Casio JC-11
Bringing a 1988 Jog & Walk Calorie Back to Life
Some watches in my collection are special because they're rare, some because of their history, and others because of the work I've personally put into bringing them back.
My Casio JC-11 definitely falls into that last category.
I bought this one as a non-runner, and cosmetically it had certainly lived a life. The case was heavily scuffed and marked, and it would have been very easy to look at it and decide it wasn't worth the effort.
But this is a Casio from 1988, powered by the unusual module 880 and carrying the wonderfully period-correct name “Jog & Walk Calorie.”
There was no way I was giving up on it that easily.
Sometimes a Dead Casio Isn't Dead
I've found this with quite a few older Casios.
A watch arrives completely dead, somebody has already assumed the module has failed, and you startpreparing yourself for the possibility that you'll need a donor.
Then you strip it down.
With this JC-11, the electronics didn't require some miraculous repair or a replacement module. I carefully dismantled it and gave the PCB and contacts a proper clean with isopropyl alcohol.
Reassembled, battery fitted...
Back to life.
It's something I've seen several times now with older digital Casios. After decades of use and storage,contamination or poor electrical contact can sometimes be enough to stop a module operating correctly.
Obviously, a PCB clean isn't going to resurrect every dead watch.
But it's taught me not to write off an old Casio until I've actually been inside it.
The Case Was Another Matter
Getting the module running was actually the easy part.
The case needed considerably more patience.
Years of wear had left it badly scuffed, and rather than simply accepting the damage I decided to restorethe finish.
That meant sanding the case back by hand , carefully and gradually, rather than attacking it aggressively and potentially destroying the original shape and detailing.
It was painstaking work.
When you're restoring an older resin watch, you can't simply keep removing material until every markdisappears. You're trying to improve the surface while retaining the character, edges and proportions of theoriginal case.
So I took my time.
A lot of time.
Eventually, though, the battered and heavily scuffed case came back to a finish I was happy with.
For me, that's where much of the satisfaction in this particular watch comes from.
I know what it looked like when it arrived.
Jog & Walk Calorie
The JC-11 itself is a fascinating little piece of Casio history.
Released in 1988, it uses module 880 and was part of Casio's exercise-focused range. Contemporary collector references identify it as the Jog & Walk Calorie, with a distinctive animated runner and pacerincorporated into the display.
And this was long before fitness trackers became something people wore every day.
There's no GPS.
There's no heart-rate sensor.
There's certainly no Bluetooth connection to an app on your phone.
Instead, Casio approached the problem using information supplied by the wearer and some clevercalculations inside the watch.
You enter details including your weight, age and stride length, choose whether you're walking or running and set your pace. The watch can then use that information alongside exercise time and pace to estimate things such as distance and calorie consumption.
It's primitive compared with a modern Garmin or Apple Watch.
But that's exactly why I find it so interesting.
An Animated Running Man
One of my favourite features is the little animated runner in the upper-right section of the display.
It's such a Casio thing to do.
The watch could simply have displayed the necessary numbers and performed exactly the same job, butsomebody at Casio apparently decided that what it really needed was a tiny bloke running around on theLCD.
And they were absolutely right.
The animation changes depending on the exercise mode, providing a visual representation of walking orjogging. Combined with the pacer function, it gives the JC-11 far more personality than you'd expect froman exercise watch approaching four decades old.
It's little touches like this that make older Casios so enjoyable to collect.
Fitness Tech – 1988 Style
Looking at the JC-11 today, it's tempting to describe it as an early fitness tracker.
I'd be slightly careful with that description.
It doesn't actually sense your movement in the way a modern activity tracker does. There's noaccelerometer counting every step automatically and no satellite tracking your route.
Instead, it calculates its exercise information from the personal details and pace information you give it.
But the thinking behind it is remarkably familiar.
Casio was already asking:
How far have you exercised?
What pace are you maintaining?
How many calories might you have used?
How can a wristwatch help you during a run or walk?
In 1988.
That's what makes the JC-11 interesting to me beyond simply being another vintage digital watch.
A Very Unusual Design
The JC-11 doesn't look like a typical Casio either.
The round resin case and button arrangement give it an almost handheld-stopwatch appearance, whichsuits its intended purpose perfectly.
There are prominent controls positioned around the case, while the display itself packs in the normal timeand calendar information alongside the exercise functions and animated runner.
It's quirky.
Very quirky.
But this was an era when Casio seemed perfectly happy to design a watch around one particular purposerather than worrying about whether everybody would like it.
That's something I miss.
Waiting for the Final Piece
Mechanically, my JC-11 is now alive again.
Cosmetically, the case has been brought back from the heavily scuffed condition in which I found it.
But there's still one part of the restoration I'm waiting to finish.
The strap.
There are aftermarket straps available that will physically fit the JC-11, and I could easily fit one and call therestoration complete.
I don't want to.
I'm waiting for the genuine Casio replacement straps to come back into stock with my supplier.
When I'm restoring an older Casio like this, originality matters to me.
I'm perfectly happy using aftermarket components where there's no realistic alternative or where I'm deliberately modifying a watch, but if the correct genuine Casio part is still obtainable, I'd rather wait.
After putting this much work into restoring the original case and reviving the original module, finishing itwith the proper strap just feels right.
So for the moment, the JC-11 is effectively restored but awaiting its final piece.
And I'm prepared to be patient.
Why I Enjoy Restorations Like This
There's something particularly satisfying about taking a watch somebody else regarded as dead and givingit another chance.
This wasn't a case of simply fitting a battery, giving the watch a wipe and putting it in the collection.
The module had to come apart.
The PCB needed cleaning.
The case required hours of careful work to remove years of damage.
And I'm still refusing to take the easy route with the strap because I want the finished watch to retain asmuch originality as reasonably possible.
Could I have bought a better-condition JC-11?
Probably.
But then it wouldn't be my JC-11.
I wouldn't know every mark that disappeared during the restoration or remember the moment thatsupposedly dead module came back to life.
That's the difference.
The Casio Collector Verdict
The Casio JC-11 Jog & Walk Calorie represents so many of the things I enjoy about collecting older Casios.
It's unusual.
It's technically interesting.
It's unmistakably a product of its era.
And mine has a restoration story attached to it.
Released in 1988 and powered by module 880, the JC-11 shows that Casio was experimenting with wrist-based exercise technology decades before modern fitness trackers became commonplace. Its animated runner, pacer and calorie calculations are wonderfully old-school today, but the thinking behind them was
genuinely clever. Collector references consistently date the JC-11 to 1988 and identify module 880 and 50-metre water resistance.
More importantly, mine nearly ended up remaining a non-runner.
A careful PCB clean brought the module back to life, while considerably more effort brought the battered case back to a condition I'm proud of.
There's still one job left.
I'm waiting for that genuine Casio strap.
I could fit an aftermarket one tomorrow, but after spending so much time bringing the rest of the watchback properly, I'm not going to compromise at the final hurdle.
When that genuine strap eventually arrives, I'll fit it, put the JC-11 on my wrist and finally call the restoration finished.
Some watches are worth waiting for.
Specifications
Model: Casio JC-11 Jog & Walk Calorie
Release: 1988
Module: 880
Display: Digital LCD with animated runner
Case: Resin
Caseback: Stainless steel
Water resistance when new: 50 metres
Exercise functions: Jogging and walking modes
Personal inputs: Weight, age and stride length
Exercise calculations: Distance and estimated calorie consumption
Pacer: Yes
Animated runner: Yes
Stopwatch: Yes
Alarm: Yes
Calendar: Yes
Current restoration status: Running and case restored; awaiting genuine Casio replacement strap
A Video Review will be added once created and edited