Crazy Casio Complications
I recently fell down one of the many watch collecting rabbit holes which is the world of bizarre Casio watches and wanted to share my findings and see if anyone had any other even more bizarre!
Most of these watches originate from around the 80's to early 90's where Casio really seemed to be focused on making tool watches for the people that all did very specific things:
The T-1500, a Japanese to English translation dictionary on your wrist!
The J-100 Pace Calculator; made specifically for running, how you're supposed to press any of these tiny buttons accurately whilst actually jogging is beyond me... but isn't it cool!
The BP-300 blood pressure monitor; the amazing thing is, all of these watches still work according to the seller.
I do wonder what the requirement would be for someone to need to take a blood pressure monitor on their wrist ready to go at a moments notice? Particularly stressful life? Don't know! Feel free to let me know your theories.
The SPF-10 'Sea Pathfinder' which contains a primitive thermo scanner, point it at something and instantly know it's temperature, again, at a loss for what it's modern practical use is... but isn't it just bonkers??
And who could forget, my personal favourite from the bunch, the catchy named MAP-100, an ingenious 180 rotating bezel that contains a map reading wheel built into it so you can measure distances (approximately) on paper maps! Out of all of these useless complications this is probably the most fascinating and the most likely for me to use in the real world (ie. once a decade) however if I was someone who hiked and walked a lot, I could see this as still being a real tool in this modern connected world.
The pictures are taken from eBay, a seller by the name of 'impatientpatient' has a large collection of various NOS, JDM or vintage and obscure Casio, ranging from the more common to absolute unobtainium, they aren't cheap, but if you want something that nobody else will have, that may be of some practical use to you and will be an excellent conversation piece, I suggest having a look.
Cheers!
Tool watches and watches that can take a bit of punishment are my thing! Current collection: G Shock 5610, 6900, GA900, G-LIDE, Victorinox INOX, Luminox ICE SAR 1001, Christopher Ward Trident 65, Paga...
Those are amazing. I'd love to browse through more of them. Could you tell me how I find the seller? Thanks!
The sellers eBay is 'impatientpatient' UK based I believe
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?sid=impatientpatient&_pgn=1&isRefine=true&_trksid=p2349624.m3561.l49496
It’s not clear to me how Casio made it out of the 90s. In retrospect it’s cool they made these, but as a business model “let’s make a watch for Tim, he likes to jog!” doesn’t seem feasible. I mean, scanning the temperature of things is some James Bond sh*t, but ol’JB just needs the one watch.
I’ve looked into some of these as well (Timex did some stupid shit with yacht racing watches), and I’ve come to the conclusion that we as a society need to start doing coke again. I’d love more wacky watches like these 😂
edit: can’t forget my favorite Casio - the TV remote watch. That would actually have a use case in real life though it is quite ugly
It’s not clear to me how Casio made it out of the 90s. In retrospect it’s cool they made these, but as a business model “let’s make a watch for Tim, he likes to jog!” doesn’t seem feasible. I mean, scanning the temperature of things is some James Bond sh*t, but ol’JB just needs the one watch.
They made it through the 90s because of the G-Shock. I think the idea of the very specific tool Watch evolved into things like ABC sensors and the Master of G collection.
It’s not clear to me how Casio made it out of the 90s. In retrospect it’s cool they made these, but as a business model “let’s make a watch for Tim, he likes to jog!” doesn’t seem feasible. I mean, scanning the temperature of things is some James Bond sh*t, but ol’JB just needs the one watch.
Exactly, I get the more broad appeal of Casio making jogging watches and TV controllers and calculators in the days before phones where it makes sense, quite advanced you could say.
But the more obscure niche blood pressure monitors and wrist cameras, you have to wonder what the executives at Casio were thinking in regards to actual demand for these things and who they were exactly marketed to.
I doubt any production data exists for how many were made or how well they sold, but judging by the condition of some of the few that remain, they seem to have been bought for the novelty and only worn once or they never sold at all.
I’ve looked into some of these as well (Timex did some stupid shit with yacht racing watches), and I’ve come to the conclusion that we as a society need to start doing coke again. I’d love more wacky watches like these 😂
edit: can’t forget my favorite Casio - the TV remote watch. That would actually have a use case in real life though it is quite ugly
I totally get that with smartphones and such there is absolutely no requirement for these kind of watches anymore, hell, a single Apple Watch could probably do nearly all of the things that these watches do.
However, these are just pure fun, ridiculous, useless, ugly but charming FUN and I'd love Casio to do a revamped release but it'll never happen. It seems there wasn't a market then and there certainly isn't now!
I totally get that with smartphones and such there is absolutely no requirement for these kind of watches anymore, hell, a single Apple Watch could probably do nearly all of the things that these watches do.
However, these are just pure fun, ridiculous, useless, ugly but charming FUN and I'd love Casio to do a revamped release but it'll never happen. It seems there wasn't a market then and there certainly isn't now!
There’s a certain level of whimsy that these have that we don’t seem to get anymore.
The sellers eBay is 'impatientpatient' UK based I believe
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?sid=impatientpatient&_pgn=1&isRefine=true&_trksid=p2349624.m3561.l49496
Thanks! He does value them highly but I bet I'll find something I "need". Cheers!
Wow! Those are…quite specific 😆. Don’t forget the MIL400 that lets you know when your mother in law is approaching or the GREASY900, an instant read thermometer watch that you leave in a roast. Seriously though, interesting finds 👍.
wow, the watches that eBay seller has.
I thought the TV remote/watch was a pretty terrible combo. Then I saw the pulse reader that is 100m WR.
Thanks for sharing, so interesting
wow, the watches that eBay seller has.
I thought the TV remote/watch was a pretty terrible combo. Then I saw the pulse reader that is 100m WR.
Thanks for sharing, so interesting
I thought if you're 100m underwater and you need to test if you've still got a pulse, then there probably more pressing matters at hand
The watch that measures temperature would be great for a professional or amateur cook who needs to know when meat or whatever needs to reach a certain temp for health/safety reasons.
My favourite Casio watch with niche complication is the TRW-10 Football Timer. ⚽️
Love the Cosmos Phase
The watch that measures temperature would be great for a professional or amateur cook who needs to know when meat or whatever needs to reach a certain temp for health/safety reasons.
True, or a plumber or engineer who needs to see if radiators or boilers have come up to temperature
I totally get that with smartphones and such there is absolutely no requirement for these kind of watches anymore, hell, a single Apple Watch could probably do nearly all of the things that these watches do.
However, these are just pure fun, ridiculous, useless, ugly but charming FUN and I'd love Casio to do a revamped release but it'll never happen. It seems there wasn't a market then and there certainly isn't now!
I think if they did limited numbers, these would sell. There may not be hundreds of thousands of people who want this stuff, but there are several thousand (at least) watch nerds who will buy any weird re-issue Casio feels like doing.
I have never seen those before, thanks for sharing! 👍
I had a JP-100W pulse watch back in the '80s. I was racing bikes at the time and would track my waking/resting pulse rate for training purposes... I wish I still had it, but it got stolen.
I had a JP-100W pulse watch back in the '80s. I was racing bikes at the time and would track my waking/resting pulse rate for training purposes... I wish I still had it, but it got stolen.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
They made it through the 90s because of the G-Shock. I think the idea of the very specific tool Watch evolved into things like ABC sensors and the Master of G collection.
and calculators and musical keyboards...