CasioMen's W201-1AV Alarm Chronograph Watch

Casio makes a lot of excellent watches that are very economically priced and very good. This digital watch has the functions most people want. Basic timekeeping, with day/date; Elapsed timer (chronograph); alarm function; dual time zones. There is also a light that activates for 1 1/2 - 3 seconds at the push of a button. The battery is rated 10 years.It is accurate and durable, and learning the controls is easy. I hardly take it off, and even swim regularly with no issues so far. The watch feels very light on the wrist, and looks good. The footprint is about 1 3/8 in by about 1 in. This is a nice medium size for almost anyone.I have owned a number of pricey watches of all types over the years, but with Casio's quality and selection, (this one costs about 12 bucks), I doubt I will ever spend more than about 20 bucks tops on a watch again.

I first became aware of Casio watches about 1980. I had noticed people wearing the black plastic watches and wondered: What is this? Can't these people afford a real watch? I always wore my Omega Seamaster and regarded it as one of the finer watches. Well, at just about that same time I started running and a friend who was guiding me in the sport suggested that I'd need a chronograph in order to time my runs. My Omega wouldn't do. I bought a Casio, which was just about the only brand available at that time. I wore it off and on for about a week, and my Omega Seamaster was from then on gathering dust in my dresser drawer. The Casio was just amazing, and it only cost about 25 1980 dollars. Well, I'm now on about my fifth Casio Chronograph, and I'm still amazed by it and this one cost only a little over 13 2012 dollars.These little Casios will wear out, as will anything. I find that for me they go in two places. One is the battery, and it can be replaced. This new one has a 10-year battery which is excellent. The other is the band will break, usually sometime after about five or six years. Well, the band can be replaced also. I have found, however, that the watch is so inexpensive that when it starts to break down, I just throw the watch away and buy a new one. That might seem a bit wasteful, but if you're averaging six years of use out of it, that's only about $2 a year and why diddle around with it?The Casio Chronograph is just an amazing piece of equipment. If it's a timepiece you want, well, you just can't get much better, and it's just dirt cheap. Amazing! Let the others wear their Omegas and their Rolexes. I'll proudly wear my Casio Chronograph and know they can't beat it. It's a form of reverse snobbery.Gary Peterson

This is one ugly watch. That said, it's the one I wear every day during my work season maintaining a summer camp. I routinely try out different "cheap" watches because they take a beating - some are good, some are terrible. Most are a mix. Here's what makes this one better than most for me:1) It's thin. I always seem to have to squeeze my hand into tight spaces to do a task. Thick watches are a total deal breaker.2) The buttons almost never get accidentally pressed during normal wear. A lot of watches have big buttons that get pressed easily; leaving you looking at the stop watch, some 2nd time zone, etc., when what you want is your watch. The trade off is that these are not always easy to press on purpose. No-brainer trade-off for me.3) For a cheap watch, the face is a lot more scratch resistant than most.4) The solid resin band doesn't absorb any water. You can work in the lake or the rain, take your watch off, and dry it immediately and completely.Only negative for me is that my bi-focal aged eyes could use a larger day/date display.

I have bought several of these watches for working outside, playing sports etc. They seem to work forever, BUT - the watch bands break after about a year. The actual watch keeps on ticking. I suppose it's planned obsolescence and you keep buying them. And they then accumulate in your drawer ticking away. That's annoying. Raise the price 10 bucks, and get decent wrist bands I say.