I rarely carry my cell phone. I often even don’t know where it is. For telling time, I have an F-91W. It does a great job at that (except for when it’s dark, the silly light only barely illuminates the left side of the screen). I don’t know how long the battery lasts, but it’s been working for years.
I had an f91w until a friend broke the strap, he bought me the 86 as a replacement and the illuminator function was game changing (spent a lot of time in the dark due to work so it was welcome).
My son uses it now, he’s young so it’s a great watch for him.
> But, IMO, knowing the time isn't something I need to be solved on my wrist anymore given everyone carries phones.
It varies; I like checking the time when my hands are full. Wristwatches got much more useful to me when my kid was born - with babies you almost never have a hand free to dip into your pocket just to check the time.
When I'm working on my car, or playing guitar, or just about anything interesting, my hands are full so it's nice to have the time on my wrist.
There's a reason wrist watches largely displaced pocket watches, and as far as telling the time goes, a phone is basically a pocket watch. I would like a fitness monitoring watch, and used a PineTime for it for a while. But having a completely bulletproof timepiece is more important, and a retro Casio fulfills that need in spades.