When crossing timezones, it’s a pain to manually update the time on your watch, especially if you’re a frequent flyer.
The Casio Edifice watch can automatically do that for you, and a lot more.
The Edifice is a spiffy and modern watch suited for anything from business meetings to casual city tours while abroad. It’s somewhere on the border between a classic watch and a smartwatch. Users can connect the watch to their smartphone via the Casio+ app, which can control the watch’s time and other settings.
I’ve had the chance to test the watch over the past two months, traveling with it and using it at home in New York City.
The exact model name of the watch I’m reviewing is: Casio Edifice EQB-600
Pros
- Smartphone integration, connects with my iPhone
- It’s integrated with technology, yet doesn’t look like a consumer electronic device strapped to my wrist
- Has a feature helps you find your phone using the watch
- Changes time according to your smartphone time – perfect for frequent flyers
- Durable, high quality and well made
- Versatile – suitable for casual settings or more formal
- Solar powered – no need to change batteries, just wear it outside
- Easy to use
The Casio Edifice is rated as water resistant to 100 meters. According to Thrillist:
This is snorkeling territory. A watch with 100 meters of water resistance has no problem hanging out in the water for a while, and will even be fine on an extended snorkeling excursion. Diving, however, should still be out of the question.
I don’t intend to dive with this watch, so it’s not a problem.
The main hands display your Home Time. The small dial on the lower left of the face displays the World Time: the time of a city of your choice. The small blue globe displays location of your World Time city. I chose London, because why not.
By holding the top right button for 3 seconds, the Edifice can swap the World Time with the Home Time – perfect if you frequently travel between two cities.
This watch has a lot of specifications and features, and I won’t list them all, since they can be found on the Macy’s product page and on the official Casio website.
Smartphone Integration
How to connect the watch to your phone:
- Download the iPhone or Android app
- Open the app
- Press the Bluetooth button (located at bottom left side of the watch) for 1.5 seconds
- Wait for a few seconds, the app will then move to a different screen showing the watch layout
- Now you can change settings and update the time on your watch
I found the app easy to use and well organized. All of the instructions were quite straight forward.
There’s also a find my phone feature. By holding the button on the bottom left of the watch, your phone will play a ringtone of your choice. This allows you to locate your phone by ear.
To make your phone stop beeping, either open the Casio+ app or press the watch’s phone finder button again. There’s usually a 3-4 second delay between holding the phone finder button and your phone beeping.
I’d also love to see a “find my watch” feature on the app.
Right after my flight from St. Louis, Missouri to New York City (just a 1 hour time difference) landed, I got a notification on my phone, telling me that my time zone had changed. After pressing the Bluetooth button my phone’s time was updated to Eastern Time.
Your connected phone will also send notifications if your watch’s battery is low.
Watch Band Fit
The Edifice has a metal link watch band, which is at maximum length out of the box. The stainless steel band requires some tools to remove links, so I stopped by a watch repair store in town to get it adjusted. About 10 minutes and $5 later, I had a perfect fitting watch. The repairer removed 5 links in total, which he returned to me in a tiny plastic bag.
Having a relatively small wrist, I was originally concerned that the face might look disproportionately large but after getting it adjusted, I found it to be just right.
The watch is comfortable, even if worn for several hours straight.
Cons
There aren’t many bad things to say about the Edifice. Here are some minor things to note:
- The watch does not have a stopwatch, timer or alarm. That’s not a big deal for me, since I use my phone for those functions. Also, the Edifice EQB-600 does not have a backlight, but the hands and time notches glow in the dark.
- It’s a hefty watch – you can actually feel the weight of it when moving your arm. I have not found it uncomfortable, though. It weighs 170 grams, which is about 6 ounces.
- The watch itself feels like it’ll last a long time, but how long will the technology remain relevant? You might be able to wear the watch for the next 10 years, but Bluetooth would probably be just as useful as cassette tapes by then.
- It’s not fully a smartwatch – it doesn’t check your email, connect to wifi or anything along those lines
The Verdict
The Edifice is a great-looking yet practical watch from Casio. The smartphone integration adds a modern twist and makes the watch perfect for business travelers and those who frequently cross time zones.
The Casio Edifice EQB-600 is sold at retail $400.
Where To Get It
- You can find the Casio Edifice watch on Edifice.Casio.com
- Also at Macys.com
- And on Amazon.com
What are your thoughts on the Casio Edifice watch? Leave a comment below.
The Casio Edifice EQB-600 watch was provided for this review. As always, this Casio Edifice review contains only my honest views and opinions. 🙂 Find out more about me and this site here.
One feature this review missed is that it has dial time zone, so it can always show your home time in the small dial while the main time changes to the local time
Hey John – thanks for letting me know!