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So, the W-86 is here as my third watch. It's much the same as the F-91W in design, but it has a few key features that the latter doesn't have.
I paid £11.99 at my local Argos, located in the local Sainsbury's. Its retail price there is £16.99 but I had a £5 gift card. On Amazon they seem to be going for at minimum £30, which is quite a bit for what this watch is.
However, given that they are apparently getting a bit harder to find... if you don't have an Argos nearby and can't wait for stock, Amazon may be the only place you're able to go to.
The W-86 looks much the same as the standard black F-91W, just bigger and a bit thicker. Its simplistic resin case has been enlarged to 39mm diameter, while the strap has been redesigned slightly, adding some cutouts to make it seem less dated.
Otherwise, it's basically the same until you look at the protective piece above the LCD. It does sport some new marketing bits. Alongside the Casio logo and the usual 'Alarm Chrono' to denote it has an alarm and a digital chronograph (stopwatch), it boldly proclaims its 'electroluminescence' and that it has an 'illuminator' (also known as a backlight, Casio) alongside its 50 metre water resistance rating. The electroluminescence and illuminator markings are in teal-ish boxes, with the former having an arrow on the left to point to the backlight button.
The LCD is essentially the same, but the weekday is moved closer to the day of the month a bit.
Overall for looks, I'd say it still looks quite stylish - it looks similar to G-Shocks, but is obviously not a G-Shock when viewed up close.
As mentioned previously, the watch is still made of resin, as is the strap. The strap will probably wear out long before the watch will rot away. The resin is good for the price, I cannot deny. The back is stainless steel with the four phillips #000 screw arrangement, so that hasn't changed. Under the hood is apparently an improved rubber gasket and some deeper screws - most likely the former is what contributed to the 50 metre / 5 bar rating.
Unfortunately there is no mineral glass to be seen for the lens above the LCD, it's still acrylic. For £12 though you can hardly ask for more. It's not scratch resistant, so don't take hacksaws to it... or something. But you don't have to baby it either.
The W-86 works very similarly, if not identically, to the F-91W. It may have a different module, but its functions are the same.
It can tell the time in 12 hours or 24 hours - the former is a must for me as I've said before, because it adds a delay for me to work out what the hell it means if it's past 12pm. The weekday and day of the month are in the top middle and right of the LCD as before, with it also tracking the month, which is set separately in the time settings. The PM marker (if using 12 hour time) is in the same place, just above of the current hour, and just underneath the daily alarm marker.
Just like the F-91W it has a stopwatch and a daily alarm. You can set the latter to have an hourly time signal, the daily alarm, or both. The former means that the watch will beep every hour, on the hour.
The star of the show is the electroluminescent backlight. This is an older technology that seems to date back to around the 1980s and is basically unused today, phased out in favour of little LEDs. Unlike the F-91W's utterly abysmal 'microlight' which barely lets you read the hour in a dark room, the W-86's E.L. backlight evenly lights the entire LCD with no dark spots. Absolutely brilliant! For a cheap Casio watch, this is probably the closest you'll ever get to Timex's signature Indiglo, just with a teal-ish colour instead of green. On camera it looks much more teal in lower light, but in daylight it tends to look more blue.
I haven't tested the water resistance, but as said before multiple times, Casio have rated it for 50 metres, or 5 bars. As for the battery life, just like the F-91W Casio rate it for 7 years with a standard lithium CR2016 cell.
I firmly believe that the W-86 is the true successor to the F-91W. It retains essentially the same design, just enlarged and made slightly thicker, and with an absolutely amazing backlight for the price I paid.
I have heard that Casio has discontinued this watch, and as such they will be getting harder to find new in box as the years go on. If you want to get one, snap one up now before you can't.
Also, I can't find the F-105W on the Casio UK store, so that's probably gone too.
As of writing (17/11/2023) Casio have discontinued the W-86, and these are the places that have them. Argos is the only truly reasonable price.
Last updated: Sunday 19th November 2023 - Added front, back and EL backlight photos, removed bit about bigger LCD & added the weekday bit
