Watch of the day (or so), Pt. 1 - Casio Royale

It's the time of the Corona crisis, and like many other countries, Austria has imposed some rather strict rules to keep the worst at bay.

As a result, I'm working from home, as are most of the people that can afford that option. So on a whim, I decided to shake things up on day two of the partial lockdown by wearing another watch than I usually do (like the madman that I am). I posted it on Twitter, and did the same yesterday and today.

Considering that this here is still my real home on the Internet, I've decided to replicate these posts here, with a bit of a time-shift, and maybe add a detail or two them.

So, on to the first watch, which you can already see above.


It's a Casio AE-1200WHD 1AVEF, a fun, inexpensive watch that has garnered a bit of a following for the fact that it closely resembles a far rarer and more famous watch: the Seiko G757. A watch that today goes for about €5.000, if you happen to find one. The reason this watch is as famous as it is lies in the fact that it was worn by one James Bond, in a film called "Octopussy".

Casio, by creating a watch that bears this striking resemblance to the Seiko, made their own Bond watch without having to pay the premium. It was therefore nick-named the "Casio Royale", an obvious wink to "Casino Royale", the first ever Bond novel by bard Ian Fleming.

Apart from its borrowed pedigree, the watch is solid. It comes with a metal bracelet, is a world-timer, so you can switch between various time-zones, also is backlit with the push of a button and have I mentioned it's really affordable? You can find it for under €30 wherever it is you buy your affordable watches.

All in all, a fun little watch to wear once in a while, even if, like me, you rarely ever need to know what time it is halfway across the world. This, I suppose, is more within the purview of secret agents.