
How the Casio F-91W became the world’s most versatile (and dangerous) watch - Darphe
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/10/20/how-the-casio-f-91w-became-the-worlds-most-versatile-and-dangerous-watch/
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chrisseaton
> However, after 9/11, investigators at Guantanamo Bay started to notice a
> strange pattern. Some 32 inmates were found to be wearing the F-91W at the
> time of their apprehension

When I was in the British Army almost everyone wore this watch (actually the
green light version whatever that is called). I used to carry two in case the
one on my wrist became damaged. I think it's just a universal soldier thing,
not a suspected terrorist or bomb-making thing.

~~~
analog31
That's interesting... my present watch is a super cheap Timex that doesn't
even have a date function. The best reviews on Amazon were from soldiers. One
of them said that he already has every possible electronic doo-dad strapped to
his body, and all he needs from a watch is being able to tell the time.

For my use, I guessed that the date function (on a mechanical watch) is what
eats the battery, and indeed, this watch has a very long battery life.

~~~
dogma1138
The one thing that always intrigued me is that militaries never seem to have
outfit their soldiers with watches (the only 2 i heard anecdotal evidence that
they had were the Russians and the Swiss) .

Even today where you'll have an electronic optics, laser designator, night
vision, a bunch of different radios, and even PDA's if you are in the US, but
still no bloody watch.

Can't navigate without one properly, can't know if you are keeping the correct
pace when on patrol, can't know when you need to get up to a watch or when you
are about to be replaced, can't calculate the distance of enemy fire can't do
squat without a watch, but still they don't give you one.

~~~
tzs
> The one thing that always intrigued me is that militaries never seem to have
> outfit their soldiers with watches (the only 2 i heard anecdotal evidence
> that they had were the Russians and the Swiss).

This could be a hold over from habits established before cell phones became
common. Back before, say, the '90s, most people in the US (and I assume in
most other first world countries) from their teens onward had a watch.

Perhaps militaries assumed that everyone coming in would already have a watch.

Furthermore, watches were often of great sentimental value, and many people
would have viewed the military telling them what watch to wear as being as
absurd as, say, issuing a standard military wedding ring to married soldiers
to replace their civilian wedding ring.

As long as a soldier's watch was accurate and reliable enough for military
needs, they probably saw no reason to not let the soldier use his own watch.

~~~
chrisseaton
Until recently officers usually had to provide most of their own equipment.
You can still see leftovers from this in the British military, where for
example you are responsible for buying your own dress uniforms from private
tailors (but you get a grant to somewhat cover it these days).

------
michaelt

      It’s a statement of cool detachment and a brilliant
      way of blowing up explosives.
    

I've never heard anyone give a satisfying explanation of why the F-91W is any
better at blowing explosives than any other cheap digital watch with an alarm.
Surely all you have to do is take the signal from the beeper, amplify, and
connect to your trigger circuit - which you could do with any watch with an
alarm.

Is there some reason the watch is "a brilliant way of blowing up explosives"
compared to any other watch on the market? Or has the journalist just made
that up?

~~~
dogma1138
Could be reliability or voltage related, more likely just availability Japan
didn't participate in most sanctions and Asian goods are more readily
available in the Middle East.

~~~
gruez
>Japan didn't participate in most sanctions and Asian goods are more readily
available in the Middle East.

As opposed to watches made in the US or Europe? Aren't most electronics made
in China/Japan anyways?

~~~
dogma1138
Yes but the brand and parent company are what affects the distribution not the
place of manufacturing.

Timex being an American company is less likely both historically and now to
sell in say Iran, Iraq or Syria than a Japanese or even a European company.

Historically as far as electronics, cars and similar things go Asian and
European brands are more common in the Middle East than American ones.

------
Theodores
This is one of those pathetic propaganda stories from The War Against Terror
that people will regurgitate for years to come. See also how 'al-qaeda' stored
messages as 'drafts' on Yahoo mail so that they could outsmart the CIA. These
sorts of stories are popular with 'educated' people that think they read the
news and form their own opinions about fundamental-islamic-extremalism rather
than just admit to being brainwashed by the defence-sector owned mainstream
media.

------
shakna
“Saleh performed internet searches for the terms ‘watch’, ‘casio’, and
‘vacuum’… these searches reflect Saleh’s efforts to identify and obtain
components required to create an explosive device.”

I wonder want few words would implicate me as a terrorist?

Last three keywords I used: stack blow unsigned

