Casio hit the bald spot in 1989 with its F-91W, a chronograph watch that went around the world for its quality, simplicity and its price. The F-91W is reputed to be that digital watch that just about everyone has worn at some point. However, times change, and smartwatches are making it difficult for the watches of a lifetime. If you have good memories of this Casio model, you cannot miss this against published by the manufacturer Pegor. The ultimate solution for the Casio F-91W finish turned into a smart watch.
A smartwatch based on the Casio F-91W?
About a year ago Pegor —a manufacturer under a pseudonym— made public his project F91 Kepler. His objective was none other than to bring the functions of smartwatches inside the Casio F-91W. To achieve this, Pegor built its own replacement board around a Texas Instruments CC2640 ARM Cortex-M3 chip with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) capability. The idea was to empty the contents of the original watch and place this plate. That is, replace the basic Casio ASIC to place inside a much more modern, powerful board with wireless functions.
At the hardware level, the Kepler screen also has its changes. Instead of using the original LCD, Pegor has his own OLED panel, although preserving the style of the F-91W, only giving the new smartwatch a higher resolution.
A project that is now open to the public
Although the F91 Kepler promised, the manufacturer seems to have quite a few problems starting the set. By now, the synchronization software for mobile terminals should be finalized. And the whole set should be fully functional.
A few days ago, Pegor decided to take a step forward. Due to technical difficulties, the creators of the F91 Kepler have decided open the project. All software work is now accessible for free, so anyone can do their bit by contributing code or new ideas. If you want to take a look, the F91 Kepler files are available in Pegor's GitLab repository, under the permissive MIT license.
With the movement, the F91 Kepler will be able to move forward, achieving firmware and software for mobile terminals that allow anyone to make their own smart Casio F-91W. You just have to wait for the software to be finalized for the magic to happen.
The first smartwatch based on the Casio F-91W?
Not quite. Pegor has not been the only manufacturer that has been interested in the Casio classic. A few months ago, Oddly Specific Objects introduced its own replacement motherboard for the Casio F-91W. His name is SensorWatch. Unlike the Kepler, this model does retain some parts of the original LCD panel from the Japanese watch. This version uses a SAM L22 microchip, which also stands out for having very low consumption.
In any case, both Oddly Specific Objects and Pegor seek a common goal. The F-91W's time, stopwatch, and alarms have become obsolete. Technology has advanced enough today to be able to bring smart features to Casio's successful watch.
I would love to have one, how can I get it??