Casio Duro Small Date 38.5mm

For those of you who are looking to get the Baby Duro because of your desire for a smaller dive-style watch, I suggest you be very careful. Let me elaborate.

I purchased the Baby Duro from Casio because, like many others, I really liked the looks and functionality of the Duro, but I was afraid of the ginormous 44 mm case size. Ironically, I now wear the full-size Duro very happily, and my Baby Duro decorates the wrist of my little sister.

I watched the YouTube reviews of the new Mini Duro, so I knew all about the decreases in quality compared to the OG Duro—meaning crappy bezel, 50 m water resistance due to lack of screw-in crown and caseback—but I bought it anyway, partly because it was on special (and how could I resist a special?) and partly because I wanted a small, black, dive-watch-looking watch.

As soon as I took the wrapper off and opened the cardboard shipping box with my very cool and “tacticool” Spyderco Tenacious folding knife, I knew that this Casio was going to be too small—way too small, unfortunately.

“Well duh, what a surprise, Sherlock. You should have known that from the get-go, it is 36 mm after all!”

Yes, you are right, but 36 mm doesn’t automatically translate into “too small,” not for me at least.

The reason why this watch is too small and belongs only on children’s or females’ wrists (and I say that with a very firm stance against sexism) is because of the width between the lugs.

This watch is supplied on either a metal or rubber strap; both are 15 mm wide between the lugs, so the strap is very thin and feminine. Combine that with a very—and I mean very—short lug-to-lug distance, and you get a watch that looks comically small even on a small-to-average male wrist, but looks incredibly cool howewer on a small-to-large female or child wrist.

It is no surprise, then, that my Baby Duro’s fate was to be gifted to a female child—my lovely sister—who now, as a consequence, has the coolest watch in her class and looks like a sharply dressed and accessorised businesswoman in a group of 10–11 year old kids who probably still forget to wipe their noses every once in a while.

With all the negatives being mentioned and duly noted, for fairness’ sake I also have to mention that this watch still is very cool. The looks are great, the lume is functional in the applied indices, the hands are nicely polished, the sunray effect on the dial is lovely, and the seconds hand hits the markers perfectly—on my model, at least.

The bracelet is low quality but easy to size and very comfortable, and altogether the whole piece has the desirable appearance of a luxury sports watch.
Cool, very cool Casio. But I’m still mad at you for not making a proper diver Duro in 38 or 39 mm instead. Shame on you.