The one reason why you should buy a Casio A700W

All F91W type watches should be this good.

When you get to know Casio watches, there are a few you become intimately familiar with.

First is the ubiquitous F91W, the most popular watch in the world. After that, the F105W, which is the F91W with a slightly different case shape with the EL (ElectroLuminescent) night light for easy night viewing. After that, the A158, which is the "steel" version of the F91W, and then the A168, the "steel" version of the F105W.

All these watches work exactly the same with just slight variations between them.

Then there's the recently introduced A700W, pictured above. Acts like an F91W, looks like an A158W, so what's the deal with this model?

Legibility. That is the best reason to get this watch. The second best reason is that it's only 6mm thick. That's not a typo. Ever tried a CA53W calculator watch, which is already ridiculously thin? This is even thinner than that, and it's amazing.

What makes the A700W so legible? Three things. The 6mm thinness, the mineral glass crystal (yes, real glass here and not acrylic,) and the amber night light.

There is basically zero LCD "wash" on the A700W. Lean the watch at any angle and it can still be read without the LCD segments becoming unreadable. The F91W is already amazing at this, and the A700W is even better.

The mineral glass crystal makes the display so clear it almost doesn't even look like it's there. I had no idea a Casio digital display could look this good.

Finally, the amber night light is absolutely perfect. Not too bright, not too dark, looks better than the blue/green EL light on other models, and obviously blows away the cheap green light of the F91W.

Any photo of this watch does it no justice whatsoever. This is something that has to be seen to appreciate fully. You've never seen an F91W type with a mineral glass crystal before, but once you do, this is as good as an F91W type gets.

I call this "F91W type" even though I know it's not the F91W. In fact, it's not even module 593. The module used is 3472, evidenced by the thinness, the night light and the fact the display reads SPL (for "split") instead of LAP when using the chronograph lap feature.

You'll notice the A700W does cost more (and by that I mean about $7 more than a comparable A168.) Worth it? Absolutely. You are paying for a better watch with distinctively better features and not just a variation on a theme.

Good on Casio for doing this. Super thin, super legible, best of the lot, no question about it.

Published 2020 Aug 27