Multifunctional timepiece

For years, I have used as a travel watch a Casio Databank*. It offers several advantages.

With its plastic wristband and black, unassuming face, it is nondescript in appearance and doesn’t scream “Steal me!” to your casual thief.

It also has several built-in goodies. All 24 time zones are selectable. It can store phone numbers, store a schedule, store a daily alarm, perform a countdown alarm, function as a stopwatch and function as a calculator, and you can read it in the dark.

Its battery life is two years, and time can be displayed in either 12- or 24-hour formats.

DONALD THOMPSON
Garden Grove, CA

*Casio Data Bank watches come in a range of styles and prices, from the plastic-banded “unassuming” style Mr. Thompson describes, which retails for about $28, to a metal-banded watch with a keyboard and 300 pages’ worth of memory, at about $110. They are sold at many stores, including Target, Wal-Mart and many sources online, including Amazon.com and www.casio.com.