Casio’s Film series (an ambit metaphor for their thinness) spanned the 80s and 90s, and included some of their most collectible models from this period. The FS-00, despite the model number, was one of the last Film models released, and features a full dot matrix screen which can be set to display some fun little animations along with the time, and shows animated transitions on mode switching. Sadly, no sound was included in these so they lack an alarm and countdown timer. However, they do feature lovely electroluminescent backlighting, which comes on for a minimum of 1.5s. At only 18g, and impressively thin at 5mm, this is a properly minimalist unit, with rather unique construction – instead of a separate module which comes out of the case, the case itself forms the module chassis, with the buttons entering the case from above and below, although contrary to what you might assume from their appearance, they actuate in parallel with the screen just like normal buttons. A proprietary strap fixture system rounds out the weirdness, so it’s a good thing the materials employed have stood the test of time. The FS-00 was offered with two different window shapes in the crystal, an ellipse which stupidly reveals the edges of the LCD, and a rectangle minus its corners, making an odd hexagon framing the 30° angled screen, which reminds me of isometric games like The Sims or Crossy Road. There are three types of screen; in addition to the plain sort is one with a coloured stripe behind the middle row, and a mirrored LCD with a negative backlight. Oddly, the three different module numbers for this model don’t correlate with the screen type.

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