Why You Should Be Stoked For Casio’s First Automatic Watch

Casio Computer Co., Ltd. has been making beloved, classy and versatile battery-powered timepieces at affordable prices for decades. It makes total sense for timepiece juggernaut to put out a smashing automatic piece in 2025.

It's hard to believe that it took the pioneer Japanese watchmaker more than 50 years to make a watch with an automatic movement, considering its excellence in the over 100 variants of its quartz timepieces.

The Edifice EFK series, which was released in June this year, is Casio making a foray into offering watches powered by mechanical calibers in solid steel.

It makes sense for Casio to be getting into the mechanical watch space as customers from the Gen Z and millennial age brackets have seemingly been leading a modern love for all things analog.

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Design-wise, the Edifice comes in four dial options, namely the blue, green, carbon-look white, and forged-carbon black colorway.

Casio says its forged carbon dial is meant to emulate the same material used in high-end sports cars and composite material of carbon fiber kneaded into resin.

The Edifice EFK is also being sold worldwide at a price of $280 (P15,890), a tad more affordable than the under $500 (P28,509) offerings from its contemporaries such as Seiko, Orient, and Citizen.

The watch has already been listed on Casio Philippines’ website, but official prices have yet to be announced.

Casio Edifice EFK 100-D in white

Casio Edifice EFK And What It’s Made Of

Other than the stunning dial options (specially the carbon fiber textured options), your eyes are likely to be directed to the EFK’s integrated steel bracelet that plays into sharp angles and a very Japanese-centric silhouette makes for a sleek impression.

We especially like the white dial variant that was made to look like forged carbon with the visible swirling strokes for a hypnotizing texture. For a more understated style option, black genuine forge variant if you are willing to shell out an extra $20 (P1,140.92).

If you look really closely at the interior, you'll notice a slanted minute track above the applied polished silver hour indices. Hats off to Casio for putting in work on the watches' finer points and details.

This is a widely-polished timepiece from the steel bracelet, circulating the bezel, including steel pieces caving into the links. It also has a polished crown that is broadly ribbed which could make it harder to get a hold of at times.

The hands are also skeletonized in the middle with loom at the edges to make for a more visible handset in low-light conditions.

At the 6:00 position, the mechanical timepiece has a subtle date window without any frills. All you get for logos and text is the Edifice logo on top of the Casio text at the 12:00 position, and now the word “automatic” on top of the date window, a new one for the brand.

You are getting a mid-size case diameter of 39 millimeters (mm), a case height of 12.5 mm, and a lug-to-lug length of about 43.5 mm.

Casio is also putting a more durable and industry standard sapphire crystal compared to its other watches and its competitors at lower price points. Despite this, the watch could have used more anti-glare or reflective treatment for better viewing angles, especially for the brighter dial options.

Much like other mechanical watches from other Japanese players, the EFK has a mineral crystal display back case to showcase the Auto Casio 5755 movement, which is really a Seiko NH35A repackaged.

The Seiko NH35A, which is also sometimes called the caliber 4R35, is not an earth-shattering movement by any means and has powered millions of other watches from many other players in the industries including those from micro-brands.

It has a 40-hour power serve within the case that also boasts 100 meters of water resistance.

How Does Casio’s First Automatic Stack Up And Should You Get One?

The EFK being powered by this movement however means it will be a dependable mechanical watch. This makes for an intriguing prospect of a Casio watch powered by a Seiko movement. (Although we would have liked to see an in-house, original movement from the brand that has a rich and storied 50-year history in changing the watch industry.)

The Japanese giant released its first wristwatch, the Casiotron, in 1974, as it was one of the pioneers of quartz-based digital watches as the world saw other options from traditional self-winding timepieces.

As an avid Seiko 5 enjoyer and overall Japanese watch nerd, first impressions of Casio’s first automatic watch has got me thinking this holds a candle to the tried-and-tested mechanical pieces at even higher price points.

The EFK’s bracelet reminds me of something like a Citizen Tsuyosa, display cases from Seiko and its legendary Seiko 5 series, and silhouettes that approach Tissot PRX territory.

Casio’s first foray into the mechanical watch game could be a jumping off point for the brand to veer away from the notion that it only makes cheap watches with tremendous value. I see this as a step towards something bigger for the Japanese brand, maybe even the start of a broader catalogue consisting of bespoke and dressier mechanical pieces beyond G-Shocks, and its iconic digital pieces.

The Edifice EFK is an impressive first go at automatic pieces for Casio, but we still have yet to see where this goes for the watchmaker’s overall unique identity since it still looks rather derivative of other pieces from its contemporaries.

This is a sign for greater things to come for Casio that we are all here for as we yearn for more original design ideas from these brands with rich histories.

If you’ve been a longtime Casio client , much like the millions of other people in the world who continue to sport watches like the legendary F-91W and the Casio CA-53 calculator watch, then it might be time to get yourself an automatic from this ‘God-tier’ brand.

Casio Edifice EFK-100CD-1A