The world’s best selling watch happens to also tell a good story.
The Casio F-91W is a digital watch manufactured by Japanese electronics company Casio. Introduced in June 1989, it is popular for its low price (around the A$20 mark when we last checked) and long battery life … technically 7 years, but anecdotally quite often more than 10 years. [Ed: Thanks Tony.]Annual production of the watch continues to be consistently around 3 million units.
That’s all good news … but there’s a twist:
Osama bin Laden (1957–2011) was the notorious Saudi Arabian militant and founder of the Islamist organisation al-Qaeda, who masterminded numerous terrorist attacks against the United States and other Western powers, including the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
The fact that the son of a billionaire wore a Casio F-91W did not escape the attention of American investigators. As it happens, with a bit of tinkering, the watches can be used as timers for improvised explosive devices; and indeed US military intelligence officials have specifically identified the F-91W as the watch that terrorists use in constructing time bombs.
Also, US investigators discovered that 32 of the detainees stationed at Guantanamo also had F-91Ws, while another 20 of them wore F-91W's sibling Casio A159W. Coincidence? Not according to US authorities. The official report literally states:
"The investigation showed that Casio watches were given to students of al-Qaeda training camps who were trained in the construction of timed explosive devices. Approximately one third of those detained with this watch had demonstrable experience with explosives or were in direct contact with persons who had the knowledge needed to manufacture such devices."
According to secret documents issued to interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, obtained and released by The Guardian: “the Casio F-91W digital watch was declared to be 'the sign of al-Qaeda' and a contributing factor to continued detention of prisoners by the analysts stationed at Guantanamo Bay. Briefing documents used to train staff in assessing the threat level of new detainees advise that possession of the F-91W and the A159W, available online for as little as £4, suggests the wearer has been trained in bomb making by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan."
Let’s just hope that this profiling doesn’t happen out of context. That would make for a lot of suspects.
And it hasn’t always been the case that the watch came with this nefarious reputation. There was a time when the young Barack Obama wore one on his pre-Presidential wrist.
Story Idea: Tony Wheeler
___________________________
References
wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W
watchesofespionage.com/blogs/woe-dispatch/casio-f-91w-the-preferred-watch-of-terrorists
hodinky-365.com/blog/casio-f-91w-review
motherjones.com/politics/2006/07/why-am-i-cuba
theguardian.com/world/interactive/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-files-interrogators-al-qaida-taliban
Images
1 & 2. Casio F-91W digital watch
3. Osama bin Laden wearing his Casio F-91W
4. Casio F-91W used as a timer for explosives detonation. Early 2000s.
5. Timers found in the car of Ahmed Ressam when he was captured in Port Angeles on 14 December 1999. Photo Credit: Peninsula Daily News.
6. F-91W and AKS-74U, two iconic tools. Photo Credit: James Rupley.
7. Guantanamo Bay detainees sit in a holding area at Camp X-Ray on 11January 2002. Credit: Reuters/Shane T. McCoy/Handout.
8. Mock orange Guantanamo Bay edition of F-91W posted on Reddit by u/weevintage
9. Young Barack Obama wearing his Casio F-91W
