Casio F-91W vs Apple Watch SE

The matchup

This is the unfair comparison readers keep asking for, so let’s do it honestly. In one corner: a 1989 digital watch that tells time, beeps at 7 AM, and costs twenty dollars. In the other: a 2020s marvel that reads your heart rhythm, calls an ambulance when you fall, and outsells the entire Swiss watch industry. Only one of them will exist in 2045, and everyone already knows which.

Where the classic wins

Every axis this site measures. The F-91W’s quartz module has no software to sunset, no battery that degrades by charge cycle, no server dependency, and no annual keynote deciding when it becomes “vintage.” Its consumables — a CR2016 and a resin strap — cost under ten dollars combined and will be manufactured for as long as electronics exist. Twenty-year-old examples are so common they’re not even collectible. Its cost-per-year rounds to pocket change, and its failure mode is that eventually, somewhere past a decade, you spend five minutes with a screwdriver. The Casio doesn’t win the durability argument so much as embody it.

Where the modern wins

Everything else, and it isn’t close. The Apple Watch SE is arguably the most capable object ever sold for $249: fitness tracking, fall detection, ECG-class sensors on pricier models, messages, payments, music. It has verifiably saved lives, which no F-91W has managed except in the metaphorical sense. If the question is “which should I wear?”, wear whichever improves your life. But notice what the SE cannot offer at any price: a second decade. The battery is glued and rated in cycles, the case is sealed against repair, and watchOS support historically ends five to seven years after a model ships — at which point a functioning computer becomes a bracelet. That isn’t a defect; it’s the business model.

What the scoreboard says

Build quality (25): the SE is beautifully made and scores well; sealed construction is executed superbly. Longevity track record (20): the Casio has thirty-six years of receipts; the SE’s ceiling is set by a support policy, not by physics. Repairability (20) and parts (10): four Phillips screws and commodity batteries versus adhesive and authorized service — a rout. Value (15): $2.60 a year versus roughly $40–50 a year, assuming the SE serves its full supported life. Satisfaction (10): both score high, interestingly — SE owners love them, then replace them. The scoreboard says what the title promised: the modern one is a better product, and the classic one is a better possession. This site was built to rate the second thing.