Is Casio’s $30 F91W Still the Only Watch You’ll Ever Need?

The $30 Watch Everybody Knows (Even If They Don’t Realize It)

Ever spotted a simple, black plastic digital watch on someone’s wrist or seen one in an old movie and thought, “Wait, I know that one?” Odds are, it’s the Casio F91W. Decades after its launch, this tiny gadget is still showing up everywhere—and for a price that hasn’t really changed much since the ‘90s.

Why Does the F91W Stick Around?

There are fancier watches. Flashier ones. But when you ask around (like seen on Reddit), people keep coming back to the F91W for a few stubbornly practical reasons:

  • It’s dirt cheap: You can buy one with some spare change.
  • The battery lasts for years—some owners can’t remember even changing it.
  • It’s almost impossible to break. People forget it in a drawer for years, only to find it working like nothing happened.
  • It fits anyone: Kids, grownups, grandmas. It’s not picky.

Everyday Hero: More Than Nostalgia

Read enough posts and comments and a pattern pops up—this humble watch often becomes someone’s first, or cheapest, or backup watch. It’s the one people wear when they don’t want to stress over scratching something expensive. One fictional example: someone on a hiking trip wore the F91W because they wouldn’t cry if it disappeared in a fast-moving stream—and, of course, it didn’t. It just kept ticking.

What Don’t You Get With a $30 Watch?

Let’s be real. This isn’t a smartwatch. It doesn’t count your steps or buzz with notifications. The alarm sound is a bit wimpy. The light is more like a faint, tiny glow. And yeah, underwater it’s only sort of splash-proof. But none of that seems to matter for folks who just want to tell the time, maybe set a timer, and move on.

Things Everyone Loves About the Casio F91W:

  • Insanely affordable (a real watch for the price of delivery pizza)
  • Battery life measured in years, not weeks
  • Weighs next to nothing
  • Simple buttons and display
  • Quiet, unbreakable, and has zero ego

So Why Are People Still Buying It?

Apparently, it’s not nostalgia. It’s the fact that it just does its job, quietly and reliably. Nobody’s going to steal your Casio F91W. It’s the “clear tape” of watches—nothing flashy, but you know it’ll work every single time. There’s an everyday heroism to that.

Ever owned or used a Casio F91W? What tiny, unremarkable gadget has quietly stuck by you for years?