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Casio designs thin radio-controlled wristwatch

TOKYO - Casio Computer Co has designed a radio-controlled wristwatch only half as thick as those on the market. The company plans to release the watch before the end of the year and will price it at about 30,000 yen (US$275), anticipating high demand among business people.

Radio-controlled wristwatches receive a standard-time radio signal and adjust themselves accordingly. Demand for the watches has skyrocketed in Japan since nationwide reception of the radio signal became possible in October 2001.

However, an antenna and semiconductor circuitry must be built into the body of the watch to receive and process the signal, and these components take up so much room that most radio-controlled wristwatches are more than a centimeter thick. Watches this thick tend to catch on shirt cuffs, making them less of a hit with business people.

Casio's new design uses miniaturized components, including a smaller antenna and battery, and packages the signal reception chip and peripheral circuit elements into a 70 percent smaller footprint so that all components can be mounted on a single side of the board. The result is a watch that fits in a 42-millimeter-diameter case, similar in size to competing products, but is only 6-7mm thick.

Casio expects volume sales to increase 60 percent to 1 million units in fiscal 2003.

(Asia Pulse/Nikkei)

Oct 29, 2003

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