Every watch moves very fast when times are good. Every watch moves excrutiatingly slow when times are bad. However, I have been fortunate to have a watch that moves at the same pace whether I have had a bad time or a good one. You can see a glimpse of it in my left hand on my profile picture.It has been my companion for a little over 5 years now, after having been presented by my better half on my birthday in 2003, when our incomes were just good enough to meet our daily needs.
I have had an irrational fascination with latest gizmos, especially that have a digital look. It gets more pronounced when comes to watches. My Casio Data Bank is one of them. I was the happiest person on Earth when wifey dear kept this priceless present for me on my pillow at dawn on my birthday then. I knew that she was capable of surprises, but this one bowled me over(yet again!). There are times when one wants the time to be controlled by watches, and be made to stand still - it was one of them.
So let me come to the point now. It was bought by her from Ebony in NOIDA as she used to commute to NOIDA from Gurgaon daily using a combination of means of transport. It cost her Rs 4000 then(all this can not evede the calculative me), and was the best electronic masterpiece that ever fell in my hands till that day. To my surprise though, watches are listed under "Fashion" in MS. Maybe it is so and I am yet to grow out of my neanderthal cave life.
The looks of my Casio Databank are simply great. It has features like storing phone numbers(my mind is better though), stop watch, alarms, calendar displaying months on the small screen etc. Its "on screen" display of digital chracters makes it stand out. It has a digital display as well as a traditional HMS hands set. It is useful if you are travelling abroad and need to keep track of the local time as well as time back home.
Myself and wifey dear have searched for a better watch for 2-3 years now(er.what did I call that? oh yes, that "irrational fascination"), but found nothing better. Our search continued in the US on one of our seperate trips there and on my captivity at the Paris airport for 36 hours last Christmas(that’s a different story - maybe a diary post later). I was presented another Casio Data bank couple of years ago by my better half on her return from US, just because I did not know what else could be presented to me. That is a good watche too, but very similar to the one I had(and I still liked the looks of my first one).
I am not superstitious. but our times definately changed for the better after I got this watch. Note to Casio - "This is not of your making, hence please do not use my review to market your product".
My watch has gone through the following, not necessarily in order:
**1**. Drenched in the rain(more than once);
**2**. Dropped from my wrist to the hard floor(many times);
**3**. Eaten a slice of piza at Pizza Hut(it was Mexicana I think);
**4**. Survived my nephew’s claws;
**5**. Washed along with my hands umpteen times;
**6**. Watched "Garam Masala" as it was a torture one would not even wish his enemy;
**7**. Travelled wherever I went in the last 5 years;
Some of the things that I spared it are as follows:
**1.** Take it under water;
**2**. Show it to Mickey(My father’s pet dog who licks everything shown to it)
**3**. Leave it alone(we’re used to each other’s company you see)
I was never going to learn swiming, hence my watch not being 100% water proof did not bother me. It did get drenched a few times when I was, but passed the test everytime.And yes, it has a great battery life I must say as I have never changed to cell so far. I remember having to do it couple of times a year to the electronic watches we had in my childhood. Technology has really improved.
To sum up the value for money angle, here are the features that have been very useful for me for all this while:
1. Great accuracy as I have never adjusted time after doing it one day one;
2. Great battery life as the original one is still going strong;
3. Two time pieces - digital and HMS hands;
4. Alarms - sometimes useful;
5. Stop watch - very useful in testing performance of software;
6. Scratch proof dial;
7. Fairly resistant to water and shock;
And you wished the review was over, but not quite yet. I have just been presented another Casio G-Shock by the same benefactor, on my birthday last week. My favorite Databank has some competetion, finally, but it shall be tough. I will write a review on this new one now in 2013.
Maybe this one can make the better times stay longer and the bad ones fleet off in a second!