JENNY STILL GIVES ME THE TIME OF MY LIFE

Jenny gave me every watch I wore from around the time we got married all the way till this year. Because she was always a woman of fine taste, I deferred to her when it came to decisions about my clothing and accessories. Watches were no exception. It broke my heart, then, when the Samsung Gear smartwatch she gave me back in 2017 stopped working in January. It had a great seven-year run and I can't complain. However, I needed a new watch.

Here I am this morning holding up the Casio F105W that Jenny gave to Tyler.

Enter Tyler with a couple of the watches he used to wear that Jenny gave him. They are still ticking even though they date back to his elementary school days. One of them is a Casio F105W, which you can still get on Amazon. If you're interested, act quickly. (Less than $20 for crying out loud!) They're selling fast and won't be coming back. Here's why: This Casio, which I'm wearing in the top photo of this post, is a cult classic which features electroluminescent backlighting, or "EL". What's the big deal, you ask? EL backlighting is a technology that Casio used going back to the late 1980s but it is being phased out. Many Casio diehards, including me, adore the uniform lighting that this offers as well as that soft indigo glow (hence the trade name "Indiglo", which Timex uses for its EL backlit watches). Because LEDs, a competing technology to EL, have a longer life, consume less power and are less expensive to make (which is good for Casio), they are rapidly taking over backlighting duties for Casio's line of digital watches. Take a look below and compare the two photos I took today showing EL and LED backlighting.

On the left, my G Shock GMW 5610 with LED. Note the asymmetric lighting. On the right, Tyler's Casio F105W--given to him by Jenny--with EL backlighting. The electroluminescence results in a uniform glow. Because it's more expensive to manufacture, however, this feature is being phased out by Casio.

Another fact I appreciate about EL watches is that the display itself is much closer to the crystal (the glass that interfaces with the outside world that you can touch and clean) than for an LED display. This is because spacing is needed to accommodate the LED light, leading to a display that appears recessed. The bonus with the EL watch, then, is that it can be more easily read at an oblique angle. In the photo below, the LED watch is on the left and shows substantial ghosting making it impossible to tell the time at this angle. On Tyler's EL watch, the display is almost smack up against the crystal, offering a clean, painted-on appearance.

"Does anybody really know what time it is?" (Chicago song that Jenny and I once enjoyed together.) On the left is a G-Shock showing some serious digit ghosting. On the right is the Casio that Jenny gave to Tyler (who gave this watch to me). There is much less ghosting because the display is tight up against the crystal. This in turn is enabled by EL backlighting, which doesn't require spacing between display and crystal.

There's so much I can and will say about Jenny's taste in watches and the timepieces she chose. In the meantime, I'll be wearing that EL digital. Not only do I love this Casio, but it will give me a connection to both Jenny and Tyler.

By the way, tonight is Daylight Savings, so please do set your Casio's accordingly!