How the Casio F-91W became the world’s most versatile (and dangerous) watch
thenextweb.com> 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.
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.
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.
> militaries never seem to have outfit their soldiers with watches
The UK issues these watches
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?
> 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.
Until recently officers usually had to provide most of their own equipment. You can still see leftovers from this in the British military, where for example you are responsible for buying your own dress uniforms from private tailors (but you get a grant to somewhat cover it these days).
That does seem odd. OTOH probably the cheapest way of procuring a watch is to let you order one from Amazon.
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.
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).
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 ;)
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.
It’s a statement of cool detachment and a brilliant
way of blowing up explosives.
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?
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.
>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?
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.
My guess is ubiquity. That is, its no better than most watches technically. But bomb making is also about supply chains and training.
When you make a detonator, you really, really want it to work.
If you show someone "the wires go here and here" on a specific model you don't need to teach them "real" electronics, and theres less uncertainty that the final product will function.
e.g. Arduino is rarely the best mcu for any given application, but it's popular because a) its easily to source and b) there are plenty of "recipes" to follow which don't require much expertise.
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?
In every walk of society, there are hipsters chasing cachet brands, maybe?
I haven't disassembled one before, but perhaps the F-91W features a circuit with an especially easy to break out pin for the beeper, or perhaps it's already exposed in some vital way so as to allow easy access without much prep in the field?
My personal guess as to popularity : volume. Those watches are everywhere.
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.
“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