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In March 2025, leaked images of a rumoured upcoming Casio first hit the timeline. And straight away, it was clear this would be no normal Casio.

If the posts were to be believed, this new watch wouldn’t just boast one of the most elaborate dials on any Casio ever produced, but it would also mark a crucial juncture in their long history as a watch manufacturer. Apparently, this would be their first-ever mechanical watch.

Theories about this scenario have always circulated in the watch community. If Casio ever ventured outside of quartz watches, which is what they’ve always stuck to, just how much damage could they do? Many have speculated that Casio could challenge or outright kill many other established brands, whose prices have only been increasing in recent years, with little perceivable change in quality.

When I first saw these leaks, I was pretty excited. I mean, the watch looked great, really great in fact, and I was intrigued to see where Casio would slot into this already super competitive niche.

Nevertheless, I had some major concerns, the biggest of which was price. Given Casio’s other recent special releases, I expected this to fall somewhere in the £400-£700 range, even with its rumoured middle-of-the-road specifications. It would probably still sell well at that price, maybe even sell out, but it wouldn’t feel like the aggressive market-shifting move we were perhaps hoping for. And heck, if it were limited edition, I probably wouldn’t even be able to get one.

As you can probably guess by now, the leaks were real. This watch really does exist, it’s not limited edition, and it comes with all the bells and whistles the leaker described. But the best part? Casio didn’t just keep this under the £500 mark…they kept this under £300. That’s right, you can grab this without any signup discounts, starting at £269 in the UK or around $280 in the US.

And in many ways, for that price, this watch is insane. As I’ll show you, in some departments, this new piece, the EFK-100 is hyper-competitive straight out of the gate and outright beats some competitors. But, it does have one or two frustrating downsides that you should definitely be aware of, which I think simply haven’t been mentioned enough by other reviewers.

Branding

Considering this is somewhat of a landmark release for Casio, the packaging is more subdued than you might expect. In fact, it just ships in a standard Edifice-branded box, like many of their other watches. I don’t really mind this, as I’d rather the money go into the watch at this price, but some of you may have expected something a bit more elaborate.

Surprisingly, as you can gather, Casio didn’t launch any new sub-brand to accommodate this automatic; they instead lobbed it in with their existing sport-focused Edifice line, which kinda makes sense given the watch’s styling, but is a bit unexpected. Many of you don’t like the Edifice icon, but they went with the text-only version here, which is a lot cleaner.

EFK-100 Markers

Something else that’s clean is the handset and markers. The hands, in particular, immediately stood out to me after unboxing, with a sleek, half-skeletonised profile that easily trumps the oversized, ugly hands used on most other Edifice watches.

This set is better proportioned, with styling that matches the uber-modern tone, and up close, the faceted flanks help it catch the light more gracefully than most alternatives. Matching this are the markers, which may be simple and rectangular, but are exceedingly well cut and are mounted on an outer ring, allowing them to lean dramatically over the dial. The brushed upper and polished edges really do look spectacular for the price.

These two subtle components alone instantly make the EFK-100 look higher-end than a good many of its competitors, including most models from Casio themselves.

Construction

We’ll also get to the dial in a moment, but I first want to mention the case, because this is another area where Casio has truly delivered the goods. I mean, they could have made it a bit thinner for sure, but outside of that, it’s very impressive with high-end brushing and polishing that easily elevate it above similarly styled cases from the likes of Citizen and Timex. In fact, it’s so strong, it’s closer to the finishing I’ve come to expect from Casio’s luxurious Japan-only ‘Oceanus’ line, which retails for multiple times the cost of this one.

What’s more, Casio has managed to perfectly extend this level of execution to the accompanying bracelet as well, a feat rarely accomplished by its rivals, whose bracelets regularly feel a bit disjointed, generic, or straight-up lower quality than the rest of the package. You can tell this one was engineered from the ground up as a fundamental part of the EFK design; it fits in and flows just about perfectly.

Now, this is an integrated bracelet design, so this watch doesn’t use a standard lug width. You can change the strap if you want to; this one has 11mm lugs, but your options are almost non-existent at present. That limitation is certainly worth bearing in mind. One of the other versions of the EFK does come with a resin band, but we’ll get more into that later on.

In essence, you’re kinda stuck with this, and while it is very well-constructed, with solid links and even a very sturdy milled clasp, it also commits the first of two blunders that have left me frustrated.

Now, unlike some integrated-bracelet watches, the EFK does actually offer a level of microadjustment, which is something…but ‘a’ level is all you get here. Outside of the default hole, there’s only one other hole to switch to, which is cutting it very fine in my books. The links in this bracelet aren’t tiny, and you don’t even get any half-sized links. Restricting the user to just one extra hole feels pretty risky and borderline as far as fit is concerned.

I have just, and I mean just, managed to get a tolerable fit with this one, but the limited adjustment holes have definitely impeded the on-wrist comfort.

Dimensions

As for the fit of this Casio, well, it’s ok. The 38.9mm diameter is well and truly in the sweet spot for a first release, with the lug-to-lug being under 50mm, no matter where you measure. Due to the slightly protruding rear, you do get a little of that under-lug space, but I think it still looks better than the Citizen Tsuyosa, which was blockier and notably higher.

It’s touch-and-go whether my small 6.25-inch wrist can realistically pull this off; it’s certainly close. The EFK feels considerably smaller than the likes of the 40mm Tsuyosa and Tissot PRX and should be a more versatile shape for most male wrists. The only side effect I’ve experienced is the second bracelet links drop off at an unnaturally steep angle to accommodate my scrawny arm, though that’s fairly commonplace for me. If you can get the right fit, the watch doesn’t bobble about too much, and the thickness is just low enough to not feel cumbersome.

Dial

The dial was one of the main draws to me with this watch. The dials looked crisp, vivid, and really detailed, so I was keen to check them out up close.

The model I have here is the EFK-100D-2A, the navy blue version. This, together with the green and white versions, is slightly different from the two black dial models (black dial and fully carbon), by way of having what Casio calls and ‘electroform forged carbon looking’ dial, as opposed to the real ‘forged carbon’ used on the darker models.

What this means is you end up with a slightly different, less convincing look for a slight reduction in price. Now, I’d love to have a black dial model to compare directly against, but they’re still sold out.

For now, here’s a closer look at this blue model, which is still quite interesting. I don’t think it looks as textured or as saturated as the significantly edited stock images; they’ve clearly done a few rounds through Adobe Lightroom here. But even so, the dial still oozes class, with a subtle granular surface that helps separate the EFK from some of the more basic, affordable Casio models. In natural light, this also pops a bit more, with some slightly greener hues emerging.

Together with the crisp hands, markers, and case finishing, in certain lighting conditions, this thing looks immense and compares favorably to many, much more expensive watches. I look at this sometimes and think, “wow, Casio has killed it”; they’ve made a premium-looking and feeling watch for a non-premium price tag.

Crystal

But at other times, I look at it and can’t help but feel frustrated. Frustrated because of that crystal. Indeed, that’s the other notable drawback with this watch and one that not enough people are touching on. The sapphire is problematic. Now, scratches aren’t the problem; sapphire is the most scratch-resistant watch crystal, after all, and is more performant than the mineral glass that Casio typically uses in its analog watches. Instead, it’s our old nemesis, haziness, that returns as the main antagonist.

The product images show a virtually uninterrupted, transparent look at the dial beneath, but as you can see, that’s absolutely not a representative experience with this watch in the flesh, at least not in most scenarios. This piece of sapphire substantially reduces the impact of the dial beneath, with contrast and clarity falling off dramatically in anything but ideal conditions.

In my first impressions video, some commenters understandably suggested my lighting setup or positioning was responsible for this haze and that I was judging the watch unfairly.

Here’s the EFK side by side with some other blue watches in this same lighting setup. The colors aren’t a perfect match, but you can still see, in identical conditions, that the EFK is definitely towards the hazier end of things. That’s even next to this Casio Oceanus, which has a similarly dark complexion and a near-flat crystal. I’ll tell you why that is in a second, but first, here’s why my results often vary from others on YouTube, who rarely identify crystals as an issue.

Surprisingly, my lighting setup doesn’t actually shine down ‘onto’ the watches at all; instead, it’s a huge sheet that actually sits perpendicular to them, at about 90 degrees.

The reason other content creators’ footage shows far lower light cast and haziness is because the overwhelming majority are using small, harsh light sources, such as LED panel lights, ring lights, or compact softboxes, evident from the small, blocky reflections on the watch cases and the harsh white cut-offs present on the crystals.

I know because I‘ve tried it. It’s what I actually used when I first started out because it was cost-effective and easy to shoot with, but I quickly realised it also wasn’t particularly accurate. While some watches were fine, it made others look quite different from in person, with the harsh light boosting the contrast and saturation to unrealistic levels; an effect amplified by recording on a smartphone, where these properties are artificially cranked even further.

Now, to be fair, I think most YouTubers are still right to be shooting that way. It makes zero financial sense for most people to blow thousands on a setup like this, YouTube pays pitifully; you’ll probably never earn it back.

Nevertheless, my setup is among the more accurate I’ve seen, and that’s absolutely by design. My hope is a more accurate setup will be more useful for you guys! If you buy a watch and it looks way different than in my videos, you’ll probably be pretty angry. Those calling this crystal good or a non-issue…well, just look at some of their footage when they take the watch outside, you can see it for yourself. That theory falls apart. Either that, or they’re just far more lenient.

It’s not totally unusable, of course, you can still read the time, but the absence of a good anti-reflective coating is a big miss, and it neuters the potential of the color and detailing beneath.

To me, this crystal is akin to that on the Citizen Tsuyosa. Like with that Citizen, if you want better results, stick to one of the lighter colors, where the haze will inherently be less noticeable.

Is this a deal breaker? Well, it’s at least something to think about, and when you see crystals like this, it does make you wonder if Seiko’s insistence on sticking to Hardlex actually has some unexpected merit to it, beyond simply ‘being cheap’ or cost-cutting.

It’s a shame too, as I think the overall style of the EFK is very well-judged for a first automatic release, with a go anywhere, do anything vibe that opens it up to a wide variety of use cases. In the coming weeks, if I find the time, I’m gonna see if there’s a way I can switch out the crystal on this, out of sheer curiosity.

Movement

I was also curious to see what movement Casio may go for, on the off chance they’d go the whole hog and develop their own mechanical calibre. However, they went down the more predictable route of using an established third-party movement, in this case, the NH35A from TMI, a subsidiary of Seiko, funnily enough. Indeed, a Casio powered by a Seiko isn’t maybe what you’d expect, but they’ve been using Seiko and Miyota quartz movements fairly regularly over the past decade, so this inclusion isn’t too much of a surprise.

If you’re into watches, you likely know how widespread this movement is. It’s a popular and easily-accessible choice for many smaller brands, albeit Casio’s huge purchases of them for this release are said to have reduced this movement’s availability for everyone else.

The movement itself is fine. It’s quieter than some of the similar Miyota 8000 series movements and does provide the EFK with Casio’s smoothest sweeping seconds hand to date, but it’s not as slim as some other more premium movements, hence why the watch isn’t all that slim.

You’ll also notice here that this watch has a nice screwed rear, with a fairly stylish laser-etched top section, helping provide this watch with a 10bar water resistance rating with the crown compressed. No screw-down crown this time, but 10bar should easily cover most bases.

Something that may not cover most bases is the low-light performance. Casio’s luminescence is rarely very good, and the EFK is no exception. It falls well short of the Oceanus and other Chinese-made competitors, which sucks.

Final Thoughts

On that note, there are always going to be comparisons between this Casio and some of the newer Chinese brands, whose sole focus is almost entirely on this ‘value’ segment too.

I have to say, despite some of the pain points, this new Casio is still one of the most competitive big brand offerings we’ve seen over the last few years, alongside some of Citizens’ equally strong launches.

It’s far more unique and intricate than the vast majority of AliExpress watches, even the best ones, and even with its shortcomings, it also outdoes many equivalent Seikos, which tend to retail for a chunk more. If you can avoid or forgive the crystal glare, the EFK boasts a level of luxuriousness that it probably shouldn’t be entitled to, especially considering the retail price and the fact it’s Casio’s first attempt at this.

By the way, I’ve seen some mentions of below-average QC for this model, compared to Casio’s usually high standards, and maybe they’re onto something, because my gut tells me the dial on my unit is also tilted a hair anticlockwise. That’s far from ideal, but it’s also far from rare for AliExpress or Seiko watches, either, let’s be honest! I’d guess Casio should iron this out soon enough.