Casio's newest August launches are already selling for less than what Casio charges

Casio released five watch lineups into the Japanese market (for purchase) on August 7. By the end of that same day, four of them were already listed below Casio's own prices at Japanese retail.

One of the clearest cases is the Pro Trek PRJ-B001EX-1JR. Yodobashi, a national electronics chain rather than a marketplace reseller, has it at ¥26,400 against Casio's ¥33,000. That's a flat 20% markdown, with the listing flagged low stock. That is not a grey-import price or a proxy markup, but a major Japanese retailer undercutting the manufacturer on release day.

The same margin shows up two more times. NEEL lists the F-B100W-1AJF at ¥7,040 against ¥8,800, and the MRW-240H-1E1JF at ¥4,840 against ¥6,050. Twenty percent is the standard opening discount in Japanese watch retail, which makes the consistency a pattern and not a coincidence.

In dollar terms the gaps are small at the cheap end, with the MRW-240H falling from about $38 to $31, but the Pro Trek drops from roughly $208 to $167, which is still enough to matter to anyone looking at proxy fees.

The Oceanus Retro Tone Collection splits along its own reference numbers. The 500-piece Classic Line OCW-T2600RL-3AJR has appeared at ¥103,950 through a Yahoo Shopping retailer, roughly 10% under its ¥115,500 list price and marked as nearly gone. The 300-piece Manta OCW-S400RL-8AJR is holding at ¥165,000 everywhere checked. It appears that scarcity is the one thing that counters this pattern.

The Edifice EFS-S660 is the exception on both counts. Neither the steel EFS-S660D-1AJF nor the resin-strapped EFS-S660PB-1AJF has surfaced below ¥33,000, and retailer The Clock House still labels both as release/preorder on the release date itself.

Japanese retail pricing usually changes quickly, and the stock warnings attached to several of these listings means they will not hold long. None of it indicates what the watches will cost outside Japan, where Casio has confirmed release for none of the five.