Hi guys. Today I’m writing about Casio Edifice Review, specifically the model no. EQS500DB-1A1 which retails on Amazon at less than $200.
What’s great about it is it’s really good looking and fully packed with functions that other watches in this price range don’t even try to include.
I’ve written about another Casio watch, the Wave Ceptor WVAM640D-1A previously and it seems the brand really likes to make good value for money watches.
And while this Casio Edifice is more expensive than the Wave Ceptor, the price hike is justifiable with full stainless steel case (the Wave Ceptor case is a hybrid of plastic resin – stainless steel) and better looking overall.
Edifice – Casio’s Stylish And Technologically Advanced Watch
The Edifice line up of watches is not as well known as their G-Shock line up which is very popular for its unique plastic resin design.
While G-Shock is more towards outdoor type of watch, the Edifice is designed for casual or everyday use by men.
This is visible from their very different case – the G-Shock with rugged plastic resin case and the Edifice with polished stainless steel and more stylish look.
But specification wise, the Edifice is the same as G-Shock with its numerous functionalities that makes them both such a good value for money.
That’s it for the introduction. Let’s go to the in-depth Casio Edifice review.
Casio Edifice Watch EQS500DB-1A1 Specification
Diameter: 44 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Lug Width: 22 mm
Case: Stainless steel case
Strap: Stainless steel bracelet
Watch Crystal: Mineral crystal
Dial: Black-Gray dial
Subdials: Right subdial (day, current mode, 1/100 second chronograph); Upper left subdial (24-hour time display); Lower left subdial (second timezone, chronograph second and minute marking)
Hands: White hands with lume
Markers: Index markers with lume
Movement: Casio Movement Module 5123 – Quartz solar watch with 5 independent motors
Accuracy: +-15 seconds per month
Power Reserve: 6 months
Water Resistance: 100 m
Other Features: Solar powered, World time display, 1/100 second chronograph, Alarm, Day date display, 24-hour time display, Full calendar until 2099
Casio Edifice EQS500DB-1A1 Manual: Click Here to download the manual (Module 5123)
Best Place To Buy: Amazon, MSRP is $250
Sophisticated And Stylish Dial
The first thing that anyone will notice about the Casio Edifice is how sophisticated and busy the dial is.
And Casio seems to have decent experience as even though the dial is busy, it still looks pleasing and cool!
This is obtained by careful color selection and placement of elements on top of the dial.
As you guys can see, the dial is flooded with lots of information. The fixed bezel is black with minute markings on it.
The outer edge of the dial is scribbled with timezone indicators (which we will touch later on) and there are index markers on it.
The hour markers are white with green lume on top of it and there is a date window at 4.30 o’clock.
An interesting bit about the date and day function is it’s pre-programmed up to 2099 to include all leap-years. There is no need to adjust the date at the end of February.
While the outer dial is busy with numbers, the inner dial is busy with 3 subdials.
There are right subdial (for day, current mode & 1/100 second chronograph), upper left subdial (24-hour time display) and lower left subdial (second timezone, chronograph second & minute marking).
By using gray color as the background for the dial and white/silver as the markers and frames of subdial, the watch is able to create a nice contrast so much so there is no issue in telling time even with this busy layout.
Sophisticated, manly and stylish – this is the perfect look for a casual trendy watch =)
Polished Stainless Steel Case For A Sleek Look
Accompanying the stylish dial of the Casio Edifice is a highly polished stainless steel case which exudes quality and looks really sleek.
It’s not so big, at just 44 mm diameter and 13 mm thick though a guys with smaller wrist size should do well to avoid this watch.
I think apart from a good looking watch, the fit of the watch to the wrist is also an important factor to determine whether the watch will look good on the wearer or not.
Just like how distasteful an oversized clothes on a small body look, that’s how a big watch will look on a small wrist.
The watch case is also built differently than other watches. If you guys can notice, there are 4 crowns/pushers for this watch, each serving different functions.
Casio opted to position the 4 pushers at diagonal locations thus creating a unique case. Each pushers also has their own guards.
On top of the watch is a mineral crystal that’s sadly is not scratch resistant. Mineral crystal scratches easily and any watch with this type of crystal should be looked after carefully to avoid ugly scratches.
(Click here to read more about types of watch crystals)
The watch uses a 22 mm width stainless steel bracelet that is a nice complement to the stainless steel case.
To top it off, the Casio Edifice also has a 100 m water resistance as an additional protection from any unintentional water ingress.
Solar Powered Watch Movement For Total Convenience
One of the major selling point of this Casio Edifice is the Tough Solar technology by Casio that makes it a great solar watch.
What is a solar watch?
Solar watch is a quartz watch that can recharge its battery by converting any light into electricity. It’s able does this by a photo-voltaic cells underneath its dial.
Early solar watches had ugly solar cells stamped directly on their dial. But with technology advancement, these cells are now cleverly placed underneath the dial itself.
So now nobody will know a watch is a solar watch until they look at the specification list.
Performance wise, the Casio Edifice has the same accuracy as a normal quartz i.e +-15 seconds per month.
It also has 6 months power reserve which can be easily recharged by simply wearing or exposing the watch to any light.
Table above gives a guide on the recharging time required for the Casio Edifice. Level 1 is the highest power reserve level.
When the power reserve is almost depleted, the seconds hand will change to only skip every 2 seconds.
This is an indicator to let the owner know that the battery is almost dead and you should bring the watch out underneath the open sky LOL!
This ability to recharge itself effortlessly is what makes solar watches a great watch for its convenience. No more manual winding (automatic watch) or changing batteries (quartz watch) =)
4 Major Functions Of The Casio Edifice EQS500DB-1A1
There are 4 major functions (or modes) that the Casio Edifice has. The functions can simply be selected by a push of a button.
In addition, there are 5 independent motors inside the watch that moves the various hands to according to the function selected which is very nice to look at.
By pushing the lower left pusher, we can cycle through the 4 main functions of the Casio Edifice
Now, let’s see the 4 major functions of Casio Edifice EQS500DB-1A1:
1- Timekeeping Mode
Above diagram shows the functions of the Casio Edifice dial in the normal timekeeping mode
The default mode of the watch is timekeeping mode which is basically a normal watch. The 3 main hands will show the current time while the upper left subdial will show the 24-hour time.
Meanwhile, the lower left subdial will show another timezone (or called World Time) which need to be set up earlier. The right subdial is used to show the current day.
2- Chronograph / Stopwatch Mode
The second mode is the chronograph mode that uses the main seconds hand (1/10 second), the lower left subdial (minutes and 1 second) and right subdial (1/100 second).
Quite special is how casio chose to make the main seconds hand showing the 1/10 seconds – this makes the hand spinning very fast up to 30 seconds or so.
During chronograph mode, the dial of the Casio Edifice will change its usage for the stopwatch function
This chronograph is also very accurate as it can measure up to 1/100 second (i.e 3.29 seconds) which is usually reserved for electronic/digital chronographs.
The only flaw that I can see is the time measurement has a limit of 24 minutes that is very short compared to other chronographs.
3- World Time
Next, the Casio Edifice watch can show the current world time around the world. This can be done by selecting the intended time zone (as denoted by the cities at outer edge of the dial).
Up to 29 timezones can be selected and the watch will automatically calculate the time.
In order for this to work precisely, the home time (current location) must be set correctly as the watch use this info to calculate the time at other zones.
4- Alarm
Well, I don’t think I need to explain much about this function right?
As with any multi-function watch, there is a steep learning curve to learn all its functions. Thus, it’s important to read the user manual to learn how to use it effectively.
(Download the Casio Edifice EQS500DB-1A1 manual by clicking here)
Watch the video above to see the Casio Edifice in action
Who Is This Watch For?
If you want a cool looking watch with sophisticated and busy dial, then this Casio Edifice is definitely for you. It’s busy dial is tastefully designed and just look so sleek and gorgeous.
It’s definitely an eye-catching watch for sure.
Anyone that wants a watch that’s very different than a normal watch should also consider it seriously.
It has a long specification list, and when compared to its more affordable price, one can’t help to think how good value for money the Casio Edifice watch is.
With a quite big dimension, it has a nice wrist presence and looks very masculine too =)
Who Should Not Get It?
Anyone wanting a true dress watch for formal functions might need to look elsewhere since the watch is more suited for casual/everyday use.
The watch is just too “techy” for any formal functions. Check out the Seiko SARB033, Hamilton Jazzmaster and Tissot Visodate for dress watch alternatives that has killer look while still being affordable.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Stylish and sophisticated dial
- Chronograph can measure accurately up to 1/100 seconds
- Multitude of functions at an affordable price
- Polished stainless steel gives it a very nice look
- Solar powered for a very convenient watch
Cons:
- As with any multi-function watch, there is a steep learning curve to learn all its functions
- Very short chronograph time measurement limit (24 minutes)
Like This Watch? Buy It Cheapest On Amazon!
If you like this Casio Edifice, consider getting it at Amazon for a great discount over its MSRP of $250. Click the link below to check out the best prices for the watch on Amazon.
->Click Here To Check Out The Casio Edifice EQS500DB-1A1 On Amazon<-
Final Thoughts
Casio Edifice is one of the less known secrets from the Japanese watchmaker. While its brother, the G-Shock watches are more popular, the Edifice watches are lesser known even though it’s specification and design is on par with G-Shock’s.
This EQS500DB-1A1 model especially is an example of how good value for money an Edifice watch can be.
Solar powered, world time, chronograph and alarm are some of the major features that will surely be an useful tool to its owners.
All in all, the Casio Edifice EQS500DB-1A1 is a handsome watch with a great specification in it.
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I hope you guys like this Casio Edifice review. Let me know if you guys have any comments or questions regarding the watch.
I’d love to hear your opinions =)
Till next time. Cheers!
Isaac
Hi
Don’t care about your opinion whether the watch fits small wrists or not on men, it’s not for you to decide and FYI mineral crystal is scratch resistant, not as good as sapphire, but can take a few knocks with constant wear without scratching so easily. I know by experience. Thanks.
This is the worst watch I have ever owned. The whole time/date setting functions are so difficult, I would not recommend this item to anyone. Trying to stop the hands from spinning, once you’ve reached the correct time, is next to near impossible. Whatever happened to just pulling the crown, turn the hands to the correct time/date, and walk away? Forget about it. JUNK!!!
You should invest time in reading the manual… Sloooooooowly.
This is an AMAZING watch.
The “24 minute” Chrono dial is actually a secondary time zone in military time, not a minutes counter! 🙂
Having owned a previous chronograph model, I wanted this model when I first saw it available on Amazon. I have it and enjoy my purchase. I have it set up to the best of my knowledge awaiting the next Pacific Daylight Savings change to see if all is well. I do have a question though. The short hand on the right hand dial does move through the days properly but does the long hand suppose to move also or is it suppose to remain above the ALM to designate timekeeping?
Actually the long and short hand in the right subdial are connected to each other. So to answer your question, no, the long hand will not only remain above the ALM marker. Both of the hands will move around depending on function the watch is currently in.