Casio Shrinks Down The Edifice To Create A Collection Of Very Elegant 38mm Three-Handers

Edifice has always been kind of Casio's performance line, best known for chronographs with tachymeter scales and super busy dials that convey as much information as possible. But what happens when Casio wants to do something different with the Edifice. Something, perhaps, a bit simpler? Well, the EFR-109 drops all of that complexity for three hands, a date and a small steel case. And, it has a very retro look to it.

The stainless steel case measures 38mm wide and 9.2mm thick, slimmer than nearly anything else in the Edifice collection right now. The crystal is box-shaped mineral glass rather than sapphire, which is expected at this price, and that domed profile does most of the vintage work. When I say it's expected at this price, I'm not talking about a $800 Seiko with mineral glass. This thing is truly priced in the mineral glass category. Water resistance is 100 meters, and that's pretty good, again, considering the price.

Four dials are available for this model. Black and blue are plain with silver trim. Green gets gold accents, a black outer ring and a white minute track, which is a lot of contrast. All three of those have a sunray brushed finish. Then, there's the flat cream color, and it's the best of the set: black chapter ring, beige lume on the hands and an orange tip on the seconds hand. It has an almost effortless 1960s look to it. All four get applied indices, luminous hands and a date window at three.

Casio lists only a Japanese quartz movement, no calibre, but it's a simple quartz, do you need more info? Black, blue and green come on a three-link steel bracelet with a folding clasp. Cream gets a brown perforated leather strap with contrast stitching and a pin buckle.

The Casio Edifice EFR-109 costs €119 in all four colors, with the final figure varying by country depending on VAT. It goes on sale very soon. See more on the Casio website.