Casio LCD F-91W

I thought today's watch was a normal vintage Casio, but while researching it, I found it is a controversial model.

The F-91W is a basic LCD watch which came out in 1991. Like many at the time, it has a standard 2 line LCD in a black resin case. The main line is a 6 digit time display, and there are small day and date digits on the top line. There are 3 buttons on the watch which change the mode, light the LED bulb light, or switch between 12 and 24 hr display modes. For the other modes, it has an alarm and a stopwatch. Inside is a Casio 593 module which should last for 7 years on its CR2016 module. The module and the design are the same as the A158W I've blogged before, but that one was with a metal case.

The infamy came in April 2011, when the watch appeared in the news. The Guardian newspaper reported that US Military Intelligence had identified that this model was used by al-Qaeda as the timer for bombs, and that possession of this watch was an indicator that an individual had received bomb making training in Afghanistan by al-Qaeda. I don't know why this model was singled out, but it's a worry for the legitimate owners of an F-91W like myself who've never had bomb making training or been to Afghanistan! Here is a link to a BBC article on the watch (BBC link).