What is the digital chronograph (if we were to call it quartz chrono it would be slightly diminishing and incorrect) that best resembles a mechanical sports chronograph? It’s the Casio Edifice. What is the most advanced Casio Edifice ever crafted so far? It is the Casio Edifice Race Lap Chronograph EQB-800, the latest version of the Smart Link chrono series released by the Casio sports brand.
We like to talk about the design of a watch, especially when its technical features meet all of our expectations and the new EQB–800, just like its predecessors, has a more personal style than the rest of the 600 series items, both when it comes to its colors (blue is one of the reference colors of the Casio Edifice) and the case and dial geometry. It is a sharp three-dimensional accent created by the large trapezoidal shaped indexes accompanied by the three counters on the dial that are not the classic ones of a chronograph as its V-formation would suggest.
The latest Smartphone Link series chronograph brings in new features that add to the standard characteristics of the collection, among them is the ability to synchronize the correct time through the smartphone, accessing the time of over three hundred cities around the globe, and the Alarm Setting function.
There are now new features that are extremely interesting for those who work closely with the world of the Grand Prix and sports timing; sectors, where extreme accuracy, quick usability and data logging are required. These functions are, in this case, made available through the Casio+ App and the Bluetooth connection. This is no coincidence, considering the consolidated partnership existing between the Casio Edifice and the Formula 1 Red Bull team; the Formula 1 racing team of the Red Bull family.
The completely analogue design of the Edifice timepieces – and of the Casio Edifice Race Lap Chronograph EQB-800 in particular – hides a number of innovative features represented by the double arrow shaped hands on the dial. The Target Time Indicator and Stopwatch functions allow you to measure and exchange data with the app on your mobile phone both when you have programmed the function through the app and when you are using the app as a storage tool of the timing recorded during a race; these functions have been developed with the help of world-class racing experts and are aimed at an actual use.
At 9 o’clock lies a large arrowhead shaped hand that acts as a stopwatch with a precision rate of a 1/20th of a second and that indicates the battery level, in addition to the status of the connection between the watch and the smartphone (a connection that can be activated through a button located at 8 o’clock and that works up to a distance of 2 meters). The hand moves thanks to a double coil motor – something that I have already gotten familiar with in the past because it also present on the 9F series quartz Seiko – that guarantees a much stronger torque, which is needed to ensure low spin rotation inertia of the hand and a proper starting torque. The register located at 6 o’clock is the indicator of a second time zone, which allows you to display two time zones simultaneously on the dial.
It is a big timepiece, because it measures 53,5mm by 49,2mm by 13,1mm and it weighs just below 200 grams. The Casio Edifice Race Lap Chronograph EQB-800 is a step above all of its current competitors (those watches of the EQB series connected to the Bluetooth) both when it comes to its functions, its touch and feel sensation (I find the ceramic made bezel with its tachymetric scale quite beautiful). The timepiece was presented at Baselworld 2017, but it is not on the market yet; when it lands there, we will eventually find out what the price of this chrono is; a timepiece that, in the next future, will definitely grace the pages of our third channel (currently under construction at the time of this article and still a secret that will soon be revealed).
(Photo credit: Horbiter®’s proprietary photo-shooting)
Gaetano C @Horbiter®
