I wanted to get a watch for my 8 year old niece. She likes to wear watches but she can't tell the time on an analog watch. She has an F91W which she "borrowed" (meaning it probably won't come back to me), so she's used to telling time using digital watches.

I wanted something inexpensive because I don't know if she's really going to wear it long term. At the same time, I wanted it to be from a good reputable watch brand. 

To help with telling time on an analog watch, I wanted it to have numerals for both hours and minutes. Think: Type B Flieger, but for kids. Flik Flak is too expensive (at around $45), Timex is a little too kiddie (starts at $25), and Q&Q (around $20) isn't available here in the Philippines.

The next best thing I found was this Casio LRW-200H which I got for about $20 (Php 995 in Shopee Philippines). I got actually ordered 2 because the other one is a gift for her best friend. Don't worry, they do come in other colors and dial styles if you're not a fan of the bubblegum/unicorn color scheme.

As I'm making this review, my niece hasn't seen it yet, so I don't know what she will say. For now, I will share my own thoughts on it from the perspective of a grown-up.

To start off, let me go over the specs:

  • Case diameter: 33mm
  • Lug to lug: 38mm
  • Case thickness: 11.5mm
  • Lug width: 14mm (but the strap at its widest point is 18mm, tapering to 16mm, so it would look weird if you used a 14mm strap on this)

The case material is glossy resin while the band is the rubbery kind of resin. It says on the Casio website that they glass is also resin but not sure if that's more like acrylic crystal or more like mineral crystal (probably more like acrylic crystal).

For the particular LRW-200 variant I got, the numerals are printed on. On the dial, the 1-12 is a lot bigger and bolder while the 13-24 on the inner circle is a lot smaller.

It has a resin timer bezel with minute numerals every 15 minutes. Also, my mind is blown that the bezel rotates! It's not a clicking bezel but it does the job.

The hour and minute hands and the tip of the seconds hand are lumed, but it's not really that strong.

Finally, this watch has a water resistance rating of 100m.

Positives:

  1. With the hour markers and the minutes on the bezel, it'll teach kids how to get used to telling the time on an analog watch.
  2. The 100m water resistance will be very helpful when kids forget to take off their watch when they jump into the pool.
  3. The 33MM Case Diameter is a great size for older kids. I'd suggest maybe 8 years old and up. It also looks good on adults with smaller wrists.
  4. Having the lume and the rotating bezel is such a great way to, I guess, "indoctrinate" kids into the watch hobby. Kind of like a training for kids to experience what it's like to have a dive watch!
  5. With the Casio name, I'm pretty confident about the longevity. There are a lot of watches out there for kids but I don't really know how long those will last. I've bought cheap watches for kids in night markets and they've pretty much conked out after a month or so.

Negatives:

  1. I wished the minute increments were every 5 minutes instead of 15 minutes. It would have been a lot more helpful in teaching kids how to read time if the minute numerals were every 5 minutes. However, I do understand that it's not a watch meant for teaching kids time so this isn't that big of an issue.
  2. The crown is annoyingly small and winding it was hard, especially with the resin crown guards on the side. It kind of made my grown-up fingers cramp and the back of the crown guards chafe my fingers when I wind. Good thing it's quartz so you don't need to constantly use the crown, unlike with mechanical watches.
  3. The strap is too long for kids. The total length of the watch is the same as my F105W and there's only 1 keeper. When my niece wears this, the end of the strap will stick out for sure. For a small watch, I would have expected the strap to be proportionally shorter. Cutting it doesn't seem to be a good option. Maybe on the good side, if this lasts for 10 years, she'll grow into it. (Some people give F91W's to their kids as the first watch and I guess some don't mind that the straps stick out)


I don't know yet how my niece will like it. I don't know yet when I'll see her next but perhaps I will share her reaction through Youtube shorts.

I hope you today's review was helpful. If you can suggest other analog watches that would be great for kids, let me know down in the comments section! 

If you would like to see the review video, please watch below:


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