Casio's most affordable square digital watch is reportedly getting a steel bracelet

Casio is putting a steel bracelet on its cheapest square digital watch. The W-221HD-1A was reported by Casioblog on Friday, and it's due to go on sale late this autumn. Casio first showed the W-221H back in February, and the series got a strong positive reaction from collectors for its large display and low price.

The bracelet is built from narrow horizontal links, the sort of design Casio used on some vintage Casio Standard models. It replaces the resin strap without changing anything else. The case measures the same 43.7 × 38.4 × 12.2 mm, though the watch will weigh a little more.

One thing to be clear about. Casioblog describes the case as still being plastic, so this isn't a metal watch by any means. It's a resin watch on a steel bracelet. Casio did the same thing with the W-800HD-1AV in January, which has a steel bracelet with a silver resin case — the HD suffix appears to be putting in consistent work.

There's world time, a stopwatch, a countdown timer, three alarms, the Flash Alert function, an LED backlight, and a calendar. Water resistance is 50 m, the glass is plastic, and the CR2032 cell is rated for 10 years. Casioblog also flags a quirk owners have noticed, which is that the display doesn't show the current time while the stopwatch or timer is running. You have to switch back to timekeeping mode.

Casioblog puts the price at roughly $80. That's an estimate, not an official figure. The W-221H-1AV currently sells for $45.95 on Casio's US store, so a steel bracelet would nearly double the cost. Casio hasn't listed the W-221HD-1A on its own sites yet.