I gripe every so often about things changing too fast. Let’s say that you buy something that works well and does what you need it to do. Eventually it wears out, so you try to buy a new one. But surprise, surprise, they no longer make it. Once in a very blue moon the newer stuff is better, but too often it just doesn’t work as well. That’s just another side-effect of our dynamic post-industrial capitalist economy (along with worsening distribution of wealth, sub-prime mortgages, the shuttering of Detroit and complex derivative investment instruments that defy mark-to-market accounting, or any other sort of accounting).
So it’s nice when you can still buy a classic. My Uncle Bruno passed away about 10 years and several months ago, and my brother and I had to clean out his apartment and settle his estate. We didn’t charge fees for our services to the other family members who inherited his net assets. But in return, we did pick out a few small-ticket, low-value items from his stash for our own use. My own booty included a Casio digital watch, the F28W. It was a rather low-budget watch, as my uncle was living a low-budget life (which was too bad, as he deserved better). It didn’t do much, but it did tell you the time and date. Also it was light and comfortable to wear, so I starting using it more and more. After a while it became my main wristwatch. I expected it to crap-out after a few years, but it kept on running as the new millennium progressed. About a month ago, the watch reached the ten-year mark with me.
But all good things must end, and my late uncle’s cheap-o Casio finally blanked out last week. I was told that it wasn’t worth having the battery replaced, as it would cost more than an equivalent new watch. So it was time to look for an equivalent new watch. As a starting point, I went on Google to see if anyone had a good recommendation for an F28W equivalent. It turned out that the most equivalent watch is the F28W! They still make it, and it looks the same. So I found a decent deal on Ebay ($14 with shipping) and punched in my order. And the package arrived today. So here’s the new watch on my wrist next to the old one, that had served me so well. The biggest difference is that the old one was made in Malaysia, whereas the new one comes from — where else? — China. We shall see if the Chinese do as well.
Sometimes simple is better, or so says the Casio web site. Most of the reviews on the Amazon site pretty much agree (but they’re correct about the plastic band breaking within two years; I’ll use the cloth band that I was using with the old one once it does). It’s nice, just for once, to find something old that the modern world still can’t beat. P.S., this isn’t the so-called “Casio terrorist watch”; that would be the fancier F91W. Mine came from some Jewish merchant in Brooklyn; the box was packed with Hebrew-language newspaper pages!
Jim,
Well! Talk about a global world! An American watch made in China from a Jewish merchant in Brooklyn–with Hebrew-language newspaper as packing.
And I have to say I wonder if your new watch is the “new and improved” F28W. Did you ever notice how almost everything made nowadays starts ends up being “new and improved”? My father many, many years ago pointed out to me that companies bring out a new product. Then if the product tends to be liked by people (read they sell a lot of it), the company very, very gradually starts cutting back on the manufacture of the product. In small increments the product is reduced in quality. People end up saying, “this isn’t much good any more” and stop buying it. Then, voila! the company comes out with the product “new and improved.” I have made a habit of noticing and studying the “new and improved” products over these last 50 years. The “new and improved” ones are never QUITE as good as the original product.
You have already mentioned one aspect of the “new” watch you have that is most probably “new and improved”–it has a plastic band instead of the cloth band on the original from your uncle. And I do not mean to kill your happiness in getting a watch you really like, but I wonder if you will find the plastic band as comfortable as the cloth band on the old watch. Right there is a reduction in the manufacture of the quality of the original product. I don’t know about you, but plastic bands on watches tend to make my arm sweat–not comfortable. Whereas the cloth band would not make one’s arm sweat; or if it did, the cloth would absorb the persperation.
I find myself wondering if when the “new” watch came out originally it was “new and improved.”
Regardless of my remarks, I hope that you do enjoy the “new” watch and that you get a kick out of having found a good watch that is just what you want.
MCS
P.S. Next time you are in a grocery store, for instance, take a notice of how many things on the shelves are labeled “new and improved”–which means they are not quite as good as the original product was.
Comment by MCS — April 3, 2009 @ 3:19 pm
Jim,
Well! Talk about a global world! An American watch made in China from a Jewish merchant in Brooklyn–with Hebrew-language newspaper as packing.
And I have to say I wonder if your new watch is the “new and improved” F28W. Did you ever notice how almost everything made nowadays starts ends up being “new and improved”? My father many, many years ago pointed out to me that companies bring out a new product. Then if the product tends to be liked by people (read they sell a lot of it), the company very, very gradually starts cutting back on the manufacture of the product. In small increments the product is reduced in quality. People end up saying, “this isn’t much good any more” and stop buying it. Then, voila! the company comes out with the product “new and improved.” I have made a habit of noticing and studying the “new and improved” products over these last 50 years. The “new and improved” ones are never QUITE as good as the original product.
You have already mentioned one aspect of the “new” watch you have that is most probably “new and improved”–it has a plastic band instead of the cloth band on the original from your uncle. And I do not mean to kill your happiness in getting a watch you really like, but I wonder if you will find the plastic band as comfortable as the cloth band on the old watch. Right there is a reduction in the manufacture of the quality of the original product. I don’t know about you, but plastic bands on watches tend to make my arm sweat–not comfortable. Whereas the cloth band would not make one’s arm sweat; or if it did, the cloth would absorb the persperation.
I find myself wondering if when the “new” watch came out originally it was “new and improved.”
Regardless of my remarks, I hope that you do enjoy the “new” watch and that you get a kick out of having found a good watch that is just what you want.
MCS
P.S. Next time you are in a grocery store, for instance, take a notice of how many things on the shelves are labeled “new and improved”–which means they are not quite as good as the original product was.
Comment by MCS — April 3, 2009 @ 3:19 pm
Thanks for sharing with us nice post
Comment by sheikh — April 19, 2018 @ 2:52 am
Hahahahahaha! After seeing that post I lost in to my childhood. Nice post.
Comment by Sofia Larionova — June 12, 2018 @ 4:03 am
Sad to say, but the F-28W isn’t in production any more, since around 2014. You can still get the F-91W, though… although that has a metal back instead of plastic (easier to change the battery, but not good for allergics) and does not show the month. On the plus side, you get a bad green light and alarm/stopwatch functions for nearly the same price. And the strap breaks just as fast (which must be the reason that you found the watch of your uncle with a non-original strap).
For the comment of MCS:
Sorry, but it’s not an american watch. It’s japanese.
And you should know that in fact Casio _really_ improves the watches. Okay, sure, if a module is replaced by a new version, then it surely uses less parts and is more efficient (~cheaper) to produce. But I own some vintage and some new Casios: let me say, that early 593-modules (currently available in the F-91W, A158, A159, A163, A164… and copied by many chinese fakes) had a yellowish microlight, but now use a green LED. It doesn’t look better nor is it brighter (except if the microlight is worn out), but the battery life improved ;). The A168 replaced the module 1275 with 1572 and now 3298, where the light doesn’t wear out as fast as before. The F-87W was made with module 400 at first, then with the 595 (very similar to the 593) with much better contrast.
The only sad thing I see is, that they just stop making their high quality products because the cheaper ones sell better. It’s nearly impossible to find a digital watch in all stainless steel nowadays, the last one I know was in 2007 (WV-M400, I still missed sapphire glass). I would always prefer a “new and improved” model instead of… just none that matches my needs.
Comment by _RGTech — November 19, 2018 @ 3:36 am