It is likely that your interest in the Casio retro watch trend has led you to a choice between two iconic Casio watches; the A159W and F91W. This short article covers their salient features and compares them in terms of material, design, and functions. To be honest, because these iconic Casio watches are so cheap and commonly found, you might as well just get both.
Lets go into a detailed comparison between the two.
Materials
The a159w has more metal on it due to its steel strap and back plate. The casing of the watch itself looks like chrome but is actually plastic. Those watches manufactured during the early days of this model was completely stainless steel. However, newer models of the a159w have a shiny chrome like casing. On the other hand (pun totally intended), the f91w is totally plastic except for its stainless steel back and metallic push buttons.
Both watches are light, durable, and comfortable to wear. It all just depends on your mood or the occasion on which you would wear one over the other. For long term usage, plastic does get brittle over time and may begin to crumble. But that is really not something to worry about.
Circuit and functions
Both the Casio a159w and f91w have exactly the same circuit and hence functionality. They both show the time in 12 hour and 24 hour format, have a stop watch, alarm, show the date day and month, hourly beep, and that iconic just bright enough pale green light.
Even the beep of the buttons, the hourly beep, and the alarm beep beep sound exactly the same, which means they have the same speaker. Nothing to compare here.
Water Resistance
Both watches indicate that they are water resistant. It is yet to be seen how deep they can go.
Manufacturing
The stainless steel a159w indicates on its back plate that it has been made in Japan, while the f91w is manufactured in Thailand. I have no idea why both these watches by Casio have different countries of origin. I am yet to come across an f91w made in Japan or a159w made in Thailand.
Light
While water resistance was the the main selling point of these watches, the dim slime green light became a more iconic and memorable feature as everyone used it and we all remember it. As mentioned earlier, the circuit of the watches is a same, and therefore so is the light.
Weight
Both the Casio watches were actually weighed on a gram scale. Turns out the f91w is only 21 grams, which is less than half of its metallic cousins weight of 47 grams.
Casio a159w vs f91w Alarm Battle
Just for fun, both watches were set to the same alarm time and their alarms were played together. There is no difference. Watch the video below or on the beyond nothing Youtube channel.
Conclusion
Both the trending iconic casio watches a159w and f91w are exactly the same except that one is kinda metal and the other is plastic. Both can be modified to the extent that their straps can be changed to leather or plastic.
