Casio GW-M5610U-1ER

After years of using an Apple Watch, I decided to go with a dumb watch to avoid being overwhelmed by notifications.

I also found a very low-maintenance watch: the Casio M5610U. It embodies “less is more” and perfectly fits my needs.

I am very happy with this watch.

Why I got it

I can’t get away from tracking time, whether because I have to wake up, because I have appointments, or even for cooking.

I tend to be easily distracted by my phone (and smartwatches), so I wanted a dumb watch.

I also wanted it to be low-maintenance, so I wanted the watch to be:

• Radio controlled, to always be on time and to follow daylight savings automatically
• Solar powered, so I don’t have to charge it
• Rugged, so I don’t have to worry about breaking it
• Timeless, because I don’t want to change watches every other year to follow trends or throw away a perfectly functional watch

The Casio M5610U checked all those boxes and was relatively affordable at €130 when I bought it.

What I like

Timeless

I really dig the watch’s timeless look. It looks like it’s coming straight from the 80s. My wife finds the watch ugly, but I quite like that it doesn’t correspond to today’s mainstream standards: it’s already not in fashion, so it can’t fall out of fashion.

Simple, offline

The watch supports a few features:

1. Giving the time, as incredible as it may sound.
2. Five world clocks, a feature I appreciate since I’m working with remote colleagues worldwide.
3. Four alarms that I occasionally really use.
4. A snooze alarm that I don’t have a use for.
5. A hour signal that beeps every hour, which is surprisingly not distracting and helps me stay focused by reminding me I might have spent too much time in a rabbit hole.
6. A stopwatch that is generally useful for running and exercising.
7. A timer that is useful for cooking, or when taking a short nap.

I love that my watch is not connected to my phone. It doesn’t need it to work, and my phone’s interruption requests (aka notifications) don’t propagate to my watch.

The screen can be manually backlit by pressing a button or automatically backlit by raising the wrist in the dark. Since the watch has a built-in solar panel, it can indeed detect when it’s worth backlighting the screen.

The UX is minimalist, with only four buttons, and there’s a lot packed into a tiny screen. It reminds me that when we agree to spend some time learning our tools, they can be incredibly efficient.

Low maintenance

The watch is rugged and durable. It is waterproof and not sensitive to dust. I don’t take any specific precautions with it.

Because it’s not connected to my phone or the internet, it can’t connect to an NTP server to stay on time. Fortunately, there are 6 atomic clocks in the world emitting radio waves for other devices to sync with. The M5610U can receive those waves and will always be on time. The watch also automatically follows daylight savings.

Because it’s very basic, the watch draws little power. It allows the manufacturer to add a tiny solar panel around the screen and recharge the battery. As a result, I don’t have to worry about replacing the battery or bringing an extra cable with me.

What I don’t like

The watch has a “power save” mode: when it sits still in the dark, it turns off a few features, such as displaying the time, to preserve the battery. I would like to be able to ask the watch to also turn off the hour signal when in power save mode so I don’t have to remember to turn it off every night and turn it back on every morning.

Conclusion

I didn’t think a dumb watch could bring me this much peace of mind. It does its job with no fuss.

Since I have this watch, I have found myself forgetting my phone in my jacket or my bag. I’m less drawn to screens when I don’t need them.