Casio WS-1800-3AV
Military Colour, Classic Casio Practicality
Sometimes the Colour Is Enough
Not every watch needs a complicated buying story.
My Casio WS-1800-3AV caught my attention for a very simple reason: I liked the look of it.
More specifically, I liked this colourway.
The dark olive-green resin gives the WS-1800 a military-inspired appearance that immediately appealed
to me. With my own military background, greens, khakis and other field-style colours have always felt familiar, and they suit rugged watches particularly well.
The WS-1800 isn't pretending to be a military watch, and I didn't buy it because Casio claims it is one.
I simply saw the green version and thought it looked right.
Sometimes that's reason enough.
A Proper Retro Sports Look
The WS-1800 has a design that manages to look modern and retro at the same time.
There's a large digital display, plenty of information around it and a chunky resin case, but the overall appearance still feels very traditional Casio.
It's functional rather than decorative.
The graphics and display sections are there because the watch has a fairly unusual set of timing functions behind them.
And in this olive-green colourway, the whole thing takes on a rugged, outdoorsy character that the standard black version doesn't quite have for me.
More Than a Basic Digital
At first glance it would be easy to assume the WS-1800 is simply another large Casio digital with a stopwatch and alarm.
It isn't.
Casio designed this model with sport and event timing very much in mind.
The stopwatch uses separate upper and lower displays and includes an add-time/event timer arrangement, useful for keeping track of stoppages or injury time during sporting events.
The upper display can measure up to 59 minutes 59 seconds, while the lower display runs to 99 minutes 59 seconds.
It's an unusual setup and gives the WS-1800 a character of its own.
Preset Countdown Timers
Then there are the preset timers.
Instead of making you programme everything from scratch, Casio gives you a selection of common countdown periods: 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 minutes.
The timer can operate normally or auto-repeat, and the watch can continue measuring elapsed time for up to 60 minutes after the countdown reaches zero.
Again, it's clearly designed with sport in mind rather than being a timer included merely to tick a box on the specification sheet.
Up to Nine Interval Timers
The WS-1800 goes further with a separate programmable interval-timer system.
You can set up to nine timers with different starting times, allowing a sequence of timed intervals to be created.
That makes it useful for training, exercise routines or anything else where you want repeated periods of different lengths.
Each interval can be set up to 59 minutes 55 seconds, and auto-repeat is available.
For what is fundamentally an inexpensive resin Casio, that's a surprisingly capable timing system.
World Time
There's also proper World Time rather than just a basic second-time display.
The WS-1800 covers 29 time zones and 48 cities, with city-code display and daylight-saving adjustment.
It's another function that makes the watch useful beyond its sporting focus.
You may buy it because you like the design, as I did, but there's plenty underneath that design once you start exploring the modes.
100 Metres of Water Resistance
Casio gives the WS-1800 100 metres of water resistance when new.
That's exactly what I want to see on this type of watch.
The resin construction, sports-focused functions and rugged appearance would feel slightly pointless if the watch then needed babying around water.
As always, the original rating of an older used watch depends on seal condition, but as a factory specification, 100 metres makes the WS-1800 a properly practical everyday sports watch.
Ten-Year Battery
Power comes from a CR2025, and Casio quotes approximately 10 years of battery life under its specified usage conditions.
That's classic Casio.
This isn't Tough Solar, but a decade-long battery means it's still very much a fit-it-and-forget-it sort of watch.
For an everyday digital, that's difficult to argue with.
Big Enough, But Still Light
The case measures 48.2 x 45 x 13.8 mm, so the WS-1800 has a decent amount of wrist presence.
But because it's resin, the entire watch weighs only 41 grams.
That's a combination Casio does extremely well.
It looks substantial without feeling substantial.
For something with a large display and chunky sports-watch styling, 41 grams is nothing.
Amber LED Backlight
For nighttime use, there's an amber LED backlight with afterglow.
It isn't the white illumination that drew me towards watches such as the W-735H, and it isn't one of the old Electro-Luminescent panels I enjoy so much either.
But it does the job.
And unlike my AW-90H, at least Casio remembered to fit a bloody light this time.
The Colourway Makes It
For me, though, the specification sheet isn't really why this particular WS-1800 is in the collection.
It's the colour.
Put the same module into several different resin cases and I'm naturally going to be drawn towards this olive-green version.
There's something about military-inspired colours on a rugged digital Casio that just works.
It doesn't need camouflage graphics.
It doesn't need MOD branding.
It doesn't need to pretend it was designed for soldiers.
The colour simply suits the watch.
And given my own background, it was always going to catch my eye.
The Casio Collector Verdict
The Casio WS-1800-3AV is one of those watches I bought primarily because I liked how it looked.
No restoration story.
No accidental bargain.
No Argos voucher this time.
I just liked the watch, and particularly this olive-green colourway.
Once you get beyond the appearance, though, there's considerably more going on than I initially needed to justify buying it.
You get 100-metre water resistance, World Time across 29 time zones, a sports-focused event stopwatch, preset countdown timers and up to nine programmable interval timers.
Then Casio gives it a 10-year CR2025 battery, an amber LED backlight and keeps the entire thing down to just 41 grams.
It's practical, lightweight and much more capable than a simple glance at the price might suggest.
But if I'm being completely truthful, none of that is what made me want the green one.
I saw an affordable rugged Casio in an olive military-style colourway.
Given my background, it didn't stand much chance of escaping the collection.
Specifications
Model: Casio WS-1800-3AV
Movement: Quartz digital
Display: Wide LCD with large graphic timer display
Case/bezel: Resin
Band: Resin
Glass: Resin / spherical glass
Dimensions: 48.2 x 45 x 13.8 mm
Weight: 41 g
Water resistance: 100 metres
Battery: CR2025
Approximate battery life: 10 years
Accuracy: +/-30 seconds per month
World Time: 29 time zones / 48 cities
Stopwatch: Sports event/add-time stopwatch
Stopwatch measuring unit: 1 second
Upper stopwatch display: Up to 59 minutes 59 seconds
Lower stopwatch display: Up to 99 minutes 59 seconds
Preset countdown timers: 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 minutes
Programmable interval timers: Up to 9
Maximum programmable interval: 59 minutes 55 seconds
Auto-repeat: Yes
Alarm: Daily alarm
Hourly time signal: Yes
Backlight: LED with afterglow
LED colour: Amber
Calendar: Full auto-calendar to 2099
Button tone mute: Yes
Time format: 12/24 hour
Personal highlight: Olive-green military-inspired colourway
Reason I bought it: I liked the look of it. Sometimes that's enough.
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