Famed digital watch maker Casio Computer Co. is set enter the smartwatch market, taking the good fight to the likes of Apple, Inc., and a range of Android-powered devices.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Casio is betting that its expertise as a watchmaker will help it outmaneuver Apple Watch while keeping an eye on the mass market’s need for comfort and durability.

Casio is reported to have said that its product will be a watch that tries to be smart, rather than a smart device that is also a watch.

Casio Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Kashio told the paper that they were aiming to release a watch that targets men involved in outdoor sports and leisure, both in terms of functions and appearance, and that they are “trying to bring our smartwatch to a level of watch perfection: a device that won’t break easily, is simple to put on and feels good to wear.”

“We will aim to achieve about ¥10 billion [about $80 million] in smartwatch sales as soon as possible and expand the business from there,” he added.

The watch is set to have a reasonably affordable price tag from around ¥50,000, or $400, slightly more than Apple’s cheapest offering, but certainly at the lower end of the broader market price range.

A legend in watches

Millenials and hipsters may have come to know Casio as a brand later in life, but it is more fondly remembered by members of Generation X who grew up with Casio watches as being the first smart watches of their generation.

Casio released some of the first watches with calculators, and other basic functions that may seem like nothing in 2015, but in the 1980s and even into the 1990’s were revolutionary in what they offered; in context the first digital watches didn’t hit the market until the late 1970’s and were often clunky affairs, whereas the Casio watch range was like something from the future.

Surprisingly the company still makes its famous G-Shock range of watches today, although some later models are said to actually sync with phones and provide basic (modern) smart functions such as call alerts.

It’s a highly competitive market to enter, but Casio as a name still carries weight and presuming the product is good it may well find a receptive audience.

The first Casio smartwatch is set for release in March in both the United States and Japan.

Image credit: london/Flickr/CC by 2.0