This $56 Casio watch is a retro step-tracking dream

When I was in high school, all I wanted was a Baby-G Casio watch—partly because it came in a fun color, and partly because all the cool kids had one. When I finally convinced my mom to buy me one, I loved it until much later when its battery died. It’s been over 20 years since then, but as millennial fashion invades my TikTok algorithm, I’m thinking a lot about how my watches once were just watches It seems OK Sometimes I feel like I want to go back to those days…and then I remember the main reason I got into smartwatches was for step tracking.

Then I discovered the Casio WS-B1000 for only $55.95 that syncs with your phone, and Track steps. What!

It’s not incomprehensible that today’s Casio watches are probably more powerful than the analog watches of my youth. But it didn’t occur to me to check it out. Never mind that I reviewed a sturdier Casio Wear OS watch a few years ago—it was a chunky multisport watch—and the Wear OS fight bus at the time always had flat tires. But after doing some digging, we discovered that Casio has modernized several of its watches, adding more fitness tracking features while retaining Casio’s classic designs.

The WS-B1000 is one such watch, albeit one that keeps things very simple. There’s no optical heart rate monitor, OLED display, fancy fitness sensors, contactless payments or LTE connectivity. The device features Bluetooth to connect with your phone, an accelerometer for tracking steps, classic stopwatch and timer functions, alarm clock, exercise reminders, and an LCD screen with backlit buttons. In other words, just enough smarts to qualify as a fitness tracker — but just barely.

This feature set might not have appealed to me a few years ago. But now, I’m at a point in my fitness journey where I’m recovering from the mental and physical burnout of chronic overtraining. It’s been a frustratingly long process, and to my surprise, the things that have kept me going are the devices and apps that prioritize rest and simplicity over “effort.” Many of today’s smartwatches will set you active minutes, standing goals, calorie burn goals, and other goals—so many to achieve each day that you can become overwhelmed. In fact, WS-B1000 can only Track steps or use as a stopwatch? This is an advantage.

do you know? I had a great time testing the WS-B1000 for three weeks. I forgot how great it is to set a simple step goal and work towards achieving it. With this watch, I can look down and say, “Uh oh! It’s 4 p.m. and I’ve walked 2,000 steps. Time to go for a walk. If I want to check my history, I can go to the Casio app program and look at the rough logs. Nothing special, that’s what I’m looking for. In terms of accuracy, my Apple Watch Ultra is generally accurate within 500 to 1,000 steps – considering they’re worn at different times. On the arm and I’m talking with my hands, it’s a pretty wide margin of error but if you choose something like this and the overall goal is to simply move more, that’s enough.

There are other little things I appreciate too. Because the watch doesn’t require the sensors, chips, and giant batteries of a smartwatch, it’s very light to wear. It only weighs 36 grams, and for once, I don’t look like I have a giant hockey puck strapped to my wrist. I never have to worry about charging the damn thing either – it runs on a CR2016 coin cell battery and lasts approx. Two years.

The neat thing about the Casio app is that it automatically syncs the time, so you don’t have to sit there fiddling with buttons to reset the time or set an alarm. (I am bad Same thing on old watches; I can never remember how to do it, or which drawer I stuffed the user manual in.

Clearly, this isn’t a watch for those who want to get the most out of a smartwatch. However, if you’re like me and want to get away from fitness tech once in a while, or if you want to relax and low-tech fitness appeals to you, then this is a great option. May I remind you, it’s only $56? While the most basic trackers in a range tend to be fitness bands, this is a cute, retro and chic Casio watch.

Alas, I only have two wrists, and as a wearables reviewer, I’ll have to swap the Casio for the next smartwatch in my testing queue. But I have a good feeling that out of the many offerings, this is the watch I want.