‘Cheap Casio’ watches rebound in popularity in Europe, Japan

Casio Computer Co.’s tough G-Shock watch continues to be the rage but another of the company’s watch lines is gaining wild popularity mainly outside Japan.

They may be more practical than the G-Shock and less stylish, but more than anything else, they are cheap--hence the nickname “cheap Casio” watches.

The retro-futuristic wristwatches attracted attention after famous people were seen wearing them, with sales increasing more than threefold over the past five years.

The company calls them “Casio Watches.”

They are often sold hanging on racks at discount stores, priced between 1,500 yen ($9.40) and 3,000 yen, excluding tax.

They currently come in more than 1,200 varieties. There are analog and digital models only equipped with a clock function, while others include stopwatch and calculator functions.

The first Casio Watch model was the Casiotron launched in 1974.

It was the first digital wristwatch in the world that included an automatic calendar function.

It was touted as the symbol of high technology at the time. The luxury timepiece was sold for 58,000 yen when college graduates were employed with a starting salary of between 70,000 yen and 80,000 yen a month.

But digital wristwatches became popularised in the 1980s, with the luxury wristwatch market swinging back to analog pieces.



-The Asahi Shimbun