CasioCollection Men's Watch AE-1200WH

The media could not be loaded. One of the things you've gotta talk about when talking about watches, is the cost of getting into the game. A lot of us get interested in watches well in advance of actually being able to afford most of them – I happened to be in graduate school when I got bitten by the watch bug; we'd just had our first kid and we didn't have a proverbial pot to piss in, but what we did have was a computer and internet access, which meant fast and easy access to a whole universe of things both desirable and completely unaffordable. Though I started out mostly interested in history and the physics of precision timekeeping, it wasn't long before I began hankering for something modern. It's interesting to think about what one's first "good" watch really was, because "good" and "expensive" definitely don't stand in direct relationship to each other, and though the insane spike in prices for both vintage and new watches over the last ten or so years tends to obscure that fact, it doesn't mean that there aren't wonderful watches out there for the asking – some of which you can almost literally acquire with change recovered from in between the sofa cushions.I remember being very fond of a Casio G-Shock that I got in 1986 – it has shed its band and the outer resin case is long gone, but I still have it – and the beauty of such watches is that even if fortune smiles upon you as you move through life, and you find a bit more gold clinking in your purse and can afford something more expensive, and more conventionally fine, you will never regret that first purchase. My own early experience with the Casio G-Shock, far from being something I try to forget, has instead inculcated in me a lifelong love of G-Shocks in particular, and Casio in general, for letting me have a rollicking good time horologically at a period in my life when buying a bag of dried beans required thoughtful evaluation of my carefully husbanded financial assets.Another utterly fantastic wristwatch made by Casio, is this one: the AE1200WH-1A World Timer. I have been admiring it in a desultory fashion for many years, and the other night, fueled by free-floating melancholy and a judicious titration of Russian Standard, I decided to splurge on one.I don't know exactly when this watch was introduced, but the technology is certainly contemporaneous with the G-Shock – 10 year lithium battery, LCD display, reliable quartz timing package and the ability to display the time in all 31 time zones around the world. Its design appears to be derived from, or at least related to, the Casio F-91W, which came out in 1991 and is also still in production; both watches are in the Classic Collection. There is also a countdown timer, stopwatch, five daily alarms, and on-demand backlight, as well as an analog LCD display that always shows home time, and, for a wonder, even displays running seconds.The really delicious feature of the watch is the world map display – this is found right above the main digital display of the time, and the current local time zone is in black. If you're on the road, selecting the local time zone is an absolute piece of cake; you just go to World Time mode with the Mode button (unlike many digital watches, operation of the AE1200WH-1A is very intuitive and once you get a basic sense of how to make your way around the four control buttons, you won't be screwed if you lose the manual) and then use the button labeled Search to select the right time zone.This allows you, if you are curious, to observe some interesting things about how time zones are organized, such as the fact that all of China observes a single time zone (UTC + 8:00).I can't put this watch on without vivid memories of a time in horology when this sort of tech represented absolutely the last word in practical and functional timekeeping technology, long before terms like "tropical dial" and "ghost bezel" had arisen, to trouble the world. Besides, as mid-life crisis purchases go (although you don't have to be wracked with todesangst to buy one, several of my younger H. colleagues bought one after seeing mine) this is one heck of a lot cheaper than a sports car – a cheery, guilt free, surprisingly beautiful and moving

First of all, make sure you're careful with the buyer you're purchasing this from. I bought the black resin model that is supposed to be supplied directly from Casio. As far as I can tell, the one I got was genuine. One of the biggest indicators that your model might not be genuine (or that it is not intended to be sold in your country) is that your watch came in a plastic box (not a branded cardboard box). I've seen some comments about the manual that it comes with is not helpful or not clear. That might be another indicator that the watch you received is not genuine.The manual that came with this watch is very clear walks you through the different modes: (i) Home time + 3 other time zones, (ii) Time zone mode, (iii) Alarm mode (including being able to set up hourly beep), (iv) Countdown timer, and (v) Stopwatch.I replaced the OEM bands with a NATO strap - very easy to remove and replace.Just a mini walkthrough for each mode:(i) Home time mode: You set up 4 city codes in this mode, the first being your 'Home time'. The light is orange and can be adjusted in this mode - when you get to an option that cycles between 1 and 3, these are the durations you can choose for the light to stay on.(ii) Time zone mode: Here you can cycle through all the cities that the watch has using the bottom right button. If you hold the top left and top right buttons at the same time, you will set the selected city as your 'Home time'. This makes in incredibly easy to update the time when you travel to match your local time.(iii) Alarm mode: You can set 5 alarms - the 6th choice in this mode allows you to turn the 'hourly beep' on or off (indicated by the 'SIG' at the top right of the watch face showing or not.(iv) Countdown timer mode: You can set your countdown timer by holding down the top right button.(v) Stop watch mode: This is straightforward.You can mute the button beeps by pressing the bottom left button and holding it down until it beeps again. When muted, 'MUTE' will show at the very top right of the watch face.Some great extra features are: (i) the ability to set the duration of the light, (ii) being able to set daylight saving mode, and (iii) the top left dial which will always show the home time (useful to compare against other time zones or if you're using stopwatch / countdown timer modes).