are either not working now or not wearing it any longer.

Again, hopefully these will kickstart their interest.

UPDATE: More photos! Someone was interested in the watch so I took more photos and some comparison with my existing watches..

Casio Ladies LTF-115

Sorry for bad photos, these were taken at night.

Another Casio in our collection, this scratched and heavily worn "Pink Butterfly" Casio belongs to my lovely wife. She has another 2 watches in her collection, which I will put on here some other time. But this is the watch that she wears the most. Indeed, she has worn out the original leather strap, and this one in the pictures is a replacement. Other than needing a new battery, this watch never gave her any problems. 

It's no wonder Casios are so popular in our family, unlike some cheaper Quartz watches which fall apart, Casios last even with very heavy use.

Here's a promo image of that watch in proper lighting:

It is weird that I could not find this watch on Casio's web site, perhaps it had been discontinued.

Eyeing the Casio Edifice EQS-700DB-1AV

Uh oh, I am getting the collectors addiction....

Lately I have set my eyes on this very nice Edifice:

• Partial ion plated
• Neobrite
• Sapphire Glass
• 100-meter water resistance
• Case / bezel material: Stainless steel
• Stainless Steel Band
• One-touch 3-fold Buckle
• Solid Band
• Solar powered
• World time
  29 time zones (29 cities + coordinated universal time), daylight saving on/off, Home city / World time city swapping
• 1/100-second stopwatch
  Measuring capacity: 23'59.99''
  Measuring modes: Elapsed time, split time
• Daily alarm
• Low battery alert
• Power Saving (Hands stop to save power when the watch is left in the dark.)
• Full auto-calendar (to year 2099)
• Regular timekeeping
  Analog: 3 hands (hour, minute (hand moves every 10 seconds), second),
  3 dials (24-hour, world time hour and minutes, day), date
• Accuracy: ±15 seconds per month
• Approx. battery operating time:
  6 months on rechargeable battery (operation period with normal use without exposure to light after full charge)
  28 months on rechargeable battery (operation period when stored in total darkness with the power save function on after full charge)
• Size of case/total weight: 50.5 X 47.3 X 12.6 mm/184 g

Sapphire crystal? And with all the gizmos? I seriously hope I don't get it, makes my wallet complain. ;)

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