Did you live your teenage years in the 80s, watching films and wearing digital watches? Buckle up since 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of Back to the Future‘s first episode, starring a young and talented Michael J. Fox, who travelled through space and time aboard a DeLorean purposely engineered by scientist Doc Brown (played by Christopher Lloyd).
Back to the Future was a sci-fi comedy produced by Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg, so successful that it soon became an icon among blockbuster enthusiasts.
The recently-revealed collaboration between Casio, Universal Pictures, and Amblin Entertainment builds on an industry-defining calculator watch introduced by Casio in 1980 and on a forty-year relationship, since Michael J. Fox wore a Casio calculator while acting as Marty McFly—a comeback story with the upcoming commercial release of the Casio Back to the Future CA-500WEBF.
The Watch
I grew up wearing a Casio calculator, and a competition was held to showcase the latest model available at school. That watch defined an era and a generation, as did the VHS technology.
The CA series belongs to the Vintage Collection, gathering all the calculator-equipped Casio watches hitting the market, priced to introduce newbies to watchmaking as they were forty years ago and to provide them with a wrist instrument we used during our math lessons.
Building on the current CA-500 model, Casio designers upgraded to the CA-500WEBF edition, which incorporates several traits from the DeLorean here and there, such as logos and colours, as well as direct references to the car’s time-travelling technology.
Inspired by the legendary DeLorean
The calculator mimics the DeLorean’s dashboard. The dial features the “OUTATIME” inscription borrowed from the car’s license plate, and the buttons’ colours replicate time circuits that “Doc” operates to set the Time Machine‘s destination date and time, launching the DeLorean into the past or Future.
The caseback features the “Flux Capacitor” design, and the official “BACK TO THE FUTURE” logo appears on the bracelet’s clasp. The watch box is shaped like a VHS video cassette; open it and you’ll find the watch.
Initial thoughts
The CA500 series is not a new addition to the product portfolio. Still, the Casio Back to the Future reference model is a brilliant tribute to the first-ever 1976 calculator and alarm watch, already crafted in three options and currently sold out.
The collaboration with the film’s production company makes it a not-to-be-missed object for cinema fans and digital watch enthusiasts alike, retailing for 119.0 Euros.
It is not a crazy price; still, it represents a relevant markup over the €89.90 similar CA500 models, which cannot guarantee the same charm and potential collector’s value as a Casio Back to the Future CA-500WEBF-1A can, given its product category.
(Photo credit: Casio)
Gaetano C @Horbiter®
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