Bargain Ballers, gather ‘round.
While certain watch snobs may shun them, a $50 dollar Casio G-Shock will prove far more reliable under adverse conditions than many of the hifalutin Swiss tool watches in those collectors’ safes. Indeed, they may outlive us all. So prick up your ears, my fellow Casio collectors: this one may have slipped under your radar, but it should definitely, ahem, ‘ping’ your interest.
While many sub-$30 dollar Casios (i.e., not a G-Shock) can be a bit small and/or delicate, this new-ish Casio, the DW-291H series, looks built to take a genuine beating, and look good doing it. And with a typical selling price of around half the entry-level G-Shock 5600 series’ (around $50), Casio’s already legendary value proposition levels up yet again. At around $25 bucks, this is an awfully big stick.
This particular model may not be getting all the attention it deserves, because Casio has bafflingly categorized it as a ‘youth’ watch online, but at over 46mm across, this is no kid-sized case. For about the cost of a nice lunch, you’ll get 200 meters of water resistance, a mineral glass crystal,10-year battery, a 1/100th second stopwatch, countdown timer, world time functionality with easy access to 4 different cities (Multi Time), an additional analog display (similar to the Worldtimer ‘Casio Royale’), and 5 separate alarms. In fact, I don’t know of any other non-G-Shock digital Casio model with a 200-meter rating. That’s pretty great for $25.
In less great news, the backlight is your bog-standard Casio amber LED, one in each lower corner of the face. In other words, adequate, but not spectacular. In fairness, the watch has set you back a grand total of $25 bucks, so pick your battles, I suppose.
All this functionality comes packaged in an attractive square-ish case, slightly bigger than the archetypal 5600 G-Shock, and it’s available in 3 different colorways; all black, black with a silver faceplate, or my favorite, black with gunmetal faceplate and racy red accents. If you like to go fast, this could be your jam.
It looks like something Richard Mille would come up with, were he to design a mass-market digital beater, instead of six-figure Formula 1 racecars that fit on the wrist. Just tell your friends that your new watch is the official timepiece of Ferrari’s Formula 2 team. They’ll never know.
(Fun fact: Casio Edifice is an official sponsor of the Scuderia AlphaTauri Formula 1 team for 2021. The More You Know.)
4 small screws secure the faceplate, and, in a welcome improvement over the base model G, large function buttons protrude out of their guards along the sides of the case, making operation a snap compared to the DW-5600 series, even with gloves on. The way the button guards angle out from the case reminds me of motorcycle cylinder heads or some undersea mine from an old Warner Brothers cartoon. The stainless caseback secures with 4 screws, not that you’ll need to pop the hood for several years. The strap is typical G-Shock flexible resin with faux dive expansion ridges. It’s comfortable enough, and seems durable, although the buckle is nylon as opposed to stainless. It’s just fine.
To be clear, the DW-291H does not bill itself as a G-Shock, so I won’t tell you it’ll endure any depraved thing you try with it, you weirdos. But it certainly seems durable enough for most of the normal things that normal people might do. Although I have no official confirmation, it seems logical that the ‘HD’ emblazoned on the lower faceplate would stand for ‘Heavy Duty’…coincidentally, the title of my favorite Spinal Tap song. Bonus!
So if you’ve got $25 bucks and a dream, this robust slab of everyday kit should find a place on your wrist too. More information can be found at https://www.casio-intl.com/asia/en/wat/watch_detail/DW-291H-1BV/
D.C. Hannay is a writer, commercial producer, voiceover artist, musician, and advertising copywriter from New York, writing professionally for over 20 years. He’s been fascinated with watches his whole life, beginning with his father’s 1970 Breitling Navitimer, and will always have a soft spot for anything Casio.
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