Ripley wore a Casio F-91W at Alien, as did Obama until he became the president of the United States. Apparently, it’s also the only branded thing Osama bin Laden ever wore in people. Thirty years after its launch, Japanese watchmaker Casio is nevertheless generating 3 million units a year, meaning it is likely you’ve at least seen when worn one too.
From the 1980s, new Casio recruits were made to attend ten times of army training prior to beginning the job. The experience likely influenced Casio’s Ryusuke Moriai when he made the F-91W, explained as”small, horizontal and easy”: that the designer had unknowingly created the ideal battle watch.
Casio’s UK marketing manager claims the company doesn’t market the F-91W as”trendy or cool”, but as”dependable and good value”. In any event, Casio’s F-Series watches, once hailed as”wearable miracles”, have appealed to rebels around the world; they are about the wrists of DJs, creatives, members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army and also French Islamic State fighters.
However, the watch is also famous for being one of Al-Qaeda’s favorite accessories: the terrorist business was even known to distribute them in training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Jihadi militants appreciated the F-91W and its dozens of variations due to their resilience. Run it over with a car, smash it with a hammer, then drop it in boiling or ice-cold water — the beast holds its own. You can generally trust terrorist organisations to pick reliable accessories — and similar to Kalashnikovs and Toyota pickup trucks, the more F-91W is hardy, prolific, and economical. In addition, it can work as a crucial ingredient for bombs.
Specifically, the watch can reportedly come into play to the detonation of improvised explosive devices thanks to its long-lead timer, as NPR detailed in 2011. Ahmed Ressam, or the”Millennium Bomber”, who intended to blow up Los Angeles airport on New Years Eve in 1999, was arrested with four bombs on him — all equipped with F-91Ws.
Described as a”genius” bomb manufacturer by a former US counter-terrorism specialist, Al-Qaeda’s Ramzi Yousef was famous for utilizing the F-91W. The opinion was so commonplace that Yousef was once able to use it in order to construct a bomb in the toilet of a plane. Another former senior member of Al-Qaeda, Tariq al-Harzi apparently instructed several wannabe terrorists to build similar ignition systems. He topped the ranks of Islamic State.
A METALLIC MODEL OF THE F-91W AS WORN BY ONE MEMBER OF THE SYRIAN DEMOCRATIC FORCES, A MILITARY COALITION WHOSE MAIN GOAL IS TO COMBAT THE ISLAMIC STATE, ON THE SYRIAN FRONT IN EARLY 2019. SCREENSHOT: VICE NEWS TONIGHT
Secret files regarding the Guantanamo military detention camp printed by Wikileaks state Korean police found some 600 to 700 Casios in 2 workshops in Karachi, which just owning one could justify an interrogation. 1 prisoner’s test sheet confirms”about a third of inmates at JTF-GTMO [the device in charge of Guantanamo] that had been captured wearing one of those Casio watches had a famous significance with explosives”.
The problem is, F-91Ws are far too popular to actually incriminate a princess, unlike the old SEGA cartridge-based detonators once Directed by Al-Qaeda. One alleged Al-Qaeda manhood captured by the US pointed out this, stating,”Your own military employees also carry this watch. Does that imply they’re only terrorists as well? ″
Outside of the terrorist Earth, that the F-91 W is popular in several regular armies, including in Singapore’s military service, US AIR Force coaching camps, the British Army and the Royal Air Force. Its small charms also have appealed to modders — hobbyists who love modifying objects from their original function. 1 variant, pimped with olive oil, seemingly endured three days at a tank simulating a depth of 1000 metres.