I have owned 5 of these over the last 11 years.  I still have two that are both working in spite of abuse from skateboarding (smashing it into the ground when I fall) to surf trips in some heavy surf in PR and local surfing 4 or 5 days a week (salt water and surfing is very hard on watches). They are bullet proof, keep perfect time, very logical menus and display with the day/mth/date at the top (I love that!)  Bought my last one over 5 years ago and it's still going strong. Not sure if they cheaped out on the newer ones, but mine have been awesome. I've worn Freestyle watches almost all my life & they are some of the best quality most reliable watches I've owned. I'd be surprised if Freestyle's 20+ years of consistency would change all of the sudden.