The Casio F91W Review – Could this be your next wristwatch?
Get your Casio F91W from Amazon
Watches nowadays can do anything, simply anything. From ordering food and taxis through to delivering your emails/notifications, monitoring your health and ending at taking and making calls. All of this is great but for some people the constant interruptions and attention that modern watches like the Apple Watch can command can be a bit too much and the simplicity of a traditional watch that just tells the date and time is all that is required.
Well with the last sentence in mind there is nothing more simple in its approach to informing its wearer of the date and time than the watch we are looking at in this review, the Casio F91W.
The Design of the Casio F91W
Designed by product designer Ryusuke Moriai, the Casio F91W was designed to be simple to use, easy to read, comfortable to wear and above all affordable.
The design of the watch is very clean in its look with an easy on the eye square shape and angular corners. It is also surprisingly small with a size of 37.5mm width, 33.5mm height and 8.5 millimeters in thickness plus it is super light, weighing in at only 21 grams, making it easy to forget that you are wearing it on your wrist.
The case is mostly made out of plastic resin, with the push buttons comprised of steel and the material used on the watch face is a shatter-resistant acrylic, which while it doesn’t shatter it is very prone to scratches. The back of the F91W’s case is made out of stainless steel and is affixed to the back of the watch using four miniature screws. Finally, the straps are made out of a comfortable resin, with a steel buckle, which affixes to the watch via small steel pins which are located top and bottom of the watch. It is worth mentioning that the straps are the only weak part of the whole make-up of the watch as they tend to break over time but eBay or Amazon can be your friend on this and you can easily get and fit a new strap to this uber reliable watch.
The watch face itself comprises of a super clear LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) which is razor-sharp, easy to read at any angle and comprises of an uncluttered display so you get the information you need at a simple glance of the watch face, which is mainly the date and time but can be the other functions of the watch that you may be using.
With all of the above in mind, the Casio F91W is also designed to be water-resistant, though we would add that isn’t waterproof to any real depth so it should be, in theory, ok if you got caught out in the rain, washed your hands with it on or wore in the shower but we wouldn’t recommend that you wear it while swimming, as even though it is cheap to buy another one, we do feel that it would probably let in water and thus damage the watch.
The Operation of the Casio F91W Digital Watch
The operation of the Casio F91W is probably what wins so many people over. It’s is just so simple to use. The main features of the watch are telling the date and time, alarm, stopwatch and operating the sidelight light to tell the time in the dark and that’s all there is to know.
Each function is accessible by pressing one of the Casio assigned steel push buttons on the side of the watch to go through its modes. So to access the Alarm function you press the bottom left button once and then use the other buttons to set an alarm. Press the same button twice when the watch is in time mode and you will access the stopwatch function which measures time to 100th of a second by utilising the other buttons on the side of the watch to operate its function. Finally pressing the same bottom left-hand button three times, from the time mode, will allow you to adjust the date, time and day again using the other buttons in the mode to adjust those settings. That’s mainly it, which to some people is all they need.
As well as the three modes of operation, which are accessed when pressing the bottom left-hand button, you can also change elements such as viewing the time in 12-hour or 24-hour formats and as well as setting the alarm you can also set an hourly chime, which can be handy if you need to know when the hours are passing throughout the day.
Battery wise the Casio F91W has a claimed battery life of up to 7 years but if you don’t use its features daily like the sidelight, alarm etc there have been reports that it has lasted for 10 years before requiring a battery change.
Reliability is also where this watch scores strongly, especially with its accurate timekeeping and it also has an enviable reputation for working all of the time which is a massive plus if you are after a watch that you just slap on your wrist and don’t need to think about.
What’s our verdict of the Casio F91W?
Overall we can see why the Casio F91W is an iconic timepiece. It is simple to use, easy to read and understand plus it is super reliable which why it appeals to the 3 million people that buy it every year.
Designwise it won’t win any beauty contests but if you want an uncomplicated watch that just tells the time, wakes you up in the morning with its simple alarm and allows you to record how long things take with its stopwatch then this is a winner in our books. Also, this would be a great timepiece to introduce children into understanding the time of day as it is such a simple watch at a size that would look great on their wrists and at around the £8-£10 mark if they break it (which is highly unlikely) then it’s no big deal.
The only things you need to be aware of are its size, as some people may find it a little too small for their wrists and believe it or not you can buy fake versions of this watch. So if you see a very cheap version of the Casio F91W on say the likes of eBay then even though it may be a tempting way to obtain one we would strongly advise that you purchase one from Amazon or Argos where you know that you will be using the official version of the watch which with its ultra-reliability will make you understand why this is such an iconic timepiece.
