Good Timing

Motoring journalists tend to be in more need than most of the facilities of stop-watches, whether it be for checking test car performance, lap times or, out of curiosity, whether the fully-laden Jumbo is actually going to drag itself off the ground. In the past I have always relied on a battery of three stop-watches or, more recently, a sophisticated American digital device. These are all very well for accuracy, but, being mounted on rigid metal boards, impossible for convenience. The answer to this has to be a wrist-watch with chronograph facilities.

Here another problem arises for motoring journalists, they aren’t very well paid!  Most of the digital chronograph offerings until now have cost “an arm and a leg” — well out of reach for me. Casio’s new F-100 quartz digital wrist-watch, at a reasonable £29.95, has at last provided me with a realistically priced and reliable alternative.

This smart, black, lightweight watch has tolerated some pretty rough use in racing and rally cars and even in a shower and sauna, although it did cause an anxious moment when the read-out temporarily disappeared when placed too close to a hot reading lamp.

In standard mode, the Casio F100 continuously displays absolutely accurate time in hours, minutes and running seconds. One button when pressed shows the date, month and day of the week. Another button converts it from an ordinary watch into a one-hundredth of a second stop-watch able to record lap times at well as normal start/stop. The same button restores the watch to a standard time-keeping mode and a third button provides backlighting of the display for use in the dark.

A good Christmas present for any motoring enthusiast and shopping around should produce an even lower price.  — C.R.