The Casio calculator watch that went back to 1955

Not every iconic movie watch is a Rolex. One of the most recognisable watches in film history costs less than a pair of cinema tickets, has a keypad instead of a bezel and lives on the wrist of a teenager with a skateboard. It is the Back to the Future Casio watch, and it is a perfect example of how a costume can tell you exactly when a story is set.

Which Casio does Marty McFly wear?

In Back to the Future (1985), Marty McFly wears a Casio CA-50, a black digital calculator watch with a rubber strap. You can spot it clearly in the scenes around the DeLorean, from the night at the Twin Pines Mall to the tests with Doc Brown.

There is a detail many fans miss. In Part II (1989) and Part III (1990), Marty switches to the Casio CA-53W, the successor of the CA-50. The two are easy to confuse: same shape, same black resin case, same keypad under the screen. The quickest way to tell them apart is the dial text: the CA-53W carries a “WR” water resistance logo and a slightly different layout of the labels.

Why a calculator watch?

Costume designers think in eras. In the mid-1980s, a digital watch with a calculator was the gadget of the moment: cheap, a little nerdy and very modern. On Marty, it does two jobs at once. It tells the audience that he is a normal kid from 1985, and it becomes a small time stamp once he lands in 1955, where nobody has ever seen anything like it.

That is the clever part of the choice. A luxury watch would have said something about money or status. A calculator watch says something about time: this boy comes from the future.

The Casio CA-50 and CA-53W, explained

The CA-50 is the original, the watch seen in the 1985 film. It is no longer made, and today it is found only on the second-hand market, often with worn keys or a replaced strap.

The CA-53W is the one you can still buy new. According to Wikipedia, it offers:

• an 8-digit calculator with the basic operations;
• dual time, daily alarm and hourly signal;
• a stopwatch measuring up to 23:59.99 in hundredths of a second;
• a CR2016 lithium battery.

It is also one of the cheapest screen-worn watches you can own: the CA-53W typically sells for a few tens of dollars. Its film career did not end with Marty either. The best known modern example is Walter White in Breaking Bad, who wears one throughout the series.

The 40th anniversary limited edition

In October 2025, for the film’s 40th anniversary, Casio released an official limited edition: the Casio x Back to the Future CA-500WEBF. It is not a copy of Marty’s watch. It is based on Casio’s CA-500 calculator watch, with a steel-look bracelet and details taken straight from the film:

• colours on the dial and buttons inspired by the DeLorean’s time circuits and taillights;
• the OUTATIME licence plate;
• a flux capacitor engraving on the caseback and the film’s logo on the buckle;
• packaging styled as a VHS tape.

According to Hypebeast, it launched on 21 October 2025 at around £115.

Why this watch matters

The Back to the Future Casio proves that a screen-worn watch does not need to be rare to become iconic. It needs to be right. The CA-50 fits Marty’s age, his budget and his decade so well that it ended up defining the look of the film almost as much as the DeLorean or the red puffer vest.

It is also the easiest entry point into collecting movie watches: a CA-53W costs less than a strap for most luxury watches and carries forty years of film history. That is why we put it in our first three-watch collection from the movies.

Prefer it in 60 seconds? Watch our Back to the Future reel on Instagram. For more real watches worn on screen, browse our On Screen section or read about Steve McQueen’s Heuer Monaco in Le Mans.