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Award-winning watches are usually pretty expensive. If you look at the 2023 GPHG awards, for instance, the cheapest winner sells for well over $2000 USD. But not this watch. No, in this box is an award-winning Casio that you can grab for under £150, sometimes less.

But, what exactly is it, and is it worth buying?

Well, today we’re going to find out, so stick with me.

So, here’s how I found out about this acclaimed timepiece. I often check the Casio site to learn about the newest releases, and I saw a press release about six Casio products that had won prizes in the latest iF design awards. Now, some of these were other Casio products, like pianos and calculators, but there were also some watches in there. A mid-tier G-Shock, a luxury Frogman G Shock, as well as this, the much more affordable A1100.

I’ve been aware of this model since it released last year and I initially overlooked it; lazily lobbing it in the same boat as the similarly styled A100. A plastic digital that looked funky but was perhaps a little garish for day-to-day usage.

Clearly, the people in the know think differently. Indeed, the International Forum of Design or “iF” is a very prestigious German organization that hosts a competition each year, where they assess around 11,000 entries, with only a select few being chosen as winners. I’ve actually reviewed another iF winner before, the Sternglas Automatik. That watch was quite the looker, so I was keen to see just what I’d missed out on with this Casio.

So, I bought one, in fact, I bought three, so we can take a look at each color.

Casio A1100 Price

One thing I noticed before even handling the watch was the price. The A1100 does cost a lot more than most chromed resin Casios and that’s primarily because it’s not made of cheap plastic. No, this is one of very few Casio digitals actually made of stainless steel; the only others off the top of my head being the A1000, which I reviewed a couple of years back, and the recent limited edition Casiotron reissue, which cost a small fortune and sold out instantly.

The plastic watches are great for cheap, easy wearers that you can destroy if you want to, but they’re not so great for those after something with a more premium look and feel.

*Left:* *Casio A100* *Right:* *Casio A1100*

This A1100 definitely feels much better than the A100, but does it feel almost £100 better? (because yes, that’s the premium you have to pay for one of these). Erm, maybe. I mean other watches are certainly built better at this price, but pretty much none of them are digital, so it’s hard to compare directly. I think this watch would be awesome if it were below £100 or $100; at which point, the weaknesses I’ll be mentioning would be easier to overlook.

Bracelet & Water Resistance

In fact, yeah, let’s quickly get those out of the way. The watch has a mediocre bracelet. It is less rudimentary than the metal bracelets fitted to the plastic watches, and it looks great, with a lovely brushed finish, but at some point, it will pluck your arm hairs, as it still just uses folded links, as you can see from the back.

The A1100 is also not very water resistant. Despite the fairly chunky rear, it’s splashproof, and that’s it. If you want to dunk this watch at any point, you’ll have to keep your fingers and toes crossed. Maybe this has something to do with how the pushers are arranged; I’m unsure, but not seeing at least 5-atm is somewhat baffling!

Case Construction

As long as you dip out of doing the dishes, the A1100 will look better for much longer than the plastic watches. The vertically brushed metal particularly suits digital designs like this, which are usually inhibited by the use of chromed plastic, so even from a distance, the A1100 immediately looks like a higher-tier product. This finishing style also means that there’s finally a harmonious relationship between the case and bracelet rather than a tug of war!

Unsurprisingly, even from my limited time with the product, I noticed far fewer scratches and dinks than the plastic A100, which we tried for a similar duration last year. The weight increase also sidesteps the toy-like feeling that often accompanies these lower-end pieces.

Design

While it looks quite distinctive, the A1100 isn’t altogether a new design. It’s actually a reissue of the 52QS-14B, with some minor cosmetic alterations and a slight size bump. According to eBay listings, the original was 33mm wide, with a 39mm lug to lug, while this one is 35mm and 40mm respectively. The original was also only steel-plated resin, while the updated version, as we discussed, is fully steel, so it is heavier.

*Left:* *Casio 52QS-14B* *Right:* *Casio A1100*

Outside of that, the A1100 is very faithful in terms of appearance, with the same small display at the top and the pushers sitting beneath, rather than protruding out of the sides, like most digital watches. In some ways, this looks sleeker, as it reduces the silhouette of the watch and means it can retain smooth, uninterrupted flanks that look akin to many analog watches.

Functions

Functionally, these buttons aren’t the best. They’ve got a larger travel distance than their appearance would have you believe, so you have to compress them pretty far to activate them, meaning there are often times where you feel like you’ve pressed, yet nothing has happened. From a practical standpoint, compared to side-mounted pushers, it’s harder to differentiate the buttons in the dark, and it can even be challenging to get used to their positioning at first because the indicators aren’t super obvious. In fact, they’re etched into the surface, meaning in certain lighting conditions, they fade into the background...which I guess is kinda the point.

You see, I’d say this is perhaps my favorite part of the whole design. It’s an old-school and stylish way of labeling functions without introducing more bright colors and distractions. The A1100 is far sleeker than some other retro Casios for just this reason. It’s almost like operating your own mini control dial, with the front-mounted pushers forcing you to have more interaction with the watch.

While I don’t think it’s the best-looking digital (that honor goes to the A700) it’s a little like the girl next door: a little quirky but pretty in its own unique way. Its cleaner design has aged much better than the aforementioned A100, which is evident when you have them side by side. Sure, it’s boxy, but there’s no chance that your friends mistake this for a fancy dress prop, as they might for some of the other shiny models that can border on tacky.

Let’s be real, the A1100 has not won this award for case finishing. Like most steel Casios, it’s reasonable and serviceable from a distance, but in contrast with the fairly good brushing, the polishing is simplistic, and the case edges are far from the most precisely cut when viewed up close.

Still, I think it’s the utilitarian steel-covered expanse across the bottom half contrasting with the dark, yet slim, display atop that provides somewhat of a unique yin-yang feel. It’s almost as if the time is peering out at you and not the other way around. The watch feels like something you’d see in a Star Wars fanfiction, and in fact, there’s even a model for Darth Vader here. Indeed, the black version, with its Matrix-like green accents and display, could be found on the wrist of any number of sci-fi heroes and villains, while the gold version is simply there for those after a touch of bling.

Casio A1100 Dimensions

When it comes to the on-wrist experience, I do think the A1100 could be thinner. At just shy of 9mm, it isn’t a chunky watch, but the rear protrudes much more than it probably should, especially considering the poor aquatic performance. This causes a small gap between the lugs and the rear, which could have been lessened if the watch were shaved down to around 7mm.

It’s worth noting that this watch fits much larger than the sizing suggests. If you’ve ever tried a square or rectangular watch, you’ll know that on-paper proportions can be deceiving. With the A1100, mainly because the lugs are stubby, to the extent they may as well be fully hooded, this 35mm watch wears much more like a traditional 39 circular watch, which you might not expect when ordering.

For totally selfish reasons, I wish the watch were smaller; the size of the original vintage version would have been perfect. Nevertheless, it’s still a viable size for most of you at home despite feeling bigger than some of the most popular plastic models. The bracelet also has a more standard clasp design, rather than the widely used slide-clamp mechanism, which is great for tinkering, though I wish the holes were slightly closer together, as the links are pretty small themselves.

Unlike most digitals, this one eats replacement straps for breakfast, so feel free to go wild with numerous combinations if you’d rather forego the off-the-shelf option.

Dial Display

While specced identically, I think it looks and wears slightly better than the previous steel Casio I reviewed, the A1000, with a more retro and masculine appearance, though there are some crucial differences worth mentioning, especially regarding the displays. The darker A1000 models all had embarrassingly poor negative displays that were completely unusable due to their dimness; luckily, the black version of the newer A1100 has a peculiar green screen instead, which might not be perfect but is slightly more legible. At certain angles, it still disappears, but at a far lower rate than the disastrous black display on the A1000.

The night light also varies between these watches. Across the board, they’re slightly dimmer than the standard display A1000 model but are brighter than most of the plastic Casios. The silver and gold versions are about equal to the W-202 I tested, with the black and green version boasting slightly brighter performance.

Unlike many of the cheaper acrylic-fitted alternatives, this one also uses mineral crystal, so it will hold up slightly better to scratches. While this is appreciated, we know from the similarly priced Edifice watches that Casio probably could have used the superior sapphire here instead.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think this award-winning watch is very stylish and probably deserves the acclaim for its cool appearance. Casio has also done a good job with the colorways; I’m actually unsure which I prefer. That said, the underwhelming spec sheet and unnecessarily protruding rear leave me feeling like the regular retail price is still too steep; I’ve seen these going for the equivalent of $200 USD, which is way more than you should be paying, even with inflation!