Since 1974, Casio has been producing watches. As part of an ongoing celebration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its first timepiece, the Japanese manufacturer has unveiled a ring watch that emulates the appearance of the classic square G-Shock. While Casio’s entry-level watches are primarily constructed from resin, the Casio CRW001-1 Ring Watch is crafted from stainless steel with a mineral glass crystal, and it is powered by a tiny digital quartz movement that offers all of the same features as the brand’s full-size wristwatches.
The Casio CRW001-1 Ring Watch isn’t the first ring-based produce that the Japanese manufacturer has put forward, and the very first invention by Casio founder Tadao Kashio was the “yubiwa pipe” from 1946, which was a tiny ring-mounted cigarette holder that allowed people to use both of their hands while smoking. Although Casio is now famous for everything from calculators to synthesizers, watches are one of the primary pillars within the brand’s modern portfolio, and the CRW001-1 Ring Watch indirectly pays tribute to Casio’s very first product, while entirely reimagining the concept to integrate with the rest of the brand’s modern catalog.
From a visual standpoint, the Casio CRW001-1 Ring Watch mirrors the appearance of the G-Shock GMW-B 5000 D-1, which is a full-metal expression of the G-Shock’s original square-shaped silhouette. Crafted from stainless steel, a single component forms the watch case and band, with the internals of the watch mounted in from the front and covered by a flat mineral glass crystal. A special glass adhesive technique secures the crystal into the case to create a water-resistant seal, although it also offers a serviceable design in order to facilitate routine battery replacements. With that in mind, no depth rating is specified for the CRW001-1 Ring Watch, which means that it is only guarded against splashes and incidental contact, rather than being designed to be worn in the water.
The front of the Casio CRW001-1 Ring Watch measures 19.5mm in diameter by 25.2mm in the vertical direction, and the thickness of its case comes in at 6.2mm. The interior of the ring section measures 20mm in diameter (62.8mm in circumference), which translates to a United States/Europe ring size of 10.5. With that in mind, since the band of the ring is not adjustable, Casio includes a pair of spacers with the CRW001 Ring Watch, and each one shrinks the interior diameter by an additional millimeter to accommodate smaller fingers. Three buttons are located along the side of the case to offer access to the movement, while the weight of CRW001 Ring Watch comes in at 16 grams, and surrounding the front LCD screen is a brick-pattern frame that recalls the appearance of the dial plate from the very first Casio G-Shock.
Due to its compact size and highly intricate shape, machining the stainless steel case of the Casio CRW001-1 Ring Watch wasn’t a possibility, and the housing of the timepiece is instead manufactured via a metal injection molding (MIM) process, which is a technology primarily used within the firearms, electronics, and medical/dental industries. During the metal injection molding process, stainless steel powder is combined with a resin bonding agent and then injected into a mold. From there, the resin binders are removed before the component gets sintered to fuse its metal molecules together, and the end result is a small and highly complex shape made from solid stainless steel that would otherwise be impossible (or at least cost-prohibitive) to render on a traditional CNC machine.
Arguably the single most impressive detail about the Casio CRW001-1 Ring Watch is that it features a fully-fledged digital quartz movement known as Module 3573, which offers many of the same functions that you will find on Casio’s full-size wristwatches. Running on a single SR621SW power cell with a battery life of approximately two years, the miniature quartz movement displays the hours, minutes, and seconds using its 7-segment LCD screen. However, the three buttons located on the side of the case allow users to access different modes, and this tiny digital movement includes a stopwatch, dual-time feature, automatic calendar, and an LED backlight with a novel hourly flash feature that briefly emits a subtle flashing light at set times during the day.
Most modern ring watches are low-quality items that are little more than wearable novelties; however, the Casio CRW001-1 Ring Watch makes very few compromises in terms of how they stack up next to the brand’s full-size wristwatches. Additionally, due to its stainless steel construction and mineral glass crystal, Casio’s ring watch offers superior materials than what you get from many of its entry-level timepieces; however, with an official retail price of $120 USD, the Casio CRW001-1 Ring Watch also costs nearly as much as a solar-powered G-Shock. Although the concept of a ring watch is inherently somewhat of a novelty, people still want a solid and well-crafted product, and the Casio’s offering within this space strikes a nice balance of being a proper feature-packed timepiece, while still maintaining a categorically accessible price point. For more information on the Casio CRW001-1 Ring Watch, please visit the brand’s website.