Casio Edifice EFA-120L Review

All purpose. One watch.

My ratings: 3/5

I was passing my time on Hyderabad airport when I first noticed this watch- CASIO EDIFICE ANALOG DIGITAL EFA-120L-1A-1V . There was something in this watch that I got attracted towards it, I think it was its simple and sober look and few important features.

Looks & Design

The watch is analog and digital watch with exciting features. The dial of the watch is rectangular in shape and made up of stainless steel. There is a spherical hard glass (resistive to normal scratches) attached to the dial. This dial is attached to black colored tough leather straps . The strap is uniformly pinned on its body that improves its gracefulness and it is bordered with a red colored stitching.
The inner side of dial is black in color with two small sized overlapping chronographs on one side. There are two luminous hands for pointing hours and minutes. ‘CASIO EDIFICE’ is written on top in white in two lines. It is to be noted that working area of dial is round shaped and remaining area is adorned with 12 steel pointers for hours.
The dial displays date (in MM-DD format) and day (two letters) on top, time (in HH:MM SS format) on bottom and temperature in middle.


There are total five push buttons in the watch - three on right and two on left.
The back side of the dial is engraved with the brand name, model number and few important features. The names/ functions of all the five push buttons are also engraved near below the respective buttons.

Specifications

Daily alarm
Hourly time signal
Auto-calendar (to year 2099)
12/24-hour format
30 time zones (50 cities)
100-meter water resistance
1/100-second stopwatches (two in numbers)
Dual Chronograph for separate timing operations by two stopwatches
50 lap time memories
Countdown timer (1 minute to 100 hours)
Accuracy: ±30 seconds per month
Temperature display range: -10 to 60 °C (14 to 140 °F)
Approx. battery life: 3 years
Size of case: 43.9 X 38.3 X 12.9 mm
Total weight: 64 g

Features

The watch can be operated in 7 different modes (Timekeeping, Stopwatch, Recall, Countdown timer, Alarm, World time & Handsetting) to access the various features and functionalities of the watch. The default mode is timekeeping mode that displays basic information such as time, date and temperature.

Electro-luminescent panel -  The dial of the watch can be illuminated using a dedicated push-button. This feature can be set to auto mode that will turn on the light when the watch is moved closer to the face in a particular angle. The auto-feature has to be used cautiously as while driving the sudden illumination may panic you.

World Time - The watch can display current time in 50 major cities (30 time zones) of the world. Just by a press of button, time zone can be changed as per the choice.

Stopwatch - The measuring unit of stopwatch is 1/100 second for the first 60 minutes and 1 second for the display after 60 minutes. There are two measuring modes- Single stopwatch mode that displays lap times & total elapsed time for a single runner or vehicle; and Dual stopwatch mode that displays two independent lap time &  lap time differential.  The watch is even equipped to memorize 50 lap times & total elapsed time entries.

Countdown timer - The countdown can be set from 1 minute to 100 hours . There are 1-min and 1-hr increments provided to set the time. The measuring unit is 1-sec. The timer also has a feature of auto repeating.  

Timekeeping - The time can be displayed in 12-hour or 24-hour format. If the time is set in 12-hour format, a small ‘A’ or ‘P’ is displayed with time to symbolize AM or PM. There are also two needles for analog timekeeping. The company assures accuracy of ±30 seconds per month.  The watch is set for auto-calendar feature till 2099 so there is no need to setting time when there is a leap year.
There are two options in time displays- standard time & daylight saving time . Daylight saving time advances the time by one hour. This feature is not useful for India but can be used in many other countries.

Temperature measurement - There is in built temperature sensor in the watch and the temperature can be set to display in degrees (D) or Fahrenheit (F). The display range varies from -10 to 60 °C (14 to 140 °F) and the display unit is 0.1 °C (0.2 °F). The temperature is updated during each even-numbered minute .  When the watch is in wrist, the temperature displayed gets affected by body temperature, moisture and direct sunlight. To get the exact surrounding temperature, the watch has to be removed from the wrist and placed in a place away from sunlight and moisture. It will take 20 to 30 minutes for the exact surrounding temperature.

Alarm - Two types of alarms can be set on the watch- daily alarm and hourly alarm . The watch beeps at the set time; the beep is loud enough to alarm you but it cannot wake you up if you are sleeping or moving in a noisy area.

Battery - As per the company specification, the battery will last for 3 years that is sufficient enough.

Water resistance - The water resistance of the watch is mentioned in two units- 100m and 10bars . The "BAR" value indicates the number of atmospheres to which water resistance is ensured that means it is wearable during swimming, washing etc.,  but not during high board diving and surfing.

Positives

1. Very sturdy and robust look
2. Scratch resistive metal glass
3. Simple and sober
4. Dual watch (analog & digital), that is quite unique

Negatives

1. Costly, when considering looks and features
2. Digital display is not visible in bright light
3. Temperature sensor shows a mix of body temperature, direct sunlight & moisture
4. Very heavy in weight even though there is no metallic chain
5. Push buttons are very hard to push

Bottom line

First of all I would like to mention the price of this watch. The MRP of the watch is Rs.5995 and you can get it at a discount of 10% from many stores.  The looks are very ordinary when compared to price, so don’t expect turning heads. The looks are comparable to the watches of the range of Rs.2000.
The watch has many useful features that can be used in daily routines. It depends on the user that how could s/he use it impressively.

I would recommend this watch to office goers who like formal accessories. This is not at all for youths or funky peoples.