Nissan and Casio have teamed up for a watch celebrating NISMO’s racing prowess. The Casio Edifice NISMO Heritage Edition pays homage to Nissan’s race cars created during the golden age of its NISMO division. Everything from Skylines to sports prototypes are referenced so one can wear their Nissan fandom proudly.
The Casio ECB-S10NIS-7A is finished in the eye-catching splendor of Nissan’s red, blue, and white livery. It’s the same tricolor featured on cars like the Nissan R91CP that Masahiro Hasemi, Kazuyoshi Hoshino, and Toshio Suzuki drove to victory in the 1992 24 Hours of Daytona. It was the first time a Japanese car had won the enduro overall.
Specifically, the white leather band with red and blue stripes was inspired by the racing suits that Nissan’s drivers wore. The band is also printed with the chassis codes of all championship-winning cars raced during the pointy font NISMO era. Starting with the DR30 Skyline, it proceeds through the JTC-winning R31, the JTCC-dominating R32 and R33 generations, the aforementioned R91CP, and JSPC-winning R92CP.
On the reverse side, the short band is red while the long strap is blue. The tip of the band was inspired by koinobori, the Japanese carp streamers that fans fly to show their support during springtime races.
The watch face features the NISMO logo used between 1984 and 1997, which glows in the dark to mimic the illuminated racing numbers so that endurance cars can be identified at night. The word “Sapphire” identifying the watch’s crystal is framed in orange, a nod to the windshield banner of the Calsonic R32 GT-R.
The Casio Edifice NISMO Heritage Edition is the latest in a slew of Japanese motorsports-themed watches. Casio has also released a Honda tribute to the RA272 and RC162 and a TOM’s watch celebrating the Toyota tuner’s 50th anniversary. The NISMO Heritage Edition goes on sale September 12 and will retail for ¥44,000 (approximately $300 USD).
I always wonder why these watches dedicated to motor sports are (almost) always so uninspired. As a rule, they just have a few stripes in the colours of the brand or team they’re meant to represent, a few logos, and that’s it. They’re really lazy marketing exercises. I know you can’t expect much for USD 300, but it’s really not very appealing. The same can be said of similar exercises with Honda/Seiko/Casio and others. They are also usually gigantic watches, as if we had a pizza on our wrist. In this area, the only brand that still seems to be making an effort is Autodromo, although a bit more pricey.