Our collective understanding of what constitutes "value" in watchmaking - or really in any sort of niche collectible - is deeply irrational. The further you go into fake watch collecting (or stamps, pocket knives, headphones, etc.), the more unfazed you'll be by price tags that can quickly vault from double and triple digits to four or - gulp ?five and above. Of course, we can all agree that value will always remain a subjective assertion. A $500 Seiko Monster is a hell of a deal when you're comparing it to other entry-level mechanical dive watches, but for most people it's also a nonsensical amount of money to spend on a watch. (As the great philosopher Bo Diddley related in Trading Places: "In Philadelphia, it's worth fifty bucks.")
But today what we have is a sincere, honest-to-goodness value proposition that nearly everyone should be able to appreciate - and afford ?the Casio AE-1500. It's a multifunction digital quartz fake watch that, at least for me, represents this summer's ultimate seasonal impulse buy.
I snagged mine for $20 off Amazon about six weeks ago, and you should be able to find it at your local big-box retailer for under $30 (the official MSRP is $26.99). Since my khaki-colored Casio arrived, it's barely left my wrist, earning its place in my personal "summer beater" hall of fame in a short period of time.
First things first - this is not a G-Shock, nor is it a variant of Casio's Pro Trek family, though it looks to be a hybrid of the two. Instead, it's a mainline Casio product that sits alongside fan-favorite pieces like the Duro diver, the F-91W, and the AE1200WH-1A World Timer.
With its 51.2mm × 15.7mm case, the AE-1500 is, shall we say, indiscreet. But the traditional resin material keeps it lightweight enough to not be overly bulky. For comparison's sake, a review of the G-Shock catalog indicates the closest size comparison for the AE-1500 would be the GA 900 analog-digital models introduced last year. From my own collection of G-Shocks, I can tell you that it wears smaller than a 6900 series, but ever-so-slightly larger than a GA2100 "CasiOak" or DW5600 "Square."
A mostly full resin construction, with steel caseback, means the AE-1500 floats on the wrist - my scale measures right around two ounces all together. The practically nonexistent lugs are seamlessly integrated with the resin strap that shoots straight down, ensuring a compact 54.4mm lug-to-lug distance.
Unlike a G-Shock, where durability is the star of the show, the AE-1500's signature attribute is a truly massive digital LCD display that stretches the entirety of the fake watch face. This is where the Pro Trek comparisons will come to light for some, but it's so large and legible that its closest resemblance for me is the bedside alarm clock that used to wake me up everyday for high school.
ADVERTISEMENTWhile I think most everyone has a preference for easy-to-read timepieces, the AE-1500 will be especially favorable for the youngest and oldest fake watch wearers among us. The clean displays and concise functionality make general use a breeze compared to some other Casio models, which appear to delight in their complexity. My 67-year-old father is a longtime G-Shock fan and I've recently been spending some time at my parents' house. When my dad naturally noticed the AE-1500 I was wearing, he got salty about it in a good way. "Goddamn," he said, "I can actually read that one."
The fake watch comes with either a positive or negative LCD display. I opted for positive. The digital read-out is extremely crisp, almost reminiscent of the memory in-pixel technology Casio experimented with in last year's GBX100 series. (Casio says this is not the case, but it's a testament to just how high-quality digital screens have become in recent years.)
Another major point of significance, so major that Casio embellished it on the face of the watch, is its battery life: 10 whole years. However, unlike many G-Shock and Casio watches, the AE-1500 does not use a rechargeable solar cell, so after a decade passes by, you'll have to pop a new (very affordable) CR2032 battery in through the steel, screw-in caseback.
The AE-1500's suite of functionality does contain all the different features you likely already associate with Casio. The primary display incorporates the date, the month, the day of week, your local time, and two different representations of the passing seconds. There's a digital ticker at the bottom of the face, and a 10-second animation on the right side of the dial continuously fills up and depletes a graphic counter. It's a classic Casio visual component, similar to the "three-eyed" layout used on the G-Shock 6900.
Clicking the "Mode" pusher, you can see the rest of the functional screens, including a second time-zone (available in 12/24 hour format), a 1/100-second stopwatch, a countdown timer, and an alarm clock with the capacity for up to five alarms. Nighttime visibility is enabled via a pair of LEDs at the bottom of the dial that glow an amber hue for two seconds when you engage the "Light" pusher.
The $20-ish cost is most evident in the materials used. For a Jackson (and change), the AE-1500 is light on metal and heavy on resin, going so far as to swap the standard mineral crystal found on G-Shock replica watches for resin glass, which is especially conducive to smudging. The buckle is plastic, and the caseback engraving indicates the fake watch is assembled in China - but so are countless G-Shock replica watches priced four-to-five-times higher than the AE-1500.
ADVERTISEMENTCasio currently offers the AE-1500 in three different executions. There's the khaki example with a positive LCD display photographed for this story, a black example with red accents and a positive LCD display, and a grey example with blue accents and a negative display.
Consider this: I paid $20 for my AE-1500. If I use it for an entire decade - and I can't imagine I wouldn't, unless I gift it to a friend ?that's an effective cost ratio of half a penny a day, before the battery ever needs to be swapped. That's serious value. For the price, I'd be hard-pressed to name a better watch.
Photos, Logan Baker
Casio AE-1500: case, gray/black/khaki resin, 100-meter water resistance, 51.2mm × 15.7mm, with steel caseback. Positive/Negative LCD display. Module 3502, with hours, minutes, seconds, date, day of week, month, 1/100-second stopwatch, countdown timer, five multi-function alarms (with 1 snooze alarm), hourly time signal, full auto calendar (to year 2099), 12/24 hour format, with 10-year battery life (CR2032 cell). Bezel and strap are resin; crystal is resin glass. Accuracy: ±30 seconds per month.
Shop this storyThe AE-1500 is available at Casio.
The-value-proposition Casio New-watches-2021 Is the replica Rolex Cellini Just a Mens Dress Fake watch 8956