Casio F-105 watch. Classic in form and function.

I wanted to start writing watch reviews long time ago. It is a very busy world, but writing is like exercising for imagination, thinking and self expression. Therefore it really healthy! I love watches and it would be natural to write about them. Though I never found personal angle. It will be dull to post some pictures and bunch of data from manufacturer site and describe how it looks and in a little how it operates. This will be usual car review type of writing I really want to avoid. I did not found my writing yet. So I am going out and will be looking for inspiration, experience and knack to type something I would be glad I did.

What is Casio F-105. In essence it is Casio F-91 with blue illumination. This is not an answer I will be happy with. I do respect this watch more than many others I had, have and will have in the future. It is very honest. It not talkative and drops a word only, when it has something meaningful to say. It delicately sits on your wrist , doing its job without disturbing you with excessive weight , size or discomfort. In my opinion, it is very good watch.

Casio F-91 is an exhibit in one English design museum. Why? It hard to call 15$ watch (it was not 15$ watch at the introduction) a design masterpiece without giving some time to design talk. What is design? Different times gave different answers. During early stages it was way to sell products, later it was way to re-produce much needed supplies in quantities your enemy could not, later it was a dream, than a revolution and today we have something else. In a way design is a molten mixture of way it going to work, used, produced, sold and will made profit or statement. 

I will make my life easy by starting with production: I have no idea how f-105 design is reflecting production. Probably in same way as any other digital watch made by Casio in past 20 years. They changed battery for a bigger one. Strap and case material become cheaper and illumination walked from incandescent bulb to diode and then to blue light of Casio illuminator. Which is best option out there, however it lacking warm yellowish glow of the first lamps. These changes shifted battery life from 2 years to close to 7-10 years (it can’t be done only on bulb changes). So despite rather conservative looks, this small watch was evolving as any other living being. 

How it work? In a simple, reliable and clear manner. F-105 has not much to offer, rather enough for everyday use. It has alarm, chimney, backlight, time, seconds, date and day. It has no idea about what month you in so leap years will be challenge, on a bright side it will work now as it did in 1991 and in 3000 when Fry, Leela and professor are traveling to the moon for the second episode. Digits are clear and balanced. Screen is easy to read. 

Time keeping is within 15 seconds a month. You are within 2 beeps from every function of the watch. This can’t be said about many of them. When you need to replace battery it also easy deed with no special or disposable engineering solutions on board ( I am talking about Timex). You can drop it. You can subject it to the some splash of water. It actually pity, that today you can’t buy in Canada similar watch with 50m water resistance. Though you can in Europe (http://www.casio-europe.com/euro/products/watches/collection/w-59-1vqes/) or states.  W59’s are same size, just better protected ones.  So watch will work any time any place for 7 years, just don’t drown it! In an essence there is no difference between F-105 and any other digital watch apart from extra simplicity. 

How it going to be used? That’s easy one! You wear it. Everywhere. It weight 23 grams with plastic strap. Can you imagine this? You really can’t feel it on your wrist. It thin and it makes it joy to wear both winter and summer. F-105 can jump out of the sleeve leaving resistance to other watches. While exercising or running this watch is nice companion for exact same reason: it is slim. 

You can see it side to side with Casio W-212H

I bought this F-91 to my granddad and he had no problems working it out despite fact it was his first digital watch in his entire life! I borrowed F-91 from him for a boot camp and spent first month in the army wearing it. It was perfect. I could tell time any time of day, I could rely on alarm to wake me up just 10 minutes before washrooms were mess. F-91 was nice to wear and never got in a way of rest of the gear no matter when or where: in the field, on the shooting range , on the kitchen duties or doing “educational” push ups. Wikipedia page on Casio F-91 states other uses around world which caught special attention of Guantanamo Bay staff, but you can read about that from Wikipedia page anyway. I bought F-105 and used it at university doing metallurgical research. F-105 fit nicely work routine it never got in a way of protection gloves both thin nitrile (blue ones) during chemical exercises and thick ones you use to cast aluminum you took out of the red hot furnace. F-105 was my companion on bike trips, foundry floor and lab work. Don’t get it wrong, it was equally used on everyday occasions. Unless I wanted to be extra posh or to wear something else it was my #1 watch for a long time. What makes this watch great is a comfort and function fusion which is very reasonably priced.

Many modern watches grew in size without any specific reason. They want to look big while losing some down to earth virtues. In a car terms F-105 will be Honda Civic if you know that I mean.

Last point in design to cover is a statement. What statement F-105 makes? Apparently this watch not for a person who wants to make statement with the watch. For a person who values function and personal comfort above all.

However, today you can by brightly colored version of this watch. Unfortunately these are not sold in Canada. Here you can get black, silver metal or gold metal.  Frankly, I got first two.  This watch could be a fashion statement going well with t-shirt, formal office dress code or hipster look. These colored watches are gone way of the Dodo, but hopefully something else is waiting around corner.

So, Pick your color or just wear it black, because this is the watch you feel comfortable to wear everywhere.Because it is who you are and what you do.