It was 1991..
I still remember the playground buzz as my friend Dean showed off his F91W. Back then Hasbro Wrestling Figures and Casio Watches were the currency of the schoolyard. If you had Roddy Piper and a digital watch you were a made man. If like Dean you happened to also be wearing Reebok Pump Up trainers, you were a god, walking your air cushioned feet amongst mere mortals. I don’t know what became of Dean but I bet he has one hell of a watch collection.
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Ian
Writer, watch enthusiast and occasional artist. Time is all we have, so we better make it fun.
United Kingdom
Member since
Last active: 11 months ago
To be cool where I went to school it had to be Timex, Casio was second rate unless it was a calculator watch.
To be cool where I went to school it had to be Timex, Casio was second rate unless it was a calculator watch.
yeah the calculator watch had the Marty McFly stamp of approval. The Timex Ironman was huge when I was at high school.
I still have a casio calculator watch with its back off in a drawer waiting for a battery... Its still waiting. had a F91 until the strap rotted off. God tier!
I still have a casio calculator watch with its back off in a drawer waiting for a battery... Its still waiting. had a F91 until the strap rotted off. God tier!
I love my calculator watch. My Casio’s get more complements when I’m out and about than some of my less affordable watches. Everyone has a Casio memory or story to tell.
IIRC, that's the first year they were out, despite how many think they have an '80's vibe to them. I had some Radio Shack Realistic brand black resin digital watch circa 1986 that was essentially identical in my memory.
Rowdy Roddy Piper, requiescant in pace.
That’s correct they are a 90’s watch but are forever associated with the 80’s. Here in the UK we didn’t have Radio Shack but we had an store called Tandy’s that stocked Radio Shack products. It may have been a sister company.
I love my calculator watch. My Casio’s get more complements when I’m out and about than some of my less affordable watches. Everyone has a Casio memory or story to tell.
I don't, I've never owned one...
I suspect that there is a lot of false recollection happening in the watch community regarding the "legendary" status of the F-91W. A few YouTube watch channels start droning on and on about how "iconic" and affordable it is/was, and suddenly "everybody" has a great childhood memory associated with it.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but my memories from growing up in the exact time period it was supposed to have been "iconic" are that everybody wanted a Timex with Indiglo. Casio had to come up with a solution to try to catch up to Timex, which of course meant that Casio was viewed as about as cool GWG jeans compared to Levi's Red Tab. Things might have been different elsewhere, but I suspect they weren't that different.
F91 was my main watch since 5th grade once in High School I went G-shock all the way!