Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Casio Duro 200 MDV-106-1A1V

I have a few fetishes. Bags and Shoes is just two of them. Watches is another evil that is hard to resist. I had written a blog entry about it here. But sadly, the photos were missing after lifelogger was sold to another company. Lessons to be learnt not to keep too many photos online. This blog will be pretty much devoid of photos too, should Facebook and Flickr closes down.
I do not have expensive watches but most of them, if not all, are on the "affordable" range. They are bought due to their uniqueness and even sometimes, due to the simplicity of the watch face. Very rarely, or never at all, they were purchased due to the "brand" or "type". As the above link mentioned, i bought a Seiko5 (SNK809K) to commemorate Ryan's birth. The watch is still running until today, being serviced once by my trusty watch-smith. It has a NATO strap now.
Seiko5 SNK809K Automatic Watch
The watch above was bought for it's simplicity and it is often not easy to find a watch where the day and date column is the same as the watch face. Often, they are white as the manufacturer recycle some of the more common parts to make a mass produced watch.
Day and Date same color as the watch face on the Seiko5 SNK809K
This blog post is to share with you the latest purchase or a legitimate dive watch. While i do not dive, owning a watch such as this is more for fashion and for safe keeping. Casio (Japan) are known to make watches that were digital more than analogue. So when they came out with something that resemble a nice expensive dive watch, you know you got to have it.
Beauty ain't it?
The Casio Duro200 range is called as such due to the water resistant up to 200m if used for diving. With oversized 48.5mm diameter watch face and weight up to 144gram, the watch is big even on my wrist.
Maybe i should not had lose those 18kg
I purchased the Casio Duro200 model MDV-106-1A1V that comes with a stainless steel strap. It is short of a real "dive"watch as the strap does not have the additional built in length to allow it to be worn over a diving wetsuit. But even that feature is actually dictated by the more expensive watch company as part of their marketing.
The Duro200 comes with a screw-down crown, which further enhance the water resistance of the watch. It wasn't too small to be turned even with my fat fingers.
Nice brushed surface too
What i like most about this watch was how simple the watch face looked. It just exudes an evergreen style. Simple and not complicated.
Signature Marlin to tie the range back to "watersports"
The back of every Duro200 has an engraved (quite deeply) marlin. It is powered by battery that claimed to last up to 3 years under normal usage. It was also stated in the spec sheet that it has an accuracy of ±20 seconds per month, which is irrelevant unless keeping super accurate atomic timing is your priority.
Stated to be model MDV-106 on the upper left corner
The retail price for this watch is RM350, which is a bargain compared to the other popular Japanese brand diving watch which i had laid eyes on a long time. However, pricing of that particular "monster", as it is known, is a bit too expensive for an everyday wear watch. 
This particular watch if taken cared off properly, will last a long time. Just remember to send it for some servicing every time it is sent in for a battery replacement. Minute oiling and dusting does wonder to a watch durability. They are meant to be passed to the next generation.
Watch out for another short and simple review in the near future of other watches in my safekeeping.

6 comments:

  1. just to share a bit, quartz may not last as long as an mechanical/auto watch.

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  2. thanks! Definately knows the limitation. Even with mechanical if they were to be abused (i.e. dropped and bad handling), it won't last too.

    my S5 Auto/mechanical has been serviced once in the past 6 years of ownership.

    thanks for sharing! My post is simple for this watch :)

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  3. I owned the snk809 for a year or so now. It's a beautiful watch.
    As I am look for info on the casio mdv106, i found yours.
    We have very similar taste it seems.
    Anyway, what's the band width of the mdv106?
    thinking of replacing the rubber with a nato.

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  4. Leo - it's 20mm. :) Afforable watches they are. :) Make sure you get a matching NATO to go with it. The watch is bulky and will look great on NATO.

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