Andy always wanted a solar-powered atomic wristwatch so he bought one in 2008. (Click on the picture for higher resolution.)
It worked fine until it fell off a couple of weeks ago. We looked at it and even though the watch was working fine, the material holding the band on had deteriorated and was broken.
We had bought it from Amazon, so I went into their record of past purchases and found it. But when I clicked on the link it said the page was no longer available. Oh, Dear. Models do change after almost 17 years. So I looked to see what else they had, read the reviews about them on Amazon and other websites, and decided this one would be the best one to try. (click on the picture for higher resolution.)
It came, but (1) it didn’t have a user manual in English, just a couple of other languages, and (2) the resin watchband was hard to put on. I started searching for a band like the one he had before, one with an easy-to-use clasp, but didn’t have any luck. So I went to the Casio website and started a chat. The fellow couldn’t tell me about watch bands, but he could tell me how to change the time zone. And he sent me an English version of the user’s manual and the address of the closest parts distributor to ask about the band.
I never received a response from the distributor about the band, but the manual came in handy when Andy was trying to figure out how to tell how charged the watch was.
It was hard to figure it out even with the manual and a magnifying glass, so as Andy struggled with that I went back to Amazon to see if another watch might be easier. All solar-powered atomic ones do have complicated faces, but… I found Andy’s old watch! They still made it. I had mistakenly assumed because they didn’t have a link to it when I tried in the beginning, that the watch was no longer made. So we ordered the old model, with the great band, and returned the new one.
The only thing remaining when the new watch came was to shorten the band by two links. Andy had done it on the first one but his hands are too shaky now. Fortunately our small town has a jeweler a couple of blocks away, so Andy took it to them to see if they could do it. The answer was not only yes, they did it on the spot and didn’t charge him for it. That was the second pleasant surprise.
So, am I sorry I didn’t search for the watch’s model number in the beginning and save all that time? It makes me laugh because I often start a search that way and don’t know why I didn’t this time, but I’m not sorry at all. I’m thrilled every time I think of Andy and his watch, and I think the whole adventure of dealing with the problem was good experience in problem solving. That’s the one big advantage we oldsters have — experience — and I’m happy to keep adding to it.
Stay curious and open to life. No matter what happens keep learning and growing.
As I’ve said before, that works for me. 🙂
April 26, 2025
Wow, that first watch lasted him a long time. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a solar powered watch. Glad you were able to find the watch that he had gotten the first time.
I recently bought something that came with an instruction book that had printing so small that I couldn’t even see it wearing my reading glasses. I had to get out a magnifying glass and even then it was still a little small.
Love the happy ending. 🙂