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 Langa,
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.
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 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 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 Iron Man
that I love 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,
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,
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 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.
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 wanna 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.
