Casio F-91W
The good, the bad, and why I chose to wear the classic Casio F-91W instead of a smartwatch.
š§āš» If you donāt know who I am, my name is Razvan Muntian. This newsletter is where I share personal stories and honest recommendations every Tuesday morning for people who work remotely and want to travel more.
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I enjoy dumb watches. Iāve been wearing a cheap watch bought from Decathlon for the past 2 years, maybe even more. Iām not even sure of the model: I think itās a Decathlon Stopwatch W200 M.
Itās rubbery, rounded, bulky, ugly, but very practical. A friend of mine made fun of me: āwhy are you wearing that ugly watch?ā š
āOk, fine. Iāll buy a prettier one.ā
These are some reasons I chose the iconic Casio F-91W:
No longer worried about charging just another device
This is a huge win for me. For me personally, itās not a big difference if I have to charge my watch once every 4 days or once every 7 days. Charging is still required.
Iām sure there will be at least one occasion Iāll be in a hurry to leave the house, and my watch has no more juice.
In general, dumb watch batteries last for years. In the technical documentation, they say the Casio F-91W can run for like 7 years out of a single battery. Thatās insane. I want it!
Distraction-free
Smart devices tend to steal our attention. I donāt want another device that fights for my attention. I can put my phone away when I have a tedious task.
Compared to my phone, a smartwatch stays on my hand all the time. Itās basically in my face 95% of the time, unless I put my hand in my pocket. If itās difficult to keep your focus with your phone, I think with a smartwatch itās almost impossible.
The dumb watch says nothing. And I love it for that matter.
Stopwatch
I use this feature to track my time during the day for a bunch of things. It is an indispensable tool for me.
From measuring how long it takes to walk from one place to another, to measuring how much I have to wait for my coffee to be ready, or how much I still have to boil the eggs for when I prepare breakfast, I use the stopwatch function all the time.
It is a cheap watch
As a traveler, you visit all sorts of places. And Iām not going to lie: some places feel sketchy to say the least. Who wants to steal a cheap $20 plastic watch? Nobody.
Letās say nobody wants to steal your watch. But what happens when, by mistake, you hit the corner of the table with your watch? Thatās scary. Not sure about you, but Iām super clumsy at times. Wearing a cheap watch is great.
The look and feel
Even though Iām not a huge fan of retro gadgets, I have to admit this particular watch looks great. It is matte black and it can go well with most of the outfits I might wear.
Itās small, slim and discreet. I donāt have a big wrist, so a small watch is what Iām looking for when buying a watch.
What I donāt like about it
You cannot have everything you wish when you buy such an affordable watch. There arenāt that many things I donāt like about the watch to be honest, and I donāt want to be too picky, but I wouldāve liked it to have a stronger screen backlight.
If itās pitch black, you can read the time, but itās not the greatest. Thereās also a small LED on the left side. So basically only the left side of the screen is lit.
Also, it misses a timer function. Even though the stopwatch function is useful, you have to keep an eye on it so you donāt boil the eggs for too long. In my case, Iām easily distracted by notifications and tend to forget the food on the stove, even though the stopwatch is on.
Being so silly isnāt the watchās fault of course: itās definitely mine!
So retro! You are right that an affordable watch is better to travel with especially in certain areas.
This watch is super old school š„