Jodie Foster wears a Casio Baby-G

In the fall of 2023, Netflix released Nyad, directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, the documentary team that won an Academy Award for Free Solo. Annette Bening plays Diana Nyad, who began attempting the 110 mile swim from Cuba to Florida at age 60 and finished it in August 2013, at 64, on the fifth try. Jodie Foster plays Bonnie Stoll, Nyad's best friend and former partner, who becomes her trainer for the attempts; the navigation belongs to John Bartlett, played by Rhys Ifans.

Through the Cuba scenes Foster wears a small white digital watch, and a close look gives the model away: the resin strap is semi-transparent, clear enough to show skin through it, on a rounded square case worn next to a wooden bead bracelet. Hobbyist watch databases identify it as the Casio Baby-G BG169R, and the colorway Casio lists as Semi-Transparent Clear matches the frame. The spec sheet reads like the job description for a swim coach: water resistance to 200 meters, a countdown timer, a daily alarm, world time across 29 zones, a battery good for about three years, and a function Casio calls the Day Counter. Nyad failed four times between 2010 and 2013 before the fifth attempt worked.

No watch publication covered the film, and Casio publicity for it never surfaced; the naming rests on the frame and on hobbyist databases. The performances drew the attention instead. Bening and Foster were both nominated at the 96th Academy Awards, Bening for Best Actress and Foster, two Oscars already on her shelf, for Best Supporting Actress.