You Only Live Twice; or, Casio AE-1200 review

My favorite watch ever, also known as the Casio Royale, a truly fantastic time keeping device you should own

If you don’t get the first title of this blog post, I don’t blame you, if you do, you’re probably smiling at the seemingly random yet fitting reference to a James Bond film in a wristwatch review. 😉

You see, the Casio AE-1200WH is a modern classic from Casio first released in 2012, with a pretty similar look to the watch that James Bond wears in the film Octopussy, from 1983. From there, the fanbase decided to name it the Casio Royale, like another Bond movie you probably actually know: Casino Royale.

The Seiko G757 featured in <i>Octopussy</i> — The Seiko G757 featured in *Octopussy*

So, this watch is named after a movie it doesn’t appear on, but its similar to the one that shows up in a different Bond movie, and I titled this post after a totally different Bond movie that has nothing to do with anything, except for one thing…

I own, not just one, but two Casio Royales!

And the title says twice!—ain’t that clever? 🤓

It is no secret that I am a bit of a fan of Casio watches, ever since that one time I accidentally started a trend (although the one who named it would be R.L. Dane, as the #CasioCult), I’ve been buying them from time to time. I only own like 6, but other people have more than a dozen of them! I’m totally fine…

However, from the moment I got the Royale, nothing has managed to dethrone it from my wrist—for any significant period of time at least. Only the G-Shock GA-2100—also known as the CasiOak—has managed to come close—and it’s also the first watch I bought twice, for different reasons—but it still is 3 times as expensive!

Two and a half years later, my Casio Royale is still going strong, so, as I said, I bought another one!

You see, my friend Dusan recently (and finally) got a Casio AE-1200 for himself, and I noticed it was a color variant I had never seen before. It had a dark gray casing with black accents, and it used a black nylon strap. After looking it up online, the exact model was the Casio AE-1200WHUB-8AV, and I couldn’t help myself and ordered it immediately, for the fair price of $45 USD and free shipping!

The previous model I still own is the silver one with a black resin strap—although I replaced it recently—the AE-1200WH-1CV. After almost three years of use, I have to say, I am still super happy with it. Everything still works perfectly fine. It does have more than a few scratches on the case and the acrylic crystal—some say it’s actually mineral glass, but I’m not sure—nothing substantial to be honest, so I can’t complain.

The more common models of the watch can be found for as low as $20 bucks nowadays, so if I were to absolutely ruin it by letting it drown in a pool filled with blades, I wouldn’t mind that much, although I would be sad just because it’s kind of precious to me.

When it comes to features, this simply has everything, in one of the most unique-looking form factors ever, it packs: World time, 10 year battery, great visibility, 100M of water resistance, up to 5 quick-access timezones, up to 5 alarms, timer, stopwatch, hourly beep, backlight, auto-calendar, DST support, what else do you need?

Just look at it! it’s absolutely gorgeous, there is no other watch like it. Although Casio has recently made pretty similar form factors, such as the LF-20W or the DW-291H, the Royale has become an instant classic that will be difficult to top for some time.

Not only is it great out of the box, and has a lot of official variants from Casio. They are incredibly popular in the modding scene. You can find great stainless steel casing with saphire glass, lots of different color options and straps, and other things that can be done to it. Be it actual modders who CNC’d and sell their designs, or cheap cases from AliExpress, or people on online marketplaces selling pre-modded builds, plenty of options are available.

I am more of a “set it and forget it” kinda guy, but when the strap broke on my older piece, getting a replacement was super simple. Of course, this brings to light the one weakness of this watch—and most Casios, to be honest—the resin strap. It can’t be denied how flimsy and weak it is. At this point, it’s just something I expect to happen, but if you don’t like that stuff, maybe just get the version with a nylon strap or a stainless steel bracelet.

My dark gray model with a nylon strap, gorgeous!

For the price, nothing beats it, every other watch has one or two missing features, or a higher price, this just works, and it does it all very well. As long as you don’t mind a scratch or two, and a strap replacement.

This is day 54 of #100DaysToOffload