Hey, everyone! Today, we’re going to be taking a look at the humble Casio CA-53W, one of the most iconic digital watches of all time. Worn by Marty McFly in the later Back to the Future movies and several other famous characters, this nerdy calculator watch is somewhat of a legend, especially in 1980s pop culture. As a result, I decided to pick one up!
This watch cost me only $20, but it feels surprisingly sturdy and comfortable. Its resin strap and case body seem to be fairly durable, its display is easy to read, and it doesn’t look quite as ridiculous on wrist as I thought it would be. That said, this watch’s acrylic crystal does scratch very easily, its buttons aren’t very good, and on this model, there is no backlight to speak of. On a more expensive timepiece, these issues would be quite annoying, but I can forgive them given this watch’s price.
Aside from the calculator functionality, (which supports basic math operations and not much else) this watch is more or less your standard digital Casio affair. You have date, alarm, dual time, and stopwatch functionality, all of which are fairly easy to figure out. Setting the time on this watch was a bit cumbersome, but I was able to figure it out after some trial and error. Regardless, I found the user experience on this watch to be fairly intuitive.
So, is the Casio CA-53W worth buying? If you like the look of it or just want to travel back in time to the ‘80s, this rad little calculator watch is definitely worth the $20! However, I do realize that it’s not for everyone, and there are certainly more versatile digital watch offerings from Casio out there. Still, if you too are a massive nerd who thinks that these calculator watches are extremely fly, I think that you’ll also find that this watch is $20 well spent.
Want your own CA-53W? If so, here is the Amazon listing that I got mine from.