A tiny finger-mounted timepiece is inherently somewhat of a novelty, and rather than being conceived as functional items, ring watches are primarily intended to appeal to humanity’s inexplicable fascination with miniaturization. However, Casio is the brand responsible for creating the G-Shock (arguably the most practical watch in existence), and it first and foremost makes functional products. Therefore, when the famous Japanese manufacturer created the Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its first timepiece, it didn’t just produce a time-telling ring, but rather it made a finger-sized version of a digital G-Shock, complete with all of the same modes and functions that you would expect to find on one of the brand’s full-size wristwatches.

These days, Casio is most famous for its watches, calculators, and musical instruments, but there is actually a rather surprising historical precedent for ring-based products in the Japanese brand’s catalog. Shortly after Casio was founded in 1946, the first invention it presented to the public was the “yubiwa pipe” ring, a finger-mounted cigarette holder with an integrated mouthpiece that was intended to give people access to both of their hands while smoking. You can see a photo of the “yubiwa pipe” in our original news story about the CRW001-1 Ring Watch, and comparing Casio’s very first product to the high-tech creations it now produces truly gives you an appreciation for the evolution of this multifaceted manufacturer. Although it is fundamentally a novelty, a digital ring watch also feels like a rather appropriate way to commemorate 50 years of Casio timekeeping, and it pays tribute to the brand’s very first product, while simultaneously reimagining the concept to reflect its modern catalog.

From a visual perspective, the Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1 is essentially a finger-sized G-Shock GMW-B 5000 D-1, which is the full-metal version of Casio’s iconic square-shaped digital watch. The word “iconic” is so incredibly overused these days that it almost pains me to write it, and I sometimes wish it could be entirely eliminated from our vernacular. However, some designs truly are deserving of the term, and the classic 5000 Series G-Shock is one of the few watches universally recognized by members of the general population. Most people can’t name a single Rolex model, and they certainly haven’t heard of Gerald Genta or the ultra-expensive “iconic” timepieces he designed for brands like Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe. On the other hand, everyone and their mom has seen (or likely even owned) a humble “Square” G-Shock, and the revolutionary model has made an indelible mark on the greater landscape of modern culture.

Most of Casio’s entry-level wristwatches are predominantly made from various types of resin, although the Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1 uses stainless steel and mineral glass for the entirety of its external construction. The case and band (or rather ring) are crafted from a single piece of stainless steel, and three small buttons are positioned along the side of the case, with a flat mineral glass crystal closing up the top of the watch. A special type of glass adhesive attaches the crystal to the case and creates a water-resistant seal; however, no depth rating is listed for the Ring Watch CRW001-1, which means that it is only guaranteed against brief instances of incidental contact. That said, Casio certainly knows how to properly seal a watch against moisture, and I’d imagine that the Ring Watch CRW001-1 is more than capable of standing up to the rigors of daily hand-washing or getting stuck outside in the rain.

Without any connecting screws or even a caseback, the only way to access the internals of the Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1 is through its front crystal, and this will require some mastery of the adhesive technique that the brand uses to secure the small piece of mineral glass to the case. Casio states that the Ring Watch CRW001-1 is serviceable to allow for routine battery replacements, although I wouldn’t exactly consider its design to be “user-replaceable” (at least not for the average person). That being said, “glass adhesive” sounds like some type of glue or double-sided mounting strip, and I can’t imagine that replacing the battery in the Ring Watch CRW001-1 is beyond the capabilities of the average watchmaker. Even still, this detail might be my least favorite aspect of Casio’s ring watch design, and I imagine that some individuals will be slightly irked by the notion of potentially requiring assistance to execute a simple battery replacement.

Sometimes simplicity is achieved through a highly complex process, and this is particularly true for the Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1. The actual construction of the miniature timepiece is blatantly simple, as a single piece of stainless steel forms the entirety of its case and band. With that in mind, the shape of this steel component is incredibly complex, and cost-effectively producing its intricate structure required Casio to explore alternate manufacturing methods. The single-piece stainless steel housing of the Ring Watch CRW001-1 is produced by a metal injection molding (MIM) process, a technology typically favored by the firearms, electronics, and medical industries. The primary advantage of MIM is that it enables manufacturers to create highly complex solid-metal structures that would otherwise be impossible or incredibly expensive to produce on traditional CNC machines.

To create the single-piece housing for the Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1, powdered stainless steel is combined with a bonding agent, and the mixture is injected into a mold to form the preliminary shape of the component. After the injection process, the bonding agent gets removed, and the remaining structure is sintered, which fuses together its molecules and creates a solid piece of stainless steel. The section that forms that case of the watch is high-polished, while the sides of the band are brushed, and the tiny recessed sections almost appear to have a matte sand-blasted finish, although I could just as easily see this being the natural appearance of the material after the sintering process. While the finishing on the Ring Watch CRW001-1 isn’t going to win any awards, it is significantly more detailed than what you would normally expect to find on something of this size, and the contrasting surfaces provide the piece with a surprisingly elevated overall appearance.

Regarding its dimensions, the Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1 measures 19.5mm in diameter, and if it were a wristwatch, I would normally say that its case has a lug-to-lug measurement of 20mm. However, since the band is integrated into its structure, the total vertical measurement of the ring comes in at 25.2mm when measured from either side at the apex of the miniature strap. The section of the case that sits on top of the finger measures 6.2mm thick, and the band is 9.5mm wide where it meets the case with a gradual taper that brings it down to 4.5mm for increased comfort. As for its weight, the Ring Watch CRW001-1 comes in at 16 grams, and the interior diameter of its band measures 20mm (62.8mm in circumference), which equals a United States/Europe ring size of 10.5. For those with smaller fingers, a set of rubber sizing spacers is included with the CRW001-1, and they clip onto the bottom edge of its band to reduce the ring’s size.

Quite a lot of effort and engineering has gone into the case of the Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1, but its miniature digital quartz movement is arguably the single most impressive aspect of its design. Inside the case resides Module 3573, and despite being scaled down by a factor of ten, this tiny movement still includes a 7-segment LCD screen, along with all of the same modes and functions that collectors have come to expect from Casio’s digital watches. Running on a single SR621SW power cell with a battery life of approximately two years, Module 3573 includes a stopwatch, alarm, dual-time feature, automatic calendar, and even an LED backlight. While you don’t get solar charging or Bluetooth connectivity, the capabilities of this pea-sized movement are undeniably impressive, and the Ring Watch CRW001-1 actually offers an even greater degree of functionality than Casio’s venerable F-91W wristwatch (which lacks a dual-time feature).

The Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1 is an immensely fun product, but one of the key takeaways from this release is that the brand now has a fully-fledged miniature digital movement that is 1/10th the size of its standard modules. Given the research and development costs associated with producing a new micro-sized movement, I can only imagine that Casio has plans for Module 3573 that extend far beyond this commemorative 50th-anniversary release, and it remains to be seen whether those plans include additional ring watches, or if we will see this movement appear inside other types of products. All things considered, it’s almost surprising that the CRW001-1 is Casio’s very first ring watch, and a tiny finger-mounted timepiece feels like a truly natural fit for the Japanese manufacturer’s catalog. Additionally, given the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the CRW001-1 (some of it simply due to its cute factor), I can only imagine that quite a few people will be interested in owning a Casio ring watch, and I would be shocked if we didn’t end up seeing additional ring-based models at some point in the future.

Humans seem to have an inherent fascination with the concept of miniaturization, and this is precisely why the Casio CRW001-1 is such a successful expression of the ring watch concept. Rather than just being a ring that happens to tell the time, the Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1 offers both the appearance and functionality of a full-size wristwatch and this directly speaks to our species’ inexplicable interest in miniature versions of familiar objects. Additionally, regardless of their materials or level of execution, all ring watches are destined to be viewed primarily as novelties, which means there exists somewhat of a price ceiling for what most people are willing to spend on a whimsical horological trinket. With an official retail price of $120 USD, the Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1 is expensive enough to present owners with a quality product, although it still manages to remain in the attainable segment of the market, where collectors can reasonably justify the expense in the name of having some good old watch-related fun. For more information on the Casio Ring Watch CRW001-1, please visit the brand’s website.