5 ms·

How the Casio F-91W became the world’s most versatile (and dangerous) watch

30 points by Darphe 10y ago

chrisseaton 10y ago
> However, after 9/11, investigators at Guantanamo Bay started to notice a strange pattern. Some 32 inmates were found to be wearing the F-91W at the time of their apprehension When I was in the British Army almost everyone wore this watch (actually the green light version whatever that is called). I used to carry two in case the one on my wrist became damaged. I think it's just a universal soldier thing, not a suspected terrorist or bomb-making thing.
- analog31 10y ago
  That's interesting... my present watch is a super cheap Timex that doesn't even have a date function. The best reviews on Amazon were from soldiers. One of them said that he already has every possible electronic doo-dad strapped to his body, and all he needs from a watch is being able to tell the time. For my use, I guessed that the date function (on a mechanical watch) is what eats the battery, and indeed, this watch has a very long battery life.
  - dogma1138 10y ago
    The one thing that always intrigued me is that militaries never seem to have outfit their soldiers with watches (the only 2 i heard anecdotal evidence that they had were the Russians and the Swiss) . Even today where you'll have an electronic optics, laser designator, night vision, a bunch of different radios, and even PDA's if you are in the US, but still no bloody watch. Can't navigate without one properly, can't know if you are keeping the correct pace when on patrol, can't know when you need to get up to a watch or when you are about to be replaced, can't calculate the distance of enemy fire can't do squat without a watch, but still they don't give you one.
    - analog31 10y ago
      That does seem odd. OTOH probably the cheapest way of procuring a watch is to let you order one from Amazon.
      - seanp2k2 10y ago
        Yeah, they're also hugely personal and there is tons of interest for a "real" military watch outside of militaries. Most accounts I've read say that people in the US military like G-Shocks and other cheap simple digital watches like this Casio. There are quite a few G-Shock fans around the world, and my personal favorite is the G-Shock G-056 since it's the thinnest G with solar and an atomic RX.
    - chrisseaton 10y ago
      > militaries never seem to have outfit their soldiers with watches The UK issues these watches http://www.cwcwatch.com/collections/general-service-watches/products/cwc-g10-issue-watch-no-date-with-battery-hatch http://www.cwcwatch.com/collections/general-service-watches/... I only ever saw them when checking stores - Q would never actually let you take it out and use it! Maybe you were 'issued' them as well, but like ours they're never let out of the stores?
    - tzs 10y ago
      > The one thing that always intrigued me is that militaries never seem to have outfit their soldiers with watches (the only 2 i heard anecdotal evidence that they had were the Russians and the Swiss). This could be a hold over from habits established before cell phones became common. Back before, say, the '90s, most people in the US (and I assume in most other first world countries) from their teens onward had a watch. Perhaps militaries assumed that everyone coming in would already have a watch. Furthermore, watches were often of great sentimental value, and many people would have viewed the military telling them what watch to wear as being as absurd as, say, issuing a standard military wedding ring to married soldiers to replace their civilian wedding ring. As long as a soldier's watch was accurate and reliable enough for military needs, they probably saw no reason to not let the soldier use his own watch.
  - blacksmith_tb 10y ago
    Did you mean an analog quartz watch? A date function there shouldn't have a huge impact in battery life, though if you don't want the date, you may as well conserve. But on a mechanical watch, many common movements have a calendar wheel which is powered by the gear train, it doesn't use a disproportionate amount of energy from the mainspring (compared to moving the hands).
- dogma1138 10y ago
  Same here just not this one but a Gshock series and it was the standard watch for the army. Having a watch is very important when you are in the military it's used for every activity and for navigating. "Terrorists" use it for the same reason you can't organize anything without accurate and available time keeping. The Casio is reliable, cheap, durable and lasts for decades.
- dingaling 10y ago
  When we were starting basic training with the RAF we were instructed to buy the F-91W specifically and to leave fancy watches at home. It made exercises easier to instruct when everyone's watch worked the same way, plus I suppose it reduced one of the temptations of pilfering in the barracks. Of course there was always one joker who bought the bright-pink edition ;)
michaelt 10y ago
It’s a statement of cool detachment and a brilliant way of blowing up explosives. I've never heard anyone give a satisfying explanation of why the F-91W is any better at blowing explosives than any other cheap digital watch with an alarm. Surely all you have to do is take the signal from the beeper, amplify, and connect to your trigger circuit - which you could do with any watch with an alarm. Is there some reason the watch is "a brilliant way of blowing up explosives" compared to any other watch on the market? Or has the journalist just made that up?
- russtrotter 10y ago
  Yep, I agree with your argument. I can't see how this model Casio is any better than the equivalent Timex, Armitron, etc. Is the beeper signal approach you suggest viable?
  - WalterSear 10y ago
    In every walk of society, there are hipsters chasing cachet brands, maybe?
- dogma1138 10y ago
  Could be reliability or voltage related, more likely just availability Japan didn't participate in most sanctions and Asian goods are more readily available in the Middle East.
  - gruez 10y ago
    >Japan didn't participate in most sanctions and Asian goods are more readily available in the Middle East. As opposed to watches made in the US or Europe? Aren't most electronics made in China/Japan anyways?
    - dogma1138 10y ago
      Yes but the brand and parent company are what affects the distribution not the place of manufacturing. Timex being an American company is less likely both historically and now to sell in say Iran, Iraq or Syria than a Japanese or even a European company. Historically as far as electronics, cars and similar things go Asian and European brands are more common in the Middle East than American ones.
Theodores 10y ago
This is one of those pathetic propaganda stories from The War Against Terror that people will regurgitate for years to come. See also how 'al-qaeda' stored messages as 'drafts' on Yahoo mail so that they could outsmart the CIA. These sorts of stories are popular with 'educated' people that think they read the news and form their own opinions about fundamental-islamic-extremalism rather than just admit to being brainwashed by the defence-sector owned mainstream media.
shakna 10y ago
“Saleh performed internet searches for the terms ‘watch’, ‘casio’, and ‘vacuum’… these searches reflect Saleh’s efforts to identify and obtain components required to create an explosive device.” I wonder want few words would implicate me as a terrorist? Last three keywords I used: stack blow unsigned

30 points by Darphe 10y ago

> However, after 9/11, investigators at Guantanamo Bay started to notice a strange pattern. Some 32 inmates were found to be wearing the F-91W at the time of their apprehension When I was in the British Army almost everyone wore this watch (actually the green light version whatever that is called). I used to carry two in case the one on my wrist became damaged. I think it's just a universal soldier thing, not a suspected terrorist or bomb-making thing.

analog31 10y ago
That's interesting... my present watch is a super cheap Timex that doesn't even have a date function. The best reviews on Amazon were from soldiers. One of them said that he already has every possible electronic doo-dad strapped to his body, and all he needs from a watch is being able to tell the time. For my use, I guessed that the date function (on a mechanical watch) is what eats the battery, and indeed, this watch has a very long battery life.
- dogma1138 10y ago
  The one thing that always intrigued me is that militaries never seem to have outfit their soldiers with watches (the only 2 i heard anecdotal evidence that they had were the Russians and the Swiss) . Even today where you'll have an electronic optics, laser designator, night vision, a bunch of different radios, and even PDA's if you are in the US, but still no bloody watch. Can't navigate without one properly, can't know if you are keeping the correct pace when on patrol, can't know when you need to get up to a watch or when you are about to be replaced, can't calculate the distance of enemy fire can't do squat without a watch, but still they don't give you one.
  - analog31 10y ago
    That does seem odd. OTOH probably the cheapest way of procuring a watch is to let you order one from Amazon.
    - seanp2k2 10y ago
      Yeah, they're also hugely personal and there is tons of interest for a "real" military watch outside of militaries. Most accounts I've read say that people in the US military like G-Shocks and other cheap simple digital watches like this Casio. There are quite a few G-Shock fans around the world, and my personal favorite is the G-Shock G-056 since it's the thinnest G with solar and an atomic RX.
  - chrisseaton 10y ago
    > militaries never seem to have outfit their soldiers with watches The UK issues these watches http://www.cwcwatch.com/collections/general-service-watches/products/cwc-g10-issue-watch-no-date-with-battery-hatch http://www.cwcwatch.com/collections/general-service-watches/... I only ever saw them when checking stores - Q would never actually let you take it out and use it! Maybe you were 'issued' them as well, but like ours they're never let out of the stores?
  - tzs 10y ago
    > The one thing that always intrigued me is that militaries never seem to have outfit their soldiers with watches (the only 2 i heard anecdotal evidence that they had were the Russians and the Swiss). This could be a hold over from habits established before cell phones became common. Back before, say, the '90s, most people in the US (and I assume in most other first world countries) from their teens onward had a watch. Perhaps militaries assumed that everyone coming in would already have a watch. Furthermore, watches were often of great sentimental value, and many people would have viewed the military telling them what watch to wear as being as absurd as, say, issuing a standard military wedding ring to married soldiers to replace their civilian wedding ring. As long as a soldier's watch was accurate and reliable enough for military needs, they probably saw no reason to not let the soldier use his own watch.
- blacksmith_tb 10y ago
  Did you mean an analog quartz watch? A date function there shouldn't have a huge impact in battery life, though if you don't want the date, you may as well conserve. But on a mechanical watch, many common movements have a calendar wheel which is powered by the gear train, it doesn't use a disproportionate amount of energy from the mainspring (compared to moving the hands).
dogma1138 10y ago
Same here just not this one but a Gshock series and it was the standard watch for the army. Having a watch is very important when you are in the military it's used for every activity and for navigating. "Terrorists" use it for the same reason you can't organize anything without accurate and available time keeping. The Casio is reliable, cheap, durable and lasts for decades.
dingaling 10y ago
When we were starting basic training with the RAF we were instructed to buy the F-91W specifically and to leave fancy watches at home. It made exercises easier to instruct when everyone's watch worked the same way, plus I suppose it reduced one of the temptations of pilfering in the barracks. Of course there was always one joker who bought the bright-pink edition ;)

michaelt 10y ago

It’s a statement of cool detachment and a brilliant way of blowing up explosives. I've never heard anyone give a satisfying explanation of why the F-91W is any better at blowing explosives than any other cheap digital watch with an alarm. Surely all you have to do is take the signal from the beeper, amplify, and connect to your trigger circuit - which you could do with any watch with an alarm. Is there some reason the watch is "a brilliant way of blowing up explosives" compared to any other watch on the market? Or has the journalist just made that up?

russtrotter 10y ago
Yep, I agree with your argument. I can't see how this model Casio is any better than the equivalent Timex, Armitron, etc. Is the beeper signal approach you suggest viable?
- WalterSear 10y ago
  In every walk of society, there are hipsters chasing cachet brands, maybe?
dogma1138 10y ago
Could be reliability or voltage related, more likely just availability Japan didn't participate in most sanctions and Asian goods are more readily available in the Middle East.
- gruez 10y ago
  >Japan didn't participate in most sanctions and Asian goods are more readily available in the Middle East. As opposed to watches made in the US or Europe? Aren't most electronics made in China/Japan anyways?
  - dogma1138 10y ago
    Yes but the brand and parent company are what affects the distribution not the place of manufacturing. Timex being an American company is less likely both historically and now to sell in say Iran, Iraq or Syria than a Japanese or even a European company. Historically as far as electronics, cars and similar things go Asian and European brands are more common in the Middle East than American ones.

Theodores 10y ago

This is one of those pathetic propaganda stories from The War Against Terror that people will regurgitate for years to come. See also how 'al-qaeda' stored messages as 'drafts' on Yahoo mail so that they could outsmart the CIA. These sorts of stories are popular with 'educated' people that think they read the news and form their own opinions about fundamental-islamic-extremalism rather than just admit to being brainwashed by the defence-sector owned mainstream media.

shakna 10y ago

“Saleh performed internet searches for the terms ‘watch’, ‘casio’, and ‘vacuum’… these searches reflect Saleh’s efforts to identify and obtain components required to create an explosive device.” I wonder want few words would implicate me as a terrorist? Last three keywords I used: stack blow unsigned