Designer watch? I’ll keep my £25 Casio, thanks

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I just wanted to tell the time. Quickly, with no strings attached. Without having to hunt down my phone. Without being sucked into a rabbit hole of emails and social media. I didn’t want to monitor how many steps I had taken, my pulse, or the weather I could plainly see out of the window. I didn’t want vibrations, beeps, ringtones. It was 2017, two years after a certain game-changing smartwatch launched. I wanted zero fuss and zero showboating. It was a pretty basic need. 

So I bought a Casio F-91W. Its ’80s aesthetic – elongated octagonal face, digital functionality – summed up all I wanted: to go back in time to something more simple. Casio calls its mode of designing “future classic”. This model debuted in June 1989; Back to the Future Part II was released in cinemas that November, with Marty McFly wearing a Casio (OK, so it was a CA-53W calculator watch).

Casio F-91W, from £24.90

Casio G-Shock GMW-B5000SS, £639

On social media #mycasiostory is being pushed by the Japanese brand as it celebrates 50 years of making watches. There are some quirky anecdotes being shared, and the spirit of Back to the Future seems to be the enduring narrative. Not least in the intergenerational interplay emerging, from the dad posting his gunmetal-grey G-Shock alongside his daughter in a powder-blue Baby-G, to the son who now wears the watch his father once did. He writes on Instagram of the brilliantly weird 1987 Casio FS-60W (Module 683) with its diagonal digital face: “My father was wearing this timepiece. I remember it well because it was thin and flirty. But honestly I didn’t think it was cool. Now that I’m about as old as my dad was then, this watch is freaking cool to say the least. I think I’m going to casually brag next time we see each other. ‘Isn’t this thin and nice? It’s very light.’ Same line as my father did that day.”

I didn’t want vibrations, beeps, ringtones. I wanted zero fuss and zero showboating

Talk of many of the brand’s retro-futuristic models, most way ahead of their time, is resurfacing as part of the anniversary – the 1994 watch that monitored barometric pressure (ATC-1100), the 2000 watch with the micro digital camera (WQV-1), the 2001 solar-powered radio-controlled watch (WVA-300). Then there’s the cult of the G-Shock, launched in 1983. It’s not so much a quirky relic as an evolving icon of indestructibility. Entire bash-tastic labs have been built to test its limits. One jeweller posts on social media of a barnacled model: “This Casio G-Shock was retrieved from the ocean by a diver. He brought it to our shop, still in working order.” The story is only beaten by this one of a radio-controlled watch: “I lost my Waveceptor (WVA430u) seven years ago. Last week it was found in my gutter…. Not only was it working – it had the correct time and date and the battery showed full charge!” 

Casio A168WG-9EF, £60

Casio AQ-800E-7AEJF, £44.90

Casio’s 1974 move into watches grew from its experience in making calculators. The four Kashio brothers (Tadao, Toshio, Kazuo and Yukio) had founded Casio Computer Co Ltd in 1957 and, after the success of the Casio Mini calculator, were looking to broaden their horizons. The thinking that “watches simply add up seconds” inspired the first Casio watch, the Casiotron, whose automatic calendar function broke new ground in digital watches. A decade later, having launched a plethora of models, Casio shipped its 100 millionth watch. This February saw a Casiotron re-release, the TRN-50-2AER, in an edition of 4,000 (£449), which sold out, and a gold- and blue-accented “Sky and Sea” model came in May – part of a 50th anniversary trio, together with G-Shock and Edifice models.

Seven more digital watches to count on

Autodromo steel Group C, £415

Breitling titanium Aerospace B70 Orbiter, £3,950

Bulova gold-tone steel Computron, £299

Citizen steel Promaster Land, £549

Hamilton steel PSR Digital Quartz, £725

Omega titanium Seamaster Regatta America’s Cup, £7,000

Today, Kazuhiro Kashio (Kazuo’s eldest son), Takashi Kashio (Toshio’s eldest son) and Tetsuo Kashio (Yukio’s eldest son) are in senior-management or board-level roles at Casio. Last year, Casio’s sales for timepieces hit ¥167bn (about £880mn), and ¥20.9bn (about £110mn) in operating profits – up 6 per cent for the former, down 2.7 per cent YOY for the latter. Results were below expectation, with an explanation cited as: “The ongoing impact of the decrease in the number of physical stores in North America and the downturn in consumer confidence in China. Although sales in Europe were strong, in Japan the recovery in domestic demand was sluggish.” 

My trusty F-91W, however, remains the bestselling watch on Amazon. It’s about £15 in black, and around £25 for a hot-pink one like mine. People comment – and compliment me – on its cheap chic regularly. “I am part of a subculture that nods at one another, with mutterings of colour choice, random alarm patterns and durability,” says architect Melissa Beasley of her mustard model. “It is lightweight, reliable, beautifully simple and water-resistant. I love it for its constancy: it’s easy to wear, looks cool and is rarely taken off. At night, I squint at the tiny, dimly lit LCD screen when the children stir.” She also notes: “I even bought my husband a modified F-91W from Etsy, black with a gold trim and custom-coloured lilac LCD screen.”

Its reach is notable and bizarre. Barack Obama wore a F-91W back in his Chicago days. Osama bin Laden was also a fan. In 2011, The Guardian reported that leaked documents revealed that the watch “was taken as evidence of detainees [in Guantánamo Bay] having bomb-making training”. 

Casio’s cultish design messaging is direct – each model communicates its own narrative. If you know, you know. The F-91W was worn by a kid in Stranger Things. Sigourney Weaver wore a F-100 as Ripley in Alien. Barry Keoghan wore an A163WA watch as Oliver in Saltburn. “The Casio is functional, precise and accurate. For such a calculated and focused character like Oliver this is perfect,” said Saltburn prop master Phil Smith in an interview with GQ at the time. 

Functional, precise and accurate. I’ll take that, future-proofed, without any bells and whistles, thanks.