Casio Duro Date 44.2mm

The Casio duro. A watch loved by enthusiast and one that gained legendary status for a good reason.

Learning about its dimensions for the first time, especially before trying it on can be quite scary. It looks awesome, rewiewers sang songs and ballads about its robustness and value for money propositions, and altough it is very reminiscent of the copied to the gates of boredom Rolex Submariner, it is an original watch, from a proper, highly likeable brand. But its too big, isnt it?

Well no, not really. First of all it is very thin. Only 12mm thickness is what you have to live with, and due to the downward curvature of the lugs, the flat caseback, the flat sapphire and the nicely finsihed, flat midcase (and of of course not to mention the light weight made possible by the japanese guartz movement housed inside), this beast of a watch wears incredibly comfortable, like its not even on the wrist.

Once you glance down on your watch howewer, it becomes immediately obvious that you are indeed wearing a watch, and quite a big one at that, because there is no getting away from the 44mm case diameter and roughly 47-48mm lug to lug length. The Duro is a large watch, but its size, and this is my subjective opinion of course, is a big part of its charm. Its supposed to be big. Its even supposed to be slightly oversized. It makes the watch cool. Gives it wrist presence, but without the obnoxious qualities that we generaly associate with people wearing oversized watches. 

Its flashy in an understated way, very charming and easily loveable, and of course there arent many challenges it could not take on without any hassle.

For me, watches like the Casio Duro are the definitions of what a tool watch is and supposed to be. Some like to call expensive swiss mechanical watches tool watches, but I think that is missing the whole point. A proper toolwatch is an inexpensive, well, tool, that you can wear while attending to any demanding phisycal labour or exercise, partly, because you can easily replace it, but mostly because you can be confident in its capabilities.

If I were to be drafted and sent off to an armed conflict, and I were to be given the choice of wristwatch to take with me on my deployment, I would not choose a Tudor Pelagos, nor a Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical, not even a Seiko Turtle. I would pick the Duro, as it was created to look insanely cool, and aesthetic, while always performing without skipping a beat, even in the messiest of situations.

The watch wears smaller than its size would seem. The stock strap is fine, but it really shines with a strap upgrade; it’s a strap monster and looks great on just about anything. The mineral crystal can scratch, but it’s easy to fix or replace. Probably the best watch to start modifying by yourself. Lume is not great. For the price, this is definitely one of the best beaters out there.