Casio is adding an unusual model to the Pro Trek Hiker Line. Fold back the reversible band on the PRJ-B001EX-1JR and it wraps the entire watch head, turning into a soft case that holds coins and parking tickets. The watch is scheduled for release in August 2026 at a suggested retail price of ¥33,000 including tax, and it keeps the Hiker Line staples: 10-bar water resistance, Tough Solar charging and Bluetooth connectivity.

A band that becomes a pouch once it leaves your wrist

The band, not the dial, is the headline here. Casio says it studied how campers actually behave and built small-item storage directly into the strap, so coins and parking tickets stay within reach. The goal is to stop people from digging through pockets or the bottom of a pack at a campsite reception desk or a parking payment machine.

The band is reversible. Take the watch off, flip the strap, and it folds over the case to form a soft shell that protects the watch while doubling as a coin case. It also accepts a carabiner, so it can hang from a backpack loop or inside a tent. The strap is a cloth band with a wearable size range of 145 to 215mm.

Adding a pouch to an outdoor watch is less a purist mountaineering feature than a practical concession for day hikes and camping trips where you want to travel light. Given that the Hiker Line was designed around lightweight long-trail and hiking use in the first place, the direction follows naturally.

A 51-gram body made largely from biomass plastic

The case measures 50.3 x 46 x 13.6mm and weighs 51 grams. The main resin parts of the case and bezel use biomass plastic. The crystal is mineral glass, water resistance is rated at 10 bar, and the watch is specified to operate down to minus 10 degrees Celsius.

The rotary guard bezel is the other notable piece of engineering. Rotating the bezel changes how much of the buttons is exposed, hiding them to prevent accidental presses around town and shifting to a shape that is easier to operate during activities. In the dark, a double LED light illuminates both the dial and the LCD area, with afterglow switchable between 1.5 and 3 seconds. There is also a hand-retraction function that temporarily moves the hands clear when they sit over the digital display.

Tough Solar and Bluetooth cut down the upkeep

Power comes from Tough Solar. From a full charge with no solar generation at all, the watch runs roughly 7 months with functions in use, or about 18 months in power-saving mode. It also blanks the display to conserve energy after a set period in darkness, so a long stretch in a drawer is unlikely to leave it dead.

Over Bluetooth, the watch pairs with the CASIO WATCHES smartphone app for automatic time correction, world time settings covering roughly 300 cities, and a phone finder. It supports Time and Place, the Pro Trek feature that logs time and position onto a map in the app. Without a phone connection, it runs at standard quartz accuracy of plus or minus 15 seconds per month on average.

Standalone timekeeping features include world time for 38 cities plus UTC, a stopwatch measuring to 1/100 second with a 24-hour range and lap and split timing, a countdown timer of up to 60 minutes, five alarms and an hourly signal. Day-of-week display can be set to English, Spanish, French, German, Italian or Russian.

Summary

The PRJ-B001EX-1JR keeps the Pro Trek fundamentals of 10-bar water resistance and Tough Solar while carving out its own identity with a single idea: a band that turns into a small-item pouch. At ¥33,000 it sits slightly above the usual Hiker Line range, but it makes sense for anyone who would rather carry one object than two. Release is set for August 2026.