News: Casio To Release Its First Functional Ring Watch

Seizing the final months of the 2024 trend cycle, Casio joins the ranks of watch brands looking to expand their product possibilities beyond the wrist. Close on the heels of the recent Timex and Maison Margiela MM6 collaboration, which included a watch ring, Casio has shrunken down its own legacy design, ready to chart the next frontier of watch-wearing real estate: the finger. 

Though the Casio legacy extends all the way back to 1946, the watch branch of the business has been celebrating its 50th birthday with a number of special-edition designs. The brand’s latest commemorative design shrinks down its familiar octagonal case shape to just below an inch stature, and is crafted entirely of stainless steel. According to the brand’s website, the ability to create this tiny, functioning timepiece is thanks to novel innovations in advanced metal molding technology. 

This process utilizes Metal Injection Molding to re-create the familiar and nostalgia-inducing Casio design in ring form. The caveat with this process is that the case, back cover, and ring are all molded in one continuous form, and the ring size is set to 10.5 U.S. sizing. This is something of a blow to my fellow small-ring-size friends, though the brand details that each ring will ship with adjustment spacers to accommodate more sizes. 

Unlike the initial set of watch rings released by Casio last year, which were essentially toy replicas of the brand’s most iconic models, the CRW-001-1JR is a fully functioning watch. It has a 7-segment LCD display that details the relevant hours, minutes, seconds, as well as date, dual time, and stopwatch functionality. There is even an alarm, which the brand has called an “emotional flashing light function,” which projects a faint light on the wearer's hand at a preset time. All functions are controlled by three tiny buttons on either side of the case. And, because frequent handwashing becomes even more treacherous when the watch has been relocated to a finger, Casio’s ring watch is waterproof, and the glass has been treated for airtightness, ensuring that the minified module within stays out of harm's way. Phew. 

The CRW-001-1JR will become available in December for Japan-based customers for the price of ￥19,800 (which is roughly $128 ), but it might be a while until we can get the Casio ring on our greedy fingers here in the U.S.

As far as my own opinions are concerned, let the record show I am pro-ring watch, and I think it’s a fun gimmick for the affordable brands to make something new to win the attention and favor of their younger demographics. Also, ring watches have been around a long, long time (dating as far back as the 18th century), but I would argue that it hasn’t been explored to the fullest in the contemporary landscape of watchmaking. Maybe 2025 will be the year the ring watch gets its time in the sun in the 21st century.

For more information on the  CRW-001-1JR via Casio, you can find the product page here.