So I bought a Casio WS1600H anyway

Yeah, I have some explaining to do.

I said flat out that I wasn't going to buy this. The annoyances I listed were all legitimate and I was certain that nope, wouldn't get it.

But then the price dropped for a WS1600H. Quite a bit. I thought about it, and said eh... okay, let's give it a try.

I was certain that I'd wear the watch for a day and return it. Surprisingly, I didn't, it's still on my wrist now, and I'll most likely keep it.

This thing is complicated but the dial makes up for it

I have a FULL VIDEO below explaining how to set this watch. When you watch that video, you will understand what I mean when I say the WS1600H is complicated.

All of the complicated stuff has to do with the stopwatch and countdown timers. You're not going to get W218H simplicity out of the WS1600H. Not happening.

The video explains it all, but even the actions of starting, stopping and resetting the stopwatch are weird. Then when it comes to the timers, there are preset and interval. Preset timers can be repeated, but interval timers cannot... sort of. I found a way to get a normal auto-repeat timer out of the WS1600H that I show in the video.

In the end however, it is the dial that makes up for the complicated stuff. Large day, large month-date, large time, dual-bulb amber night light.

The WS1600H has one of the largest month-date displays for a Casio digital. The W218H has a big day-date but doesn't display the month on the main time screen. Where day and month-date are concerned, the WS1600H is only outdone by the WS1000H (which I made a video about a while back as I used to own that model).

If you can deal with the complicated nature of the stopwatch and countdown timers of the WS1600H, then yes it's worth getting. Or if you just want something AE1200 sized where the time, day and month-date are large, that's also a good reason to get one.

Published 2023 Jul 3