Somewhere between the Cartier Crash and the Casio F-91W, there’s apparently room for a $100 digital watch that looks like it spent a little too much time in the sun. It’s called the Crashio, and I think it’s one of the funniest watch designs I’ve come across this year.
New York clothing brand Open Bar Funeral originally introduced the Crashio last fall with a metal case and five-link bracelet. Now it’s back for a second round, this time with a transparent resin case and matching polymer strap. To me, this version makes a lot more sense. The metal original was amusing, but something about the clear resin feels right for a watch borrowing so much of its personality from an inexpensive Casio.
The inspiration is pretty obvious. Cartier’s Crash is among the stranger designs in luxury watchmaking, with its warped, asymmetrical case and a history that stretches back to 1967. Today, vintage examples can sell for extraordinary amounts of money. The Casio F-91W, on the other hand, is about as ordinary and accessible as digital watches get. It’s been around since 1989, and you can still buy one for around twenty bucks.
I love the idea of putting those two watches together. There’s something genuinely funny about taking a case design associated with wealthy collectors and stuffing it with the kind of digital display you’d expect to find in a department-store Casio.
Open Bar Funeral has carried the joke through to the smaller details, too. The elongated LCD follows the case’s unusual proportions, with “Crashio” printed above it in familiar Casio-style lettering. You’ll also find “ElectroLuminescence,” “Illuminator,” and “Water Resist” printed around the display. Even the button labels follow the curves of the case. It’s a ridiculous amount of attention to a ridiculous idea, and I appreciate that.
Inside is an unspecified multifunction quartz module with a 1/100-second stopwatch, alarm, hourly chime, and automatic calendar. The brand claims accuracy of ±30 seconds per month, along with a brighter backlight than the first Crashio. Battery life is listed at approximately three years using a CR1620.
The standard clear-and-black version costs $100, while a clear-display variant with red accents runs $120. Personally, I’d go with the black display. It keeps the Casio influence front and center, which I think is essential to the whole concept.
I also think $100 is a reasonable asking price for something this unusual. Of course, the actual timekeeping hardware is fairly basic, and there are plenty of cheaper digital watches available. You’re paying for the peculiar case design and the enjoyment of having something this strange on your wrist.
There are a few things I’d like to know more about. Open Bar Funeral hasn’t published case dimensions or a specific water-resistance rating. The company also warns that the alarm speaker and backlight may become less effective over time. That’s a slightly concerning disclaimer, especially if you’re hoping to keep the watch running for years. But also kind of hilarious.
Still, I have a hard time getting too worked up about those omissions. My take is that the Crashio knows exactly how silly it is, and the transparent resin version makes the idea even better. I’m curious about how the case wears and whether the novelty sticks around after a few months.
The Crashio v2 is available for preorder through Open Bar Funeral, with delivery expected in January 2027. At $100, I think it’s a pretty entertaining way to poke fun at two very different sides of watch collecting.
Co-Founder & Senior Editor
Michael Peñate is an American writer, photographer, and podcaster based in Seattle, Washington. His work typically focuses on the passage of time and the tools we use to connect with that very journey. From aviation to music and travel, his interests span a multitude of disciplines that often intersect with the world of watches – and the obsessive culture behind collecting them.