Casio takes on the Seiko with an affordable Time Sonar rival that turns its normally hidden calendar into the star of the show
The MTP-E740 borrows one of Seiko’s cleverest 1970s design tricks, but costs just £85
by Matt Kollat · T3
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Casio has a habit of making inexpensive watches far more interesting than they have any right to be, and the latest addition to its MTP collection might be one of the best examples yet.
The MTP-E740 initially looks like a fairly conventional stainless-steel analogue watch, complete with three hands and a day-date window at three o'clock.
However, Casio has made calendar discs underneath an opaque dial part of the design, with the numbers and abbreviated days visible beneath the semi-transparent central section.
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The result is a wonderfully busy arrangement of overlapping letters and numerals that makes a relatively simple quartz watch look far more complicated.
If you're familiar with vintage Seiko (or modern versions), the idea might also look rather familiar.
Sonar detected
The Seiko Time Sonar, introduced in 1976, famously used a transparent plastic dial that let its calendar disc show through.
Seiko says the design was inspired by submarine sonar displays, and even paired the original watch with a transparent caseback and a compass attached to its bracelet.
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Earlier this year, the company also launched the Seiko 5 Sports x HUF SRPM09, a modern interpretation of the Time Sonar featuring a semi-transparent green dial and an automatic 4R36 movement.
That model is limited to 7,000 pieces and costs £350 in the UK.
The Casio isn't a direct copy or even quite the same proposition.
It has no automatic movement or chronograph, and Casio hasn't officially connected the MTP-E740 with the Time Sonar.
But the visual similarity is difficult to miss, especially when both designs turn something normally hidden beneath the dial into their defining feature.
Casio's version is a straightforward three-hand quartz watch, with the current day and date appearing conventionally through a window at three o'clock.
The stainless-steel case measures 39.8mm across and just 8.7mm thick, while the watch weighs 103g with its matching stainless-steel bracelet.
You also get mineral glass, 50-metre water resistance and an estimated three-year battery life, with Casio rating accuracy at ±20 seconds per month.
The MTP-E740-2A1V is available now from Casio UK for £85 (~$115 / €99 / AU$160), putting this take on the transparent-calendar idea at around a quarter of the price of Seiko's latest Time Sonar-inspired model.
And while the Seiko is undoubtedly the more sophisticated watch mechanically, I suspect plenty of people will be perfectly happy to keep the extra £265 in their pocket.