The Casio F-B100W-1A introduces subtle step tracking to a classic digital design

Minimalism is at the heart of Casio’s timepiece culture. A new digital watch discreetly brings Bluetooth and step tracking to the company’s timeless aesthetic

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Casio F-B100W-1A digital watch
Casio F-B100W-1A digital watch
(Image credit: Casio)

For many people of a certain age, Casio was the creator of the original smart watch. The Japanese electronics giant, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, ventured into timepieces back in 1974 with the strikingly futuristic Casiotron QW02. It wasn’t the world’s first digital watch – that honour goes to the Hamilton Pulsar P1, with its red LED screen – but it included an automatic calendar for the very first time. A reissue, launched to mark the QW02’s fiftieth birthday, joins a huge array of designs old and new – the Casio website lists over 600 different watches.

In amongst this panoply you’ll find collaborations, tie-ins and special editions, honouring everything from Pac Man to Stranger Things and Back to the Future. Models like the A168 and F-91W have remained essentially unchanged for decades, with tens of millions of units sold.

Casio F-B100W-1A digital watch

Casio F-B100W-1A digital watch

(Image credit: Casio)

The smarts came in the form of calculators, data banks, thermometers, barometers and tide graphs, bringing hitherto unprecedented levels of information to the wrist. For those still not convinced by the sensor overload of the modern smartwatch and their unpleasant habit of keeping track of every calorie and heartbeat, Casio have now given their timeless aesthetic a quiet contemporary makeover.

The watch includes a backlight

The watch includes a backlight

(Image credit: Casio)

This is the new F-B100W-1A, a watch that blends the style of the F-91W with the addition of Bluetooth and an accelerometer. The latter makes the new watch a low-tech way of tracking steps and setting targets, while simple smartphone connectivity adds a simple layer of data collection. Available in black, green and silver, with a choice of plastic or metal bands, the F-B100W-1A has a two-year battery and all the regular Casio functions like stopwatch and multi-alarms.

Casio F-B100W-1A digital watch

Casio F-B100W-1A digital watch

(Image credit: Casio)

Some might see the Casio as a downgrade from a Pixel or Apple Watch, but we think it’s a welcome step back from a world drowning in data and the obsessional tracking of health metrics. It’s also sure to become another cult classic in the manufacturer’s line-up of quiet modern icons.

Casio F-B100W-1A digital watch

Casio F-B100W-1A digital watch

(Image credit: Casio)

Casio F-B100W-1A digital watch, £55, Casio.com, @CasioWatches_official

Jonathan Bell

Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House, and co-edits the long-running things magazine weblog.