A colleague of mine, Kevin Sturge, mentioned to me that I should do a blog entry about my watch. So Kevin, here it is…

Before I talk about this specific watch, it’s worthwhile to recount my watch history. There’s no easy way to say this, I’m a watch abuser. I know it’s not a “good thing” – but it’s true. I’ve never met a watch I couldn’t somehow break, scratch, lose, crush, or otherwise mangle until 1996.

That fateful day, I had just managed to crunch the latest of my watches by reaching into a tight space in a server cage, getting my wrist stuck, pulling too hard, breaking the watch band, having the darned thing skitter across the floor under my foot where I managed to step on it and crush the glass into the face and hands. It was a fatal injury (Told you I was an abuser, it was expensive, attractive, and it was only 2 months old.)

After the frustration of killing my third watch in a year’s time, I made a promise to myself: I’d simply find a cheap, disposable watch that I wouldn’t feel badly about losing, mangling, and/or killing. A quick trip to Fry’s Electronics and this beauty Casio W-87H was added to my victims list for the princely sum of $8.99 (it was on sale.)

Representative Casio W-87H

Now, in 2006, not only have I managed not to kill, mangle, or lose it, I’ve had it long enough to replace the wristband 4 times! Note to Casio: the 5 year battery is *still* running 5 years after it was supposed to die. Also, the original wrist band did break in the first year (and it was extremely uncomfortable as I dimly recall.)

Having had such success with watches, I decided to do the same thing with sunglasses a couple of years later. (yes, I’m a sunglasses abuser too.) I hasn’t worked yet.

Well, here’s to you Casio W-87H. I’ve kicked you, crushed you, dropped you in tight places, traveled over 500,000 miles with you. You delivered what Timex promises – you’ve taken a licking and kept on ticking. I hope we get another decade of use together.

The actual survivor Casio W-87H on my wrist

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