New affordable Casio diver-style watches go on sale, but they're already cheaper elsewhere

A red-and-blue rotating bezel is arguably one of the most recognizable things in watch design, and it usually costs much more than ¥6,050. Casio's MRW-240H-1E2JF gets one anyway. All three colorways went on general sale in Japan yesterday (Aug 7). This effectively ends the preorder window that opened at the end of July.

The trio arrived as part of a big Casio Collection drop — the F-B100W, LTP-B150 and MTP-1440DJ shared the same August 7 release date — and it is the cheapest of the group. Alongside the Pepsi version sit the all-black -1E1JF and the black-and-green -1E3JF, priced identically at ¥6,050, roughly $38.

What that buys is a resin case with an aluminum ring set into the bezel top, which is the one place Casio spent on material rather than style. The watch measures 47.9 × 44.6 × 12.3 mm and weighs 39 grams. Water resistance is 10 bar, there is a date window, and module 5058 keeps time to within ±20 seconds a month on an SR626SW cell rated for about three years.

Casio specifies resin glass — acrylic, in other words — rather than mineral or sapphire. It resists shattering better than either but scuffs from ordinary contact, which matters on a watch designed for water and rope. There is still no ISO 6425 certification, so the dive-timer bezel is a look rather than a rated instrument, but at this price, no one was expecting that in the first place.

Japanese retailers have already begun undercutting Casio. NEEL has listed the -1E1JF at ¥4,840, a straight 20% cut, and Yodobashi and TiCTAC are both carrying the range. Casio has not confirmed release outside Japan for any of the three. For anyone thinking of importing the watch, that gap is worth weighing against proxy fees before going back to Casio's own store.