If you've ever worn a Casio F-91W, you know the pitch: it costs less than lunch, runs for seven years on a button cell, and tells time with the kind of reliability that makes Swiss watchmakers quietly uncomfortable. Casio has sold over 100 million of them since 1989, and the design hasn't changed because it didn't need to.
Until now. The new F-B100W takes that iconic resin rectangle and adds two features people have been hacking into fitness bands for years: Bluetooth connectivity and a step tracker. It launched in Japan in August at ¥8,800—about $55 in the US, though American pricing hasn't been confirmed yet—and it's now rolling out to the UK at £55. Three colorways are available, including a stealthy reverse LCD version and a muted sage green option.
The step counter can track up to 999,999 steps and displays an hourly activity graph right on the watch face. You can set daily goals from 1,000 to 50,000 steps, and the watch will remind you when you've been sitting too long. Bluetooth handles automatic time sync via Casio's companion app, which also logs your fitness history and lets you adjust settings without stabbing at tiny buttons. There's even a phone finder feature, because of course there is.
The rest of the package stays faithful to the original: resin case and band (now using bio-based plastic), LED backlight, five alarms instead of one, a 1/100-second stopwatch with memory for 200 lap records, and a countdown timer. The case measures 41.9 × 38.1 × 8.8mm and weighs just 26 grams. Battery life drops from seven years to two, but that's still longer than any smartwatch on the market.
Casio tried something similar with the steel ABL-100 a few years ago for $95, but the F-B100W undercuts that significantly while keeping the unpretentious digital vibe intact. For people who've spent years ignoring smartwatches on the grounds of daily charging and subscription creep, this is a meaningful middle ground. You get basic fitness tracking and automatic time sync without turning your wrist into a second phone screen.
The F-B100W won't replace an Apple Watch for anyone deep in the ecosystem, but it's not trying to. It's a $55 watch that counts your steps, syncs the time, and doesn't need a charger for two years. Sometimes the best upgrade is the one that changes almost nothing.