Casio Lineage Titanium Review (LCW-M100TSE-1AER) - The Greatest Watch Ever Made?
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We’ve reviewed some pretty hyped brands on this blog before. From the affordable luxury memes of Filippo Loreti and MVMT, to the nostalgia tripping Q-Timex and increasingly popular Chinese home-brands.
Today, we’ll be analysing one that has received some crazy acclaim over on Amazon. Indeed, the current top review calls this ‘probably the greatest watch ever made’.
The brand, Casio. The specs; well, they’re out of this world. I think it’s time we gave this one the Ben’s Watch Club treatment, don’t you?
Listing & Reviews
Like many of you, I spend far too much time browsing Amazon. I was taking a look at some titanium models and one, in particular, took my eye. For once, the stock pictures were fairly high-quality and the watch looked fantastic. I’d never considered any of the more expensive Casio watches before, as I’d always been happy enough with the cheaper models; however, a quick look at the specs gave me food for thought.
In addition to the aforementioned review, plenty others were boasting 5-star ratings and shining compliments; so I decided to take the plunge and see what this premium Casio had to offer. Is this worth the price tag? Let’s find out.
Watch Packaging
First impressions were a touch underwhelming. The watch arrived in what looked to be standard, budget Casio packaging, akin to that provided with much cheaper Casio digital models; however, it opens to reveal a tin, which houses the watch inside. While this does a good job of protecting the watch while in transit, I do wish they would update the dated faux-carbon looking design to something that doesn’t look straight out of the late 90s.
Nevertheless, the watch arrived in perfect condition and it came with an unusual plastic tool, which we’ll come back to later.
Material & dimensions
Upon first handling the watch, I was concerned by how light the watch felt…yeah I forgot it was titanium for a moment! If you’re someone that likes a weighty watch to make you more assured about the quality, then this material is to be steered away from. It’s strong, yet very lightweight, so if your priority is comfort, then keep reading. This model is an absolute dream on-wrist. Not only is the case constructed of titanium, but the bracelet is too; meaning the whole package weighs in at a mere 64 grams when adjusted to fit my wrist.
Fortunately for me, the watch wears slightly smaller than the 39.5mm diameter suggests, as that measurement is artificially bolstered by the bulges upon each flank of the watch. That combined with the 43.9mm lug to lug make this feel more like a typical 38mm option, whilst still looking suitably wide for a contemporary men’s watch. At 9.6mm in thickness, it’s not exactly thick, nor incredibly thin.
Watch Case
The case finishing is the only part of the watch that I would like to see improved. For a near £200 watch, the edges are not as precise as on many rival offerings. It looks good from a distance, with the brushed upper and polished sides, but it’s not as well-done as the dial. It features some twisting, angular lugs, which I think look a little like those on some Omega models, but obviously executed to a lower standard.
Water Resistance
The case-back is held in place by 4 screws, which secure it to an advertised 5-bar water resistance level. Casio is confident that you can swim in this watch, as is evident from one of the pages in the brick of a manual that is provided. Most other brands tend to advertise their 5-bar watches as not suitable for swimming; reserving that right for 10bar watches and over. I’m inclined to trust Casio on this, given their positive aquatic reputation in their previous watches.
Either way, it’s clearly enough water resistance for day to day use, which is all this watch was designed for anyway.
Dial
Aesthetically, it does a great job of meeting that purpose too, combining great looks with impressive functionality under the hood. As you can see, this model utilises a digital-analogue combination, with the display positioned in the lower portion of the watch. I’ll cover the functions and modes shortly, but first, let’s analyse the analogue portion of the dial. Man, does this one look great!
The first thing that will strike you is the amazing grey dial, which has one of the cleanest sunbursts I’ve ever seen. It has an iridescent, multicoloured finish when looked at under direct light and it looks fantastic as you rotate the watch, making the piece look much, much more expensive. It honestly looks like it’s been pulled from a watch at double the price point, it’s that good; I hope it comes across accurately on camera. The stock images, while high-resolution, truly didn’t do this part justice, so it was a great surprise that adds a pop of colour to an otherwise greyscale watch.
The applied indices don’t disappoint either, with a high-shine faceted section surrounding the central luminescent pip on each. These also reflect the light nicely too and match the handset, which has a similar two-tone design. This is accompanied by a raised minute track, which incorporates an inner angled surface too; contributing further to the depth present on the dial.
You’ll notice that all text is just inked onto the surface, though they are completed to a high standard, with no noticeable flaws even when analysed closely.
Alignment of the applied areas is good throughout, as is that of the movement. The second hand is perfectly in-sync with the markers, which you’d hope to see on a battery-powered watch costing this much.
Without a doubt, this is one of the best-looking Casio watches I’ve come across. Despite the bulges, it doesn’t appear to be a homage of the Patek Nautilus or any other watch for that matter; if anything it looks like some form of mid-range modern Seiko. There are several variants of this watch including one with numbers, rather than the plain markers, should that be your thing (link to that model on Amazon is here). To me that one doesn’t look quite as refined; however, don’t be mislead by that main stock image. It looks like a blue variant at first glance, however, the blue bracelet showcases that the white balance of the image has been tampered with or that the image has been colour shifted at a later date. The other images reveal that it’s actually the same colour as the version I’m featuring today.
Watch Glass
Regardless of which variant you prefer, you’ll be pleased to know it will have sapphire crystal over the dial, for unbeatable scratch resistance, with an anti-reflective coating to make it more legible when in direct sunlight.
Battery
Despite its beauty, remarkably, the dial also houses a solar cell as part of the ‘tough solar’ technology. This is a solar-powered system, akin to Citizen’s ‘eco-drive’, which allows the watch battery to be charged directly from exposure to sunlight. According to the manual, this takes just 8 minutes to fully charge in outdoor sunlight and can hold the power reserve for a minimum of 4 months, even with no further exposure to light. This means battery changes aren’t going to be needed nearly as frequently as with a traditional quartz movement; there are reports of some of these even lasting several decades before failing to hold a charge.
Watch Functions
The real fun starts when we venture into the functions. This LCW-M100 houses a ridiculous number of them and I’m going to quickly whizz through the most useful and important of them. As printed on the dial, this model utilises multi-band 6 technology, meaning it can use radio waves to synchronise with an atomic clock, to give perfectly accurate time. The Casio does this automatically and it’s pretty cool to see the hands move to the appropriate position.
Additional features of this 5161 module include a battery level indicator, stopwatch, countdown timer, world time (to keep tabs on other time zones), alarms, along with an LED backlight, to illuminate the dial, should the Neobrite luminescence not suffice. These functions are all accessible via the 3 pushers, which beep with the same noise as other digital Casio’s that you may be familiar with. You can also select one of three options, to remain on the display while no other functions are engaged. I like leaving the day/date indicator there for added convenience.
In an ideal world, I’d prefer a smaller gap between the dial and digital display, along with a dedicated backlight for that display; as it’s not the clearest in low-light with the current LED that mainly illuminates the analogue portion of the watch. That being said, this truly is a value-packed watch.
Bracelet
Remember when I mentioned that tool that came in the box? Well, it’s used to quickly adjust the bracelet. I haven’t seen this system before and it really is a smart piece of engineering. All you do is insert this into one of the small openings on the rear and the scissor-clamp system will unlock the link, allowing you to simply pull it away. If you lose the tool, you can also just rotate a small screwdriver instead to activate the same effect. This makes changes incredibly easy and removes the need to faff around with push pins, where you’re more likely to scratch the bracelet. I’d like to see this system make its way into more wristwatches.
Other than that, the bracelet is okay. It’s light and comfy, though the end links are hollow, leaving a small gap from a side-on perspective. The push-button clasp is also useful, helping to save your fingernails, with my only real complaint being the lack of micro-adjustment holes. Two is all you get. This leaves a disparity of adjustment between these and the addition or removal of a full link. You either adjust it a tiny amount or a lot. Therefore, some wrist sizes are going to land in that middle-ground, where the bracelet is either too small or too large. That was the case for me when I first received the watch, though due to some weight loss over the last few weeks, it now fits far better. You can replace the stock option with standard 20mm straps, as it uses typical lugs. A black strap would work well here for sure.
Final Thoughts
It’s a real shame that the name of the product doesn’t do it justice. Whoever is in charge of this at Casio is doing a terrible job as aside from the long codename, this watch’s name seems to bounce between any combination of its features and sub-ranges. Designations include ‘Casio Lineage’, ‘Casio Collection’, ‘Wave Ceptor’, ‘Radio-Controlled’, ‘Multi-Band 6’, ‘Tough Solar Titanium’, ‘LCW-M100TSE-1AER’ and ‘Solar Men’s Watch’, to name a few. While that may suffice in Japan, I’m not sure us Brits appreciate such a confusing and convoluted naming strategy. Simplifying this would make the correct watch much easier to locate and retailers would have an easier time listing them too. Even the Amazon listing is glitched out at the moment, with it called the Casio7, whatever that means.
Is it the greatest watch ever made? Well, a lot of the watches I feature on this blog get tested out for a couple of weeks and end up getting sold off further down the line. Very few stick around to become a permanent part of the collection. Survival of the fittest some may say. It’s a credit to the quality of this watch that it has made enough of an impression to remain in the rotation. I find myself wearing this daily and it has exceeded my expectations. On that basis, it’s definitely one of the best watches I’ve reviewed, especially considering the cost, but the case finishing is far from a luxury piece, meaning I think it’s a stretch to call it the greatest watch ever made (as much as I love it).
