[HN Gopher] The history of Casio watches
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The history of Casio watches
Author : qainsights
Score : 115 points
Date : 2025-11-08 22:16 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.casio.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.casio.com)
| SilverElfin wrote:
| Unfortunately Casio QA is garbage today. And don't expect
| competency from their customer service
| pestatije wrote:
| not true
| supportengineer wrote:
| Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
| anamexis wrote:
| It's a pretty ordinary claim, to be fair.
| gerikson wrote:
| It's the first time I've heard of it, and I consider myself
| pretty plugged in when it comes to watch news.
| naIak wrote:
| Maybe he confused Casio with Seiko.
| Findecanor wrote:
| Still consistently better quality than 99% of the clones out
| there.
| naIak wrote:
| I don't know about their customer service but I have bought a
| few of their watches recently and they seem as good as ever.
| (Which is the reason I don't know about their customer service,
| of course)
| fnord77 wrote:
| Could the 80s Data Bank watches be considered one of the first
| PDAs?
| kridsdale1 wrote:
| Yes, absolutely.
|
| 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.
| patwolf wrote:
| According to this their most recent innovation was in 2023 with a
| "virtual community where people can co-create and interact with
| one another via digital platforms like NFTs and the metaverse."
| harvey9 wrote:
| Then they stopped snorting coke and did a sensible walk-back?
| reaperducer wrote:
| Considering the heyday of Casio watches was in the 80's,
| maybe they need _more_ coke.
| nextos wrote:
| It's disappointing. It reinforces the cliche that most hardware
| companies don't understand software.
|
| 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.
| tombert wrote:
| I've been pretty happy with my Garmin Instinct Crossover. It
| looks like a regular watch, and so if Garmin decides to drop
| support for it, then it still has like a 2 month battery as a
| regular watch.
| tombert wrote:
| I facepalmed when I read that last entry. I had a G-Shock watch
| for a long time, it was a great watch, I have a lot of
| sentimentality towards it, but I do not see any reason why
| anyone would want an NFT for it.
| kridsdale1 wrote:
| Post pandemic was a wild time for executives. All the video
| game company CEOs too were on the NFT train.
|
| AI mania wiped all that away instantly.
| somat wrote:
| I agree it is all a bit stupid, But I am feeling charitable
| this morning so I will give it a go.
|
| 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.
| Findecanor wrote:
| I think they should have mentioned the ABL-100 from 2024 [0].
| It is probably their most interesting recent watch. It has a
| step tracker, sets time via Bluetooth from a smartphone, and it
| is in a classic digital Casio style similar to the A168W and
| A158W.
|
| 0:
| https://www.casio.com/intl/watches/casio/standard/vintage/ab...
| AndrewKemendo wrote:
| From the 2000s section:
|
| "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
| znpy wrote:
| worth noting that there are many casio watches that are very
| similar to the g-shock series but are not g-shock.
|
| they're probably worse but still incredibly good. I have one of
| these (W-735H-1AV - https://www.casio.com/intl/watches/casio/pr
| oduct.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.
| tricky wrote:
| I feel the same about my GW-M5610. I've only had it for about 7
| years so I'm still on my original band.
| hermitcrab wrote:
| Another GW-6900 fan here. I think you've done pretty well to
| only have 1 replacement band in that time. Maybe that is
| because you don't take it off at night!
|
| 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.
| AndrewKemendo wrote:
| Oh man I actually bought one of those back in like 2006 for a
| trip to Belize
|
| I have no idea what happened to that hat, but it was very
| sturdy
| rdtsc wrote:
| Some of cool and the wild ones:
|
| > 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.
| Pfiffer wrote:
| This one too:
|
| > 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
| snicky wrote:
| I had CMD-10 as a kid. It was fun when it worked, but it wasn't
| pairing well with most TV sets and video players. Though it's
| possible I just didn't know how to set it up properly.
| rvba wrote:
| The temperature sensor was an interesting idea. Wonder if
| smartphones will ever get that. Probably not, since it is
| cheaper to get this information online (but then it is often
| inaccurate).
| franczesko wrote:
| https://youtu.be/euNmIoe83FQ?si=LL0RCulF2ibWo6no
| doppelgunner wrote:
| I always had Casio watch when I was a kid. Nowadays, I prefer
| having none on my wrist. As a developer, it hinders my hand
| movement when typing.
| function_seven wrote:
| I was really surprised to find out that the F-91W was first
| released in 1989. I had assumed it was even older than that!
|
| 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
| mrweasel wrote:
| The F-91W is such a fun watch. Super functional, you're not
| scared of damaging it, because A) You can't and B) it's like
| $25.
|
| 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.
| joecool1029 wrote:
| Casio is still super hit or miss with backlights. I have a
| Casio Lineage LCW-M100TSE-1AER and the light is even less
| useful for its display. Otherwise it's very nearly a perfect
| watch for me.
| Findecanor wrote:
| There existed watches with the same digits, features and
| buttons before that, but they were in steel. 1989 is about when
| Casio transitioned from metal to resin.
|
| 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.
| skeptrune wrote:
| Very cool! I've had a F91-W for years and never knew the history.
| I thought it was way older than '89.
| gorgoiler wrote:
| The incredible _Sensor Watch_ after-market board is really worth
| a mention on a thread like this:
|
| https://www.sensorwatch.net/
|
| 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.)
| jazzyjackson wrote:
| The CGW-50 Cosmo Phase is impressive on that end for displaying
| realtime planet positions in 1989, now of course it's just
| another watch face to choose from on Apple.
|
| 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
| jansan wrote:
| Casio should release one of their "game and watch" products
| again, or create a new one based on the old models. Production
| cost cannot be higher than that of a normal watch, and a lot of
| people would love to own one.
|
| 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...
| ginko wrote:
| >Casio should release one of their "game and watch" products
| again
|
| Game and watch is a Nintendo product. They bring out remakes
| every now and then.
|
| https://www.nintendo.no/products/game-watch
| jansan wrote:
| You are correct, they are probably just called Casio Game
| Watch like the Casio GC-7, GS-12 or GD-8.
| legitster wrote:
| > 2016 - First Casio outdoor watch to run Android Wear OS
|
| 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".
| wmeredith wrote:
| Casio were decidedly not the most high tech watch company in
| the world in 2016. The Apple Watch had come out in 2015 and
| Android watches had been around for years before that.
| oriolid wrote:
| > "Peeing yourself to stay warm".
|
| Which in-house OS this was about? For Symbian, "burning
| platform" was at least honest.
| pixelatedindex wrote:
| > I still think about the way the CEO of Nokia back in 2010
| describing what it would be like for them to abandon their in-
| house OS for Android: "Peeing yourself to stay warm"
|
| 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.
| rvba wrote:
| The tiles UI was simply not good.
|
| 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
| themafia wrote:
| > Looking down the history of other companies that turned over
| responsibility of their user experience to tech companies
|
| 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.
| Arainach wrote:
| >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.
|
| 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
| al_borland wrote:
| I think automakers can still find a happy medium, providing a
| fully functional vehicle that doesn't require CarPlay or
| Android Auto, but still supports them for customers, since they
| do exist right now and are extremely helpful.
|
| The automakers should seek to win over customers by making the
| better experience, not by excluding the other options.
| zkmon wrote:
| It's interesting to see how the analog display remained dominant
| and kept the scope for being artistic and rich, while the digital
| display appeared exhausted of it's curiosity and awe of 70's and
| can no longer be made to look trendy.
| protonbob wrote:
| Lots of people still like G Shocks and digital casios. They are
| very popular among college students in the U.S
| kridsdale1 wrote:
| Check out the Armitron 7-segment LED Watch. I bought it for the
| retro feel of having ultra lo-fi digital time but without an
| LCD.
| arguflow wrote:
| I wish there were more watches like the IA-1000.
|
| A flip watch goes so hard. Would be a cool flex
| hermitcrab wrote:
| Love my G-shock GW-6900. Only weak point is the resin strap,
| which needs replacing every few years. I do not want a 'smart'
| watch that needs to be regularly charged and is bleating at me
| all the time.
| somat wrote:
| I run a 5600, I am not super familiar with the rest of the
| g-shock line but the straps do appear to be the weak point of
| the whole thing. I found an adapter that allows me to use nato
| style nylon webbing straps. I mainly wanted it so I could
| replace the straps easier, but I have not had a strap break
| yet. A word of caution and a recommendation. The first adapter
| I got was also made of resin and broke in about the same amount
| of time the resin straps did(~ year) I found a company called
| ritchie strap that sells a steel adapter which has so far
| lasted ~ 6 years.
|
| 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.
| kridsdale1 wrote:
| I was having such a nice time reading all that until the final
| entry in 2023. Yuck.
| mhaberl wrote:
| why?
|
| looks like DW-5000C - not so good, but "yuck" is a bit too
| much, no?
| portly wrote:
| Those ideas feels so old already
| eej71 wrote:
| I really would like some official casio faces on my apple watch.
| eahm wrote:
| I used to have the W-520U and it was the best watch I've ever
| owned ...also the only watch/thing I ever lost in my life, I left
| it at the gym class in school and the next day boom, gone.
|
| 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...
|
| https://www.casio.com/intl/watches/protrek/30th/history
| joering2 wrote:
| Memories. I had first Casio sometime in 1980s at age 8 or so, and
| it was solar fueled. I put it under desk lamp which was probably
| 100W back then to charge it faster, I guess, and then the plastic
| deformed. Little I knew putting it into a refrigerator will not
| make it back to be nice and square. 8 year old. And there has
| been so many styles, every year to release new catalog and for so
| many region/countries there are different styles. I can imagine
| there is one person out there, a real boss-level-type dude, who
| has a basketball-size room with all brand new Casio watches, each
| one style, still unopened.
| type0 wrote:
| I wish Casio would release Databank with updated specs and LoRa
| Meshtastic
| sys_64738 wrote:
| Will we get a Casio AI watch in the 2030s?
| smackeyacky wrote:
| It's a shame that Casio are relentlessly pushing the g-shock
| watches upmarket. Part of their appeal was that they were
| affordable and tough. I still put on a g-shock if I absolutely
| have to know the time and couldn't be faffed winding an
| automatic.
|
| 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.
| maffyoo wrote:
| Im not sure that's the case, they've been doing MR-G watches
| for a long time (29 years) as a push upmarket. Just look at the
| latest GW-BX5600 (released in 3 days) it has a new MIP LCD
| panel on a new module. This retails for $150 .. no doubt the
| module will be put in much more expensive watches but one thing
| Casio continues to do is produce good value digital watches and
| at the lower price points. im hoping they add a model like the
| 5600u, with this module, with a screw in case back and higher
| quality resin. Also, my current favourite is the JDM yellow
| (original style) LCD F-91W. That was released 4 years ago and
| cost me $11 plus shipping. long live Casio!
| guillevg wrote:
| What happened in the 90s? So many ugly watches!
| palmotea wrote:
| > https://www.casio.com/us/watches/50th/Heritage/1980s/:
|
| > 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.
| rstarast wrote:
| SDB-300W family is still the best running watch I've ever had. I
| still have 1.5 copies of the WS-110H around on their last legs.
|
| The key features that I've missed from any watch since is 1. good
| buttons and 2. "immediate" reaction time.
| patja wrote:
| Funny how they don't mention Al-Qaeda's use of the the F-91W as
| an IED timer.
|
| https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-fil...
| gourneau wrote:
| Check out the Goodwatch from Travis Goodspeed
| https://github.com/travisgoodspeed/goodwatch
|
| 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.
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(page generated 2025-11-11 23:00 UTC)