Joey et al.’s work ports the SPICE astronavigation library to the on board ARM m0 giving you a complete orrery in a classic F91W “Terrorist” watch. It is fantastic!
I really love being able to get an estimate of when and where The Moon will rise, or where Saturn is right now. Timekeeping and astronomy are two of the oldest forms of science we have and I love being in constant touch with them via the newest science we have: computers! (The source is all open and available for you to hack on, including a nifty emulator.)
https://yeswatch.com/wrist-watch/worldwatch/worldwatchV7-col...
They're expensive, but beautiful.
It took me a bit of searching, but sure enough:
https://www.sensorwatch.net/docs/watchfaces/complication/#or...
Seems very tedious to actually use, but very cool to have it in the unassuming wristwatch.
https://www.sensorwatch.net/docs/watchfaces/complication/#as...
What would be even better would be to acknowledge that altitude is somewhat moot when all these objects are in the ecliptic plane — unsurprisingly Jupiter at Jovian noon is roughly where The Sun was at lunchtime! — and instead cycle through the azimuths of each object in the sky, in the order in which they are visible.
Still I bet the Casio works offline longer :p
I'll have to revisit the sensor watch, I'd love to hit a button for sunrise and moonrise
https://old.reddit.com/r/casio/comments/15n9anq/did_we_all_f...
I am wearing one right now - it has been my daily driver for literally decades
(While it has VCR controls built-in, it can "learn" infrared frequencies for "new" inventions like DVD players - copying from an existing IR remote control. Surprisingly, still compatible with modern TVs - at least for basic functions like volume control.)
It was once "futuristic"; collectors now sell them as "retro" and "vintage"
I also had the one that could do IR messages with other watches, and that was a lot less disruptive and still pretty fun.
*It was the C-80 and it was the 80s, it was rubberized all over like the G-Shock of today.
It also comes to: should a teacher "trust" their students not to be intentionally disruptive in interesting ways? Now I wonder if I should similarly trust my users (who are co-workers who are at least getting paid to not cause disruptions)...
Is it actually worth it for a teacher to spend time red-teaming basic lesson equipment? I really think not unless the teacher has reason to believe her students are particularly mischievous.
> The TM-100 was a highly unique wristwatch with the ability to transmit speech via radio. Outfitted with an FM transmitter and microphone, the watch allowed users to wirelessly broadcast their voice to a radio tuned to the right frequency simply by speaking toward the watch
> The unique CMD-10 delivered remote control functionality for TVs and VCRs. Its function-minded layout of large remote control buttons ensured intuitive operability. Users could turn their TV or VCR on or off, change channels, adjust the volume, and more using the watch on their wrist.
And then there is the sad one, too:
> The ever-innovative G-SHOCK brand takes a new step, launching a virtual community where people can co-create and interact with one another via digital platforms like NFTs and the metaverse.
> Simply holding the watch’s built-in speaker up to the receiver of a push-button telephone allowed users to place calls to stored numbers
So a miniaturized version of one of this (which I totally uselessly had as a kid): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z438yRW0rGQ.
When I was young I had the calculator watch. I guess C-80, as I remember the white buttons sticking out, but I can't remember any other features. Also not sure why I had a calculator watch I must only have been about 6 or 7 years old. Maybe I'd convinced my parents it was cool!
I also had a 50m water resistant watch, which isn't in the article, but looks like it was the W-59. This was black plastic.
I must have had another watch around this time too, as I remember having a skin reaction (eczema) to the metal back, and having to wear a cotton layer between the watch and my skin. It couldn't have been the next watch though, as the article says it was introduced in 1995 and the eczema would have been around 1986.
The AQ-230 was the last watch I wore before going watchless for about 20 years.
In the early 2000s the strap on my AQ-230 broke, and I realised that I now always had a mobile phone with the time and no longer needed a watch. I didn't get another watch until my first Garmin for running / hiking, but that was only worn during activities, and my most recent Garmin that I tend to wear most of the time.
Could you imagine the situation they were in as the most high-tech watch company in the world? For mainstream relevance you now have to anchor yourself to a smartphone platform that is either a) hostile to your very existence or b) completely abandons their platform and leaves you and your customers out to dry.
I know people complain about car manufacturers being hostile to CarPlay and Android Auto. But I think in the long run, the executives are being smart. Looking down the history of other companies that turned over responsibility of their user experience to tech companies - there's not a good track record of long-term successes.
I still think about the way the CEO of Nokia back in 2010 described what it would be like for them to abandon their in-house OS for Android: "Peeing yourself to stay warm".
Car infotainment is full of examples of why the car manufacturers can't be trusted to have *short term* success. Garbage UI, constantly charging huge money for obsolete-before-you-get-them updates. The Google Graveyard looks like a fertility clinic compared to the car entertainment systems put out by GM/Ford/BMW/Toyota/Everyone
We’re talking about the same auto executives that would sell you a $100k+ car and then try to charge you $200/year for map updates so that the built in navigation wasn’t out of date 1 year into ownership? Those are the guys worried about the tech stack in your car being “abandoned”?
Apologies if I’m skeptical that that aren’t just hoping to use the infotainment as another source of recurring revenue. Especially when they’ve said as much in earnings calls.
This has intrigued me because eventually that’s what they ended up doing - although with two major caveats.
Firstly, the mobile space did not have room for 3 players - MS tried very hard and their Nokia phones were pretty good. But it was just one platform too many. They just couldn’t find a niche for itself as Android was being used everywhere due to their open source branch. Proves the point made by you though, there wasn’t space for a second Android if MS were to embrace open source. Nokia tried hard with Meego - I loved the UI but the market was moving at light speed back then.
Secondly, HMD started by branching off from the Nokia of yore and their Android devices are also very good.
I’ll always miss my old Nokias, they were the duopoly with the BlackBerry in the pre-smartphone era.
The phones themselves were very good. I have a functional Windows phone in a drawer, that I sometimes charge (and it still works!), but after playing with the tile UI for few minutes... eww
No car manufacturer suffered that badly from using standard-sized single-DIN/double-DIN radios for a couple of decades. CarPlay/Android Auto are just software versions of those. It's a way to let your car stay more relevant 3, 5, 10 years down the line.
But that conflicts with short-term revenue optimization, data gathering, advertising, etc.
At least Polar had a watch that would run in low-power mode by default and had a separate CPU that could run Android Watch when needed but that would drain the battery quickly. They had the sense to not make it the flagship model and it looks like the current models don't have anything like that.
The automakers should seek to win over customers by making the better experience, not by excluding the other options.
Which in-house OS this was about? For Symbian, "burning platform" was at least honest.
Just.. mirror my phone onto the display. I don't need a car companies 10 year old ideas of "user experience." Just give me a few knobs for the climate controls and then get out of my way.
I, as the user, am happy to "take responsibility" for this.
“The debut of the GW-300J introduced a new line — The G — driven by a passion for creating the ultimate wristwatch: one that would never break, never stop, and never fail to keep precise time.”
I have worn the same GShock GW-6900 continuously, all day and night, every day for 15+ years.
I wore it in war, diving in the pacific, skydiving, on stage pitching, on TV shows and am currently wearing it
I’ve replaced the band ONCE and it keeps perfect time and the backlight is a handy light in a pinch.
Probably the best purchase I’ve ever made
they're probably worse but still incredibly good. I have one of these (W-735H-1AV - https://www.casio.com/intl/watches/casio/product.W-735H-1AV/)... Got it for ~20 euros off amazon in 2018 and it's still rocking.
I never had to change the battery (so far) but I had to change the straps twice.
The only other thing I have with similar levels of toughness is the rogue leather hat I wore for at least 20 years. https://rogue.co.za/collections/headgear But I eventually sweated a hole in it and had to buy another one.
I have no idea what happened to that hat, but it was very sturdy
[1] https://www.casio.com/us/watches/casio/product.MQ-24-7BLL/?u...
The GPR-B1000 was promising, as it signaled Casio might be heading towards making watches with advanced features like GPS, yet a bit different from regular smartwatches and close to their traditional models. This model was tied to a phone app, but I thought this was OK for their first iteration.
Fast forward to 2023, their expensive DW-H5600 was very disappointing. They included a Polar heart rate monitor, which are known for their reliability. Nevertheless, hear rate readouts are extremely noisy to the point of being useless. Also, setting up the watch requires pairing it with a Casio app, which is absurd for a non-smartwatch.
I would love to be able to buy a normal watch that offers heart rate monitoring and basic GPS tracking but can be operated fully offline, doesn't need updates, and will not become abandonware in 5 years time. Garmin is nearly there with some models. Some Casio, Withings, Polar, and Suunto models also have interesting features but overall still far from that ideal goal.
Besides, in many regulated environments you can't have a watch with hardware radios like Bluetooth. Only Garmin seems to understand this. Suunto had terrific models, but is slowly falling behind and has been sold to a Chinese conglomerate.
I have a GBX-100, which does have basic smart features when connected to a phone. If you get a text or email, it will tell you that you have a notification.
You also have the option to read the contents of the message, if you press a single button six(!) times!
Fortunately I bought it because I wanted the time and I liked the way it looks.
0: https://www.casio.com/intl/watches/casio/standard/vintage/ab...
If you wanted to create a registry of watch ownership a nft is certainly one way to go about it. and this use makes far more sense than most tokens. running on nothing more than a dream.
Really I think it is more that companies need to maintain a corp of engineers, these engineers are needed for key important projects, but a stable company is not in panic "put out the fire" mode all the time. so there is room for more speculative projects. and this is probably one of them.
AI mania wiped all that away instantly.
I wasn't too surprised to see their blurb leave out it's other (alleged!) known use
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W#Usage_in_terrorism
The metal watches were succeeded by the A158W, which is chrome-plated resin on the outside, same electronics module as the F-91W on the inside, and likewise is still in production.
After the resin case of my A158W eventually broke, I got a vintage W-34 with a broken movement and put the A158W's module inside. (It will get a SensorWatch PCB once I am done with my firmware mods)
Steel replacement cases for a F-91W are now also available on Aliexpress, so you don't have to hunt down a vintage watch if you want real steel.
I had an F-87W [1] when I was a kid, which was launched in 1982. It is almost exactly the same as F-91W.
The backlight is my absolute favorit feature. It's completely pointless. It can barely light up the hours, and only the left most digit and Casio never bothered to fix it. Absolutely delightful.
> 1981, J-100, Jogging watch with pace-setting function
> 1982, AQ-500 (Janus) First Casio analog-digital combination watch with three hands
Interesting how they don't have a picture of these, they just have a black placeholder. I was able to Google a J-100 in seconds, including eBay listings for one for ~$390 and another for ~$520. There's an AQ-500 on Etsy. You'd think Casio could just buy one if their archives are missing an example.
I daily a black LF20W-1A and I also use the A168W-1 and AE1200WHD. The faces and design are way more interesting to me and they are more affordable.
I wish I never got the Apple Watch ...
That's the only feature I use my watch for. It sits on the charger all day waiting for me to wear at night.
> This watch not only boasted a streamlined design combining analog hour, minute, and seconds hands with digital LCD, but was also equipped with a calculator function allowing manual input. Users could draw numbers and math symbols with a fingertip on the glass, and the LCD would then display the formulas and calculation results. This epoch-making watch is still known as one of the first watches with the kind of gesture recognition people use today on smartphones and smartwatches. Not bad for the early ’80s.
Indeed.
The ever-innovative G-SHOCK brand takes a new step, launching a virtual community where people can co-create and interact with one another via digital platforms like NFTs and the metaverse. The opening of the virtual G-SHOCK STORE and the sale of digital 3D-rendered G-SHOCK items are just a sampling of the new plans and unprecedented experiences to come.
On the needed adapter, webbing straps are intended to feed directly through the strap pins but g-shocks tend to have a very narrow and tight strap attach pitch(16mm), the webbing does not fit well and I wanted a wider 24mm strap. I do not want to be to damming, I think the narrow pitch is intended to be stronger than a wide pitch but it does make things inconvenient for us g-shock with webbing strap connoisseurs.
Reading the wikipedia page for it may make you rethink that thought though :(
I'm glad they still manufacture their classic lines, such good watches.
The GB-800 is pretty cool, has a step counter and the time can be kept by using the g-shock app including adjusting for daylight saving. The 5600 is my favourite though.
You can still get a DW*-5600 for $60 and a GW*-5600 for $120, Casio still offers value for a good price :)
I wear a Swiss three-hander that costs more than a MR.G, so my perspective on watch value might differ from the average person.
http://www.digital-watch.com/DWL/1work/casio-w-520u
My favorite series since 10-20+ years ago is the ProTrek, which I guess it's part of G-Shock but I don't see them in the site. (I guess the PRT-1GPJ is there at 1999).
https://www.casio.com/us/watches/protrek
https://www.casio.com/europe/watches/protrek/brand/collectio...
As I was going down this list I was mentally checking off basically every feature of the Apple Watch, somewhere introduced by Casio a decade+ earlier.
> World’s first watch with optical blood pressure monitor > The BP-100 calculated blood pressure by analyzing changes in blood flow measured by an optical sensor and ECG signals. No wristwatch had ever incorporated a blood pressure monitor before. Simply touching a fingertip to the sensor produced a reading — and unlike conventional monitors, it was accurate without requiring constriction of the arm.
Wow. Why don't we have that yet in today's smartwatches?
Because it doesn't actually work for accurately tracking individual BP changes over time, though it may be useful for broad aggregates.
Long live John Candy!
> 2023
The ever-innovative G-SHOCK brand takes a new step, launching a virtual community where people can co-create and interact with one another via digital platforms like NFTs and the metaverse. The opening of the virtual G-SHOCK STORE and the sale of digital 3D-rendered G-SHOCK items are just a sampling of the new plans and unprecedented experiences to come.
It is a"replacement circuit board for the Casio 3208 module, used in the Casio CA-53W and CA-506 calculator watches" and very neighborly.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-fil...
- Toyota doesn't mention the Toyota war.
- Microsoft doesn't mention the millions world wide who use their OS for nefarious purposes.
- Starbucks doesn't mention that one time someone got a spiced pumpkin latte, while on the run from the FBI.
https://petapixel.com/2025/10/27/how-a-ladder-company-turned...
In the larger scope, resin is plastic in an unfinished state. For wearables, it’s commonly used as a marketing term to imply it fits well.
I had wondered if it meant some kind of thermoset / epoxy cure-in-a-mold, to set it apart from injection-molded thermoplastic.
Weird wording. What other kind of plastic is there than 'molded'?
It is interesting to see something like this presented in a positive light.
The key features that I've missed from any watch since is 1. good buttons and 2. "immediate" reaction time.
It still runs, although the cell seems to have aged, and now needs longer in the sun to charge. In the winter when not being worn, I have to leave it on a window ledge to get sufficient charge.
A flip watch goes so hard. Would be a cool flex
Also the ProTrek PRW2500 series, I still have one with radio setting and solar power that I haven’t worn since my first Apple Watch.
I am always disappointed when I see products like their pac man watches that just have a print on it without any game related functionality. This has damaged the brand a lot already, and tbh, after many years being a hard core Casio fanboy I have moved on. But one more gaming watch...
