New Casio Pro Trek PRJ-B001EX-1JR goes on sale with unique strap, Tough Solar, Bluetooth
When renders of the PRJ-B001EX-1JR first showed up in late July, fans were quite surprised. A strap that unzips into a coin pouch struck some Pro Trek owners as a gimmick instead of a hiking instrument. Fast-forward to the present, Casio's Japanese store has now opened direct sales for the same watch, closing the preorder window that had run since the official listing appeared.
Casio says it developed the band after studying how campers actually move around a site: cash still changes hands at firewood stands, roadside produce stalls and vending machines, and digging out a wallet mid-activity is unnecessary friction. So the reversible band carries a pocket for coins and parking tickets, and flips over to cover the entire watch head when it's clipped to a pack or hung inside a tent. A carabiner loop supports both uses.
Aside from all that, you get a fairly conventional Hiker Line build. The bio-based resin case measures 50.3 × 46 mm and the finished watch weighs 51 grams. This is still one of the lighter Pro Treks Casio has produced. A rotary guard bezel turns to physically cover the side buttons, which matters even more when the watch is bouncing against a backpack than on the wrist. Tough Solar handles power; Bluetooth logs position and time to a map in Casio's app. Water resistance is rated to 10 bar, and a dual LED light, timer, stopwatch and alarm round out the function set.
Casio Japan lists the watch at ¥33,000 including tax, about $208 at current rates. As stated in other launch articles, that figure is a poor predictor of eventual US or European pricing, and Casio has committed to neither market — the earlier PRJ-B001 series did reach international retail, which is the closest thing to a possibility here.
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