Actor John Candy spotted wearing a Casio

In John Hughes's 1987 road comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the details of Del Griffith's wardrobe were never accidental. The oversized trunk, the fur-collared coat, the mustache — and on his wrist, a Casio A159WA-N1D. It is a small but telling character note, visible in several scenes as Candy's Del navigates Thanksgiving travel chaos alongside Steve Martin's Neal Page.

The Casio A159WA-N1D belongs to the brand's long-running A-series of digital quartz watches, a lineage stretching back to the early 1980s when Casio was redefining what an affordable, functional timepiece could be. The A159WA-N1D features a gold-tone stainless steel bracelet and case, an electro-luminescent backlight, multi-function LCD display showing time, date, day, and alarm, and a quartz movement accurate to roughly ±15 seconds per month. Water resistance is rated to 30 metres — splash-proof by modern standards, but entirely adequate for its intended audience. The case measures a modest 33mm, compact even by the standards of its era.

What distinguishes the A159WA-N1D in collector circles is less its technical specification than its sheer persistence. Casio has kept this reference in continuous or near-continuous production for decades, which means the watch Del Griffith wore in 1987 can be purchased new today for approximately $20. That accessibility is part of its charm. It asks nothing of its owner and delivers everything it promises — time, reliability, and a kind of unpretentious honesty that high horology rarely achieves.

For John Candy, whose screen persona was built on warmth rather than glamour, the A159WA-N1D is a casting decision as considered as any line of dialogue. Del Griffith is a man who does not perform wealth or status. His watch tells you the time. Nothing more, nothing less.

On the secondary market, the A159WA-N1D trades hands for figures barely above its retail price — sometimes less, for worn examples. Vintage boxed units from the late 1980s attract modest premiums among prop collectors and Candy admirers, but this is not a watch that demands financial ambition. It demands affection, which it earns easily.