Casio Classic Chronograph Watch F-91WC-4AEF > Reviews (8)

'Classic design' is an overused phrase – it has become all too often euphemism for 'old hat' – 'limited functionality' or somehow second rate (often with a low price tag) but occasionally, it simply means a perfect design which has been around for what seems forever.

The Casio F-91W is one such timepiece.

The original models were brought out around twenty years ago, and were scarcely remarkable even then.

It was only when I read a recent article about how the CIA had noted a supposed link between these watches and international terrorists that I realised that not only had I owned SIMILAR watches in the past, but indeed the items I so fondly remembered were EXACTLY THE SAME MODEL – does that make me a marked man? I sincerely hope not!

What really took me by surprise though was that in an age of novelty, added function, 'Moore's law' – and so on (it's astonishing to realise that the F-91W is still being made, and more to the point bought worldwide.

When the '91 first came out, I was an IT systems manager – we had around 60 uses connected to a minicomputer – it occupied two full height racks, boasted 900Mb of storage, had a core memory of 24Mb and cost around quarter of a million quid. It used as much power as a domestic heating boiler and required a staff of half a dozen to support it.

Your average business laptop is thousands of times more powerful and costs a five hundredth of that.

The design of the F-91W has remained almost entirely unchanged, as indeed has the price.

Even in 1991 it was a very conservative design.

The case is made of plastic – usually black, although numerous colours have been produced at one time or another.

As the good book says in Genesis chapter 27 verse 11 “My brother is a hairy man, but I am a smooth man' – whilst I don't have a great deal of body hair, I used to hate the way metal wristbands would nip my wrist – the plastic strap avoids such a problem, although in very hot weather it can get a bit sweaty.

The LCD screen is clear and uncluttered. I recall the backlight was provided by means of a tiny incandescent bulb – recent reviews have mentioned an LED (white versions of which clearly wouldn't have been available in 1991) but that may be that the reviewer was simply using the term generically.

Round the casing are three silver coloured buttons – it always struck me that four would have been a more logical number to build, after all, that would place a function on each 'corner' of he casing, but clearly the product designers decided that three were absolutely and entirely sufficient.

And that design philosophy has been carried forward to every other aspect of the timeiece.

First of all, it's just for telling the time.

No polyphonic alarms (just a simple 'beep') – it won't act as a calculator, altimeter, it doesn't support multiple time zones, it doesn't ever record the year number (so you have to advance to the 1st of March yourself 3 years out of 4!)

There's no GPS, FM radio, heart monitor, appointments calendar or any of that nonsense.

It's just a cheap plastic watch, and it does the task brilliantly.

You can set a daily alarm, have it chime every hour (although this will go on through the night unless you choose to switch it off) you can use it as a timer (and do lap times etc) but in reality it works best as just telling the time.

The display will also show the date and day of the week, and can show 12 and 24 hour modes.

Accuracy isn't astonishing – it's fine for a couple of seconds a month, but in the real world, do you really need anything more?

The watch isn't entirely waterproof, although it'll tolerate a remarkable level of dampness (as long as you're not actually immersing it in water, the occasional shower won't do it any harm)

The battery life is a claimed seven years, on all of the several models I owned, the strap broke after several years and wasn't worth replacing – a whole new watch including a fresh battery was only a couple of quid more.

In summary, if you remember having a Casio watch LIKE this, the chances are it actually WAS this.

It now seems that almost every piece of electronic equipment from mobile phones, microwave ovens, computers and bicycle pumps (OK I made that one up) has a built in clock, it's comforting to know there's still room for something that simply gets on with performing the original task for which it was intended – telling the time!

After steadfastly refusing to wear a watch for the last twenty years I think it's about time I got myself one, and this is the one for me.