- I know what you're thinking, and no, this is not a joke.
This little, inexpensive Casio A158W
is my absolute favorite watch right now.
So with watches in my collection from Rolex,
Vacheron and Lange,
why on earth would I buy a $19 watch, right?
Well, I'm gonna tell you why I bought it
and also why I cannot take it off my wrist.
(upbeat music)
I'm Brian Sacawa, and you are watching He Spoke Style
where we give you the information and inspiration
you need to dress well,
have more confidence and unlock your potential.
This video is sponsored by Casio.
Just kidding! That is a joke too.
Do not hit the thumbs down.
This video is not a sponsored video.
So yeah, the story.
I'll get to the story and actually something
a little bit deeper,
but before we get to that
I do want to go over all the details
of this watch and give you a closer look at it.
So this is the Casio A158W.
The case is made from silver resin
and has a diameter of 34 millimeters,
a thickness of 8.5 millimeters
and a lug-to-lug width of 38 millimeters.
Case back is stainless steel
where you can see the brand stamped and model number 593,
which makes it very similar to the popular F91W.
The linked bracelet is also stainless steel,
and it has a quartz movement
with a battery life of around seven years.
One of the cool things that I like between the case
and the bracelet is that the case has a polished appearance
while the bracelet has a more brushed appearance.
Some people might not like that,
but for me, it's a nice contrast
that adds some subtle visual interest.
On the dial here, we've got a crisp LCD screen
which displays the time, hours, minutes
and running seconds.
And you can easily toggle between 12-hour time
and 24-hour time with the pusher on the right.
Above the time, kind of between the hours and minutes,
you have the day of the week,
and then over to the right, above the seconds,
is the date.
The screen does have a backlight that you operate
with the top pusher on the left side of the case.
But honestly, it's very weak
and only really provides any kind of value
in near complete or complete darkness.
Not very useful, but one of its charms.
More on that later.
With the bottom pusher on the left,
you can cycle through the watch's various operations.
First is the alarm function.
Then the stopwatch, which is very intuitive to use,
start/stop on the right and reset on the top left.
And then, finally, you get to where you can set
the date and time.
On the wrist, this watch is just an absolute joy to wear.
I mentioned the size, which makes it ideal
for those of us with smaller wrists.
And what I also like about that is that,
unlike the G-Shock which gets a ton of attention
and really calls attention to itself,
the A158W is a much more subtle piece.
It's very light,
so you basically don't even know you're wearing it.
And really the best part about this watch,
other than the price at just $19, is the look.
It's got a great retro style and feel
which, if you grew up in the '80s like me,
really gets those nostalgia juices flowing.
So that brings us back to the question
of why did I buy this watch?
Now, the honest truth is that I actually bought this watch
for another video that is coming up in a couple of weeks.
I'm gonna be doing a series of videos
comparing cheap or inexpensive watches
with the real luxury watches
that they are trying to emulate.
Anyway, the ironic thing is that
I didn't buy this watch for the watch itself,
I bought it for the bracelet,
and you'll see in a couple of weeks,
this bracelet makes a really good substitute
for another bracelet on another watch
that moves that watch even closer
to looking like the real thing.
More to follow.
But a funny thing happened when I got this Casio in the mail
and opened it up.
Now, mind you, the experience of opening up
and unboxing a Casio A158W is very different
than, you know, your luxury watch unboxing experience.
Instead of a big, ornate box with latches,
and velvet, and little drawers with thick manuals
and laminated cards, it comes in, you know,
basically a little cardboard jewelry box
and a manual with a few pages that are folded over
on each other.
In fact, it was so unimpressive
that I threw the packaging out pretty much immediately.
Of course, I wasn't looking for or expecting a luxury watch
unboxing experience from a $19 watch,
but the experience I had was almost better.
Opening the packaging and taking this watch out
brought me back to a time when I was a kid.
It brought me back to that Timex Ironman
that I loved so much.
It brought me back to that neon Swatch
with the rotating bezel.
Inexpensive watches, but watches that brought me so much joy
and still have meaning to me today.
And if you're into watches, you know,
is isn't that what it's all about?
I wanted to bring that up in the context of this video,
because I feel like sometimes,
especially when people get a first taste
of higher end watches,
that you can kind of fall into the trap
of looking down on watches that are literally cheap.
Like if you're not paying a lot of money
then the watch isn't worth anything, right?
I do kind of want to open up this can of worms here
because I've certainly been guilty
of some minor watch snobbery here and there.
And for me personally, you know, that has typically revolved
around fashion watches and fashion watch brands,
which are a whole other thing
that I do plan to do kind of a pretty deep dive into
at some point in the near future on the channel.
But it's just because like I'm the type of person
that believes in being patient
when it comes to not only the watches I buy for myself,
but the other things that I invest in as well.
I feel like we have this instant gratification culture
where, you know, we see something and we want it now.
That's totally natural, but I feel like it leads
to people wasting their money on things
that are cheap and less expensive
than probably what they really want,
but if you were just a little more disciplined and patient,
above all else, that you might actually be able to attain
in the future.
I wasn't expecting to like this watch as much as I did,
and it really taught me a lesson
about what watches really mean.
It's not about having the most expensive watch.
It's not about having the flashiest watch.
I mean, maybe for some people it is,
but real watch people,
real watch people don't care about that crap.
It's about how the watch makes you feel.
It's the story behind it.
It's the joy that it brings to you.
It's not about the price tag, you know.
Does this mean that I'm gonna have a whole collection
of Casio watches?
No, but I really like this one.
It will definitely feature
in my next watch collection video.
And if you want to catch up
on some of the current collection
as well as the stories of specific watches in my collection,
click on that playlist right over there.