Watchmaker Casio has already shaped the landscape of digital timekeeping, yet their ring watch stands out as the most unconventional and daring step in their history

By Ray Zhang

The ring watch is a thing. Why anyone would want to tell time from a finger—third or others—is not so clear. Yet Japanese watchmaker Casio has made what was thought to be challenging. The understated Japanese watchmaker didn’t just overcome a challenge; they apparently mistook the impossible for a minor design suggestion. In 1980, they put a calculator on the wrist with the C-80. Now, they have placed a watch on the finger with the tiny CRW-001. While other companies had produced calculator watches earlier, the C-80 was the beginning of Casio’s dominant and famous line of these functional, futuristic timepieces. The ring watch CRW-001 follows that tradition.

To be honest, I don’t need a ring watch. Just as with all my wearables, I don’t require them at point of purchase. But I was fascinated by the CRW-001, enough to desire it. The problem was, I have not had any success with the CRW-001. They were issued twice (the first in January), and both times, they were only available online and to Casio ID members, a status I hold. But, I could never score one. The ring watch was available in limited quantities. So, let’s just say that if bad luck were a currency, I’d be a billionaire. So my target remained elusive, just like the New Balance 1906L. But last month, when I was in Bangkok, I met what to me was a timekeeping keeper.

I was walking aimlessly at Centralworld, a mall I generally avoid, when I decided to go into Carnival, the city’s most recognised and most successful multi-label streetwear store, established in 2010 by Pint Anupong Kittikul in a relatively quiet part of the once-cool Siam Square. Although they have lost some of the initial appeal when then were more of an indie establishment, Carnival is still where many young sneakerheads go when they need more unusual drops. The store has also gone into fashion retail in a big way, with Japanese streetwear brands in the merchandise mix. But what really caught my eye this time was the CRW-001, sitting discreetly on a countertop that largely served as the cashier’s work place. I asked to try the ring and a staffer happily told me to go ahead.

On the Casio website, we are told that the ring-watch (here, it’s the CRW-001G-9) comes only in one size and fits a 22-sized finger (or a circumference of 62.8 mm), which would be perfect for me, but I wasn’t sure how snugly it would hold on to my finger (the forth). As it turns out, it fits, perfectly. But looking at it on my finger, I’m not sure it would have the longevity of a wedding band. Don’t get me wrong. This watch is smart (it even offers dual time!) and it is fun to wear a full-face timepiece on the finger, but this is not Casio’s chatbot-as-furry companion, Moflin. And it simply fails to spark that same electric, nerdy dopamine hit I felt when I strapped on the C-80 all those years ago—back when owning a calculator watch made you feel less like a student and more like Bond meeting Q to arm up. Still, there is an odd satisfaction in looking at my knuckles rather than on my wrist to see if I would be late for lunch.

Photos: Zhao Xiangji