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