1974 was a good year for the world! It was the year Casio introduced its first watch. It is also the debut of The Six Million Dollar Man television show. Do you remember the Six Million Dollar Man? The show followed the adventures of Colonel Steve Austin, a cybernetically enhanced astronaut, employed as a Secret Agent by the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI), under the watchful command of OSI Director Oscar Goldman and supervised by Rudy Wells, the scientist who created his cybernetics. When the experimental NASA aircraft that Austin was piloting broke up and crashed, Austin barely survived. They had to replace, both of his legs, an arm and his eye with cybernetics. In the intro to the show the narrator says: “Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive.” Then Oscar Goldman says: "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better... stronger... faster.” A shortened version used later was “We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better... stronger... faster.”
Like Colonel Steve Austin, the original and legendary Casio F91W is amazing in every way. An icon of its era. Yet Casio knew, they could rebuild it. Casio has the technology. Casio will build it better than it was before. "Better... bigger... brighter!" And they did! The Casio W217H with it's classic F91W styling, bigger display, greater wrist presence, and upgraded brighter light, adding improved vision capabilities in the dark. For me, the Casio W217H is the Six Million Dollar version of the Casio F91W and can be found for around twenty-five bucks or less. It does everything you need it and nothing you don't. It has the time in both 12 and 24 hour formats. It has the day and date on the display. It has a stop watch feature that is so fun and useful. It has orange LED illumination that is so much more legible in low light situations than the F19W is. It has the classic Casio alarm and beeps. Retro text on the dial.
According to Casio the case size is 43.1 mm × 41.2 mm × 10.5 mm (L× W× H) and the weight is 32 grams. The case and bezel material is resin. It also has a resin band. It features 50-meter water resistance making it safe for washing hands, showing and swimming but not for snorkeling or diving. It has and approximate battery life of 7 years on the CR2016 battery. Unless like me, you can't stop playing with the lighting, or trying to get the stopwatch to stop on 00:01:00. You can also press and hold the Start/Stop button on the top left for a couple seconds and the dial will say "CASIo" so that you know it is authentic. You can press all three buttons to do a LCD check which will show everything. You then press any button to return it to normal. Similar to the F91W, the W217H is a simple retro styled digital watch that evokes nostalgia while also being "Better... bigger... brighter!"
When I got it, I was immediately impressed by it. As an adult, it felt on my wrist similar to how Casio watches felt on my wrist as a kid. I had scaled up in size and it was nice that Casio made a watch for me. With massive 8.25" wrists the larger size suits me well. As always, I can never leave well enough alone, so I swapped out the resin band for a gray 18 mm perlon from Wrist Candy Watch Club. I love the strap but it looked so tiny on the watch and the proportions just seemed a little off. The original resin band is 18 mm at the spring bar but then flares out to 24 mm and then tapering down at the buckle. Notice I said spring bar. That is another upgrade the W217H has real spring bars instead of the press fit pin the F91W has. The reduction from 24 mm to 18 mm on the perlon is why the proportions seemed off and Vario has the solution. I installed a Vario oiled leather Prussian blue watch strap designed for the Casio AE1200WH World Time Watch onto my Casio W218H. With its 18mm lug width and 24mm strap width tapering to a 20mm buckle width and measuring approximately 4.9"/125mm for the long portion, 2.9"/76mm for the short portion and 4mm thick, it is the perfect complement to the watch. The blue color goes with the the blue print on the dial face. My next step will be to swap out the buckle for black PVD to match the resin case. The leather strap elevates the style while not detracting from the the retro charm. The Vario utilize quick release pins that make strap changes a piece of cake. The pull up leather gets a wonderful distressed look to it, adding even more visual interest.
I have been so impressed with Vario leather watch straps and their travel spring bar tool. I bought several of the pull up leather straps designed for the Casio AE1200WH World Time Watch aka the Casio Royale. Secret Agent approved. When I found out they fit on other models of the Casio digital watches with 18 mm strap width, I was ecstatic. I put a oiled leather moss green watch strap for Casio AE1200WH World Time watch on a a olive green Casio F91WM-3A. I put the oiled leather Prussian blue watch strap for Casio AE1200WH World Time watch on a silver Casio F91WM-7A. I liked those so much I decided to try a Vario Crazy Horse Ash Grey Bund Watch Strap for my Casio AE1200WH World Time and it looks great. I also realize that strap is perfect for a Timex Mk1 Aluminum field watch so now I have to get a 20 mm version for that. I have been so impressed with the quality of all the Vario products I have bought. They just seem well designed, even when I use them not as originally intended.
While the Casio W218H is is The Six Million Dollar F91W in my opinion, my opinion takes nothing away from the F91W. The F91W is a legend for a reason. There are so many versions of the F91W. If you have the wrists for it, you have a lot of options. For those of us in the big wrist club, with older eyes, the W218H solves a couple problems. and has become a welcome addition to my wrist watch collection.