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Comment by dcw303 | Hacker News Reader

The Casio F-91W Digital wrist watch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W

Keeps better time than a Rolex, and is a fraction of the price. Waterproof. Has an alarm, stopwatch, and timer; all things missing from traditional wind ups. Interface is easy to use and discover. The battery last almost forever.

Now, if you're asking if it's aesthetically pleasing, that's a different story. But we were talking about design, right?

EDIT: Wikipedia says they're only splash proof; I used to swim with mine but there you go. And I'm making up the timer function, that must have been on later models only.

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Unfortunately, combined with eastern features, it can get you into trouble in US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seton_Hall_reports#Detainees.2...

Where "get you into trouble" means "you can be sent to a secret prison to be tortured for the rest of your life just because you were wearing a common watch".

Yay.

Now, if you're asking if it's aesthetically pleasing, that's a different story. But we were talking about design, right?

Hmm I think design also includes aesthetics - at least somewhat. Think about UI/UX. Both are design concepts. You're essentially describing the Casio as providing a great UX but not a great UI. I'd still argue UX is more important, but I wouldn't fully ignore UI when talking about design.

The F91W is very hard to beat but I recommend shelling out the extra ten quid for a Casio W86:

http://zegarki.worldtrade24.pl/images/Zegarek%20meski%20Casi...

F91W owners are always jealous of my nice bright EL backlight!

While we are at it why not the indestructable g-shock for a few extra tens of quid? DW-5600?

http://www.g-shock.eu/global/images/lineup/zoom/DW-5600E-1VE...

Yup- a fair criticism of the F91W is the weak backlight.

Bought one for my son, and replaced the led with a nice red one. http://www.instructables.com/id/Watch-LED-Light-Mod/

Everybody I know in the military owns a few of these, normally tied to bits of gear. They're robust enough to rely on and when they do get destroyed they're cheap enough to replace. An n+1 configuration is pretty affordable.

I had one glued to the brake fluid canister on a motorcycle for a few years :)

They might only claim to be splash proof but I have dived to 30m with mine over a 10 times and to 20+m probably over 50 times and it's still going strong.

That's interesting. Other people I know have said the same as you but I've had two F91s fail and let water in with light swimming. I bought a W59 which is almost exactly the same (I'm not entirely sure what the difference is) and not had any problems since.

Spent six months surfing, swimming, and sweating through the tropics with an F91W strapped to my wrist. I bought it because it was cheap and I was poor, but I fell in love with it instantly. Lightweight, durable, and accurate as hell, it was the perfect companion.

It's a shame the strap's shitty, though. I noticed a nick along the inside edge one day and thought nothing of it. Got off the bus in San Jose and it was already torn halfway through. By the time I found a place to stay for the night, it was gone. I damn near cried.

I don't have that kind of attachment to watches orders of magnitude more expensive.

I disagree. I have one and every time the hourly "beep" gets back on (not sure how) I have to google it to figure out how to remove it. I don't find this watch well designed at all when it comes to intuitive features.

Had one of those for a looong time when I was in middle/high school. My teachers especially loved how it emitted 2 strident beeps at each hour. And indeed, that was the most efficient watch I ever had.

The frequency at which those beeps are emitted, and the fact that there are, as you put it, precisely "2 strident beeps" makes it impossible to locate by sound alone. I misplaced one of these a decade ago somewhere in the "mess that is my home office" and had been punished with these two, maddening, beeps going off every hour for about nine of those ten years. I'm not sure if it was found by someone else or the battery finally gave in, but it used to drive me crazy.

Let's face it, that's not a problem with the watch per se :)

But that's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;)

Aesthetics is often part of design.

I'm sure at the time this watch was released, it felt like your latest iPhone!

Speaking of legacy watches, anybody remembers the one of the first smartwatches from Microsoft/Timex - DataLink? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Datalink

Not to mention detonates a bomb like no other.

I thought that was Nokia phones that did that?

The F-91W is so ubiquitous that at one point it was associated with Al-Qaida's bomb making techniques.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-13194733

Each has their place. Nokia 3310 for remote detonation, Casio F-91W for a time bomb.

Best part about the N3310 is that its reusable.

After one year the plastic wristband broke. Bought the one with a metal wristband, it broke after 2.5-3 years.

My only complaint is the light is too faint. I need to hold it about 6 inches from my eye to see the whole display at once in the dark, and my eyes are still pretty good.

Also, if the light button had a timed-release of around 4 seconds that would be a big usability improvement.

Check out the Casio F105W. Identical watch but uses an electroluminescent backlight instead of an LED to illuminate the display.

The best thing about the watch is the weight and small footprint. I can just strap it on and just forget about it. I have been wearing mine for 2 months now almost continuously.

They are a brilliant watch. I've hard two of those watches that have covered most of my life.

I have a couple of those for outdoor stuff. I find the straps quite uncomfortable.

I'm wearing one. The only feature I miss is a countdown timer.

Does it really have a timer though?

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