Quartz time

This thread is more my kind of thing. I also like interesting mechanical watches but don't find the luxury end particularly interesting.

Casios can do some weird things on installing a new battery, and you're being more adventurous than I would with the circuitry. I have zero experience or tools to deal with that, although I keep possibly dead modules (just in case). I'm surprised there's differences in the modules; that series only used the 261 (says Google) so I can only specuate on what and why things were changed

Santa came through with f-91w this Christmas. I'm now down the mod rabbithole.
I might start with something simple like a funky dial

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Nice!

Restored this JLC cal 352 earlier in the year and gifted to my father in law on his birthday

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Regarding your possibly dead modules, bloke who makes a bunch of overhaul vids says persistence can pay off; don't give a watch up for dead after one try. Shorting the AC pad is the first thing to try, then you can try giving it a bit and reinstalling the battery. If that doesn't work, he reckons a bit of warmth has often done the trick, like leaving it in your pocket for a day and then having another go.

Although I still can't figure out how to adjust it or what the upper two side buttons are for...

Realised I had a PDF of the manual; it totally works.

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I know! My journey into Casio restoration began with that discovery, and with the older G Shocks learning about the tiny spring that makes a contact against the case, completing the speaker circuit.

While you're in there ...
https://www.lfgss.com/comments/17198090/

I did see that as a nice cheap option.
I was planning to replace the LED anyway so maybe I should do both and make it a real bobby dazzler.

@Kimmo what sort of soldering setup do you have? I need a new station

I went into my parent's loft just before Christmas because there were some nice old digital watches from the 80s that were worthy of this thread but it looks like my brother has already nicked them!

I just have a TS100 rocking IronOS, with a few different tips (but I've only ever used a couple; a medium-small chisel and a tiny chisel). For ages I just had the stock firmware on it, but IronOS is a big improvement.

Until recently, I was also only running it off 12V, which seemed okay, but it turns out these things (including Pinecils) are way better with more volts... At first I just had a battery clip for my DeWalt batteries, and the portability was enough of a boon over crappy $30 mains irons at first...

But after a while I hacked a switch into the clip to get the full 20V, and then it was the bomb, especially with the boost function in IronOS. Then I busted out a laptop power supply so I'd only need the battery if I didn't want to be tethered to a power point.

Recent models of these irons are USB C, and can get 65W out of a Power Delivery wall wart or power bank. If you don't have one, what are you waiting for. Same game-changing category as a Dremel and a cordless glue gun.

The Pinecil is the cheaper open-source copy of the TS100; uses the same tips, which include the heating element: https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-soldering-iron/

This thread is so much better than the main watch one, even down to the tinkering.

I'd rather like one of the old Casio solar watches - nostalgic reasons - I think it's the AL180 but in black not silver, struggling to ID the right model.

While nowhere near as impressive as most of the tinkering on this thread, I've finally replaced the strap on my scratched-up F-91W. Couldn't get normal spring pins to work but managed to use an old one from the previous strap's buckle. It's one of those almost not economical repairs but it's not really about that, is it?!

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the tinkering

I'd already come across the light spreader available for F91Ws and similar, which @oat44 linked above (wish I could get one to suit my DB-380), but one of the replies to that linked post blew my mind.

Take a water resistant watch, fill it with oil, and it's good for a kilometre underwater.

Mad. But, of course - one of those forehead smackers.

I'd rather like one of the old Casio solar watches - nostalgic reasons - I think it's the AL180 but in black not silver, struggling to ID the right model.

Have you looked on here? https://www.digital-watch.com/DWL/categorylisting/all/solar/releasedate/Solar

Check out the hydro mod done on this f91
https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?330958-The-Little-Watch-That-Could

Was that bought pre-modded?

8 years old this week I think for mine.

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The tinkering is amazing.
I'd love to go full Sensor Watch but I'm worried about losing the simplicity which was a big selling point for this one.

Ah bingo, can now narrow it down to an FB series. Sweet!

I wasn't clear enough. I'm still rocking the basic bitch setup, no mods done yet.
That image was just some inspiration I pulled from a website.
Without complicating it and ending up with something that's basically a homebrew smartwatch I'd like to improve it.
Another dope mod⬇️

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Further to the Pinecil pimpage, it turns out this thing is incredibly cool: https://hackaday.com/2023/01/31/all-about-usb-c-pinecil-soldering-iron/

What the actual FUCK

Details! Linkage!

Hm, googling didn't find it, nor did a Google image search. But Yandex's image search is way better...

Behold, the F-91 Kepler:

https://www.hackster.io/news/pegor-s-f91-kepler-is-a-work-in-progress-open-hardware-smartwatch-reboot-of-casio-s-classic-f-91w-b4726119ca89

Sadly, seems to be stalled: https://gitlab.com/_Pegor/kepler_fw

I did find this, though...
https://www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specific-objects/sensor-watch

Ordered.

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Nice. I’ve been hoping for ages that someone would make a replacement case for the f91 but nothing so far. This Casio royale is cool : https://www.thetimebum.com/2023/04/casio-ae1200-part-7-darth-royale-hydromod.html