The Casio F91W: The World's Most Dangerous Watch

[Yithian]

HOW THE CASIO F91W BECAME THE WORLDS MOST DANGEROUS WATCH​

May 11, 2022 by Scott Witner Leave a Comment

The humble Casio F91W has been an iconic watch since it was first made in Japan back in 1989. Upon its release, it was sold for around $20 making it one of the world’s first affordable digital watches. Today, Casio still produces over 3 million of the F-91W every year.

The Casio F91W is known for its resilience. Run it over with a car, smash it with a hammer, drop it in boiling or ice-cold water; the damn thing won’t die.

Watches tell a story and man o man the Casio F-91W has one hell of a story, or should we say reputation. Not only is the Casio F-91W an iconic digital watch, but it’s also referred to by some as the ‘terrorist watch.’ Here’s why.

What Watch Did Osama Bin Laden Wear?​

While Casio evolved further into ruggedized watches through its iconic Casio G-Shock line, the F91W remained the true battlefield watch throughout modern warfare. Aside from the iconic weapons of its time, the Casio F-91W is the only branded accessory that Osama bin Laden was ever seen wearing in the open.
Al-Qaeda was reported to hand these watches out to recruits at their terror training camps across Afghanistan and Pakistan throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Thus, it was al-Qaeda and bin Laden who arguably started the “terrorist watch” trend surrounding the Casio F91W.

During the height of the Global War on Terror, it didn’t take long for the US government to spot the prevalence of the Casio F91W among terrorists. In 2011, Wikileaks released a document labeled the “Matrix of Threat Indicators for Enemy Combatants” which was intended to assist staff at Guantanamo decide which detainees are more likely to carry out suicide attacks.

ARTICLE CONTINUES:
https://www.thegearbunker.com/how-the-casio-f91w-became-the-worlds-most-dangerous-watch/

 

[Kondoru]

Thats an unbalanced article; the military use them too.

They certainly are good watched, I have got through several, been using them since I was a teen.

I wanted a fancy watch; it turns out I dont need one.

I love them more than ever before.

 

[James_H]

During the height of the Global War on Terror, it didn’t take long for the US government to spot the prevalence of the Casio F91W among terrorists. In 2011, Wikileaks released a document labeled the “Matrix of Threat Indicators for Enemy Combatants” which was intended to assist staff at Guantanamo decide which detainees are more likely to carry out suicide attacks.

Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'terrorist watch list'.