So here is the regular Casio Royale, like the one I got in the box:
And here is what I have done with mine:
As you can see I've made a bunch of changes. I did it all with a screwdriver, Goo Gone, Q-Tips, sewing scissors, water and a towel.
First I used the Goo Gone and Q-tips to rub the "ILLUMINATOR" and "WORLD TIME" test off the top and bottom of the outside case. Then I opened up the case and popped out the module. Lying on top of the module is that black plastic thing that separates the different parts of the screen. A bit more Goo Gone and I managed to get the "5 ALARMS", "10 YEAR BATTERY", "MODE", "ADJUST", "LIGHT" and "SEARCH" off. Then I got all the dust out and put it back together.
Next up was the strap. I had that blue canvas strap lying around. I originally wanted to use it on my super fancy and expensive Seiko SARB but turns out I don't like it on that watch...Thought it might be good on this one. The problem is that Casio almost always makes changing straps an issue. This one has 18mm lug width, but as you can see it immediately tapers out to about 24mm and then tapers back down to about 18 on the underside of the wrist. The watch itself looks really weird on an 18mm strap, it's just too big for such a small strap width.
My canvas strap is 20mm. I had to cut it to make it fit the 18mm lug width. I didn't do an amazing job cutting but I think it looks pretty damn good for a first try. So I crammed a cut 20mm strap into an 18mm lug.
This watch was around $26. For that price you don't even get a mineral crystal, it's plastic. So I bought a screen protector and added that too. I bought a 5 pack and got it on during my second try. It's not perfectly aligned but good enough that it's not driving me crazy. And there are no bubbles. I can't tolerate bubbles.
On the plus side of a cheap watch...it's really, really light. The caseback and buttons are stainless but the case itself is painted plastic making is super light. Add on a canvas strap and this thing feels like nothing on wrist.
I had to open it twice. I wasn't going to but when I put the module back in the first time I did it wrong and one button didn't work properly. After a day I decided to crack it back open to fix the button and that's when I got rid of the text on the sides. I think it looks nice and clean. I left the "CASIO" and the "WR100M" because most watches show off the brand name and water resist depth on the face.
This was a fun project. All told it took me about 90 minutes. I may attempt more mods or I may try to mod something else in the future. We'll see what happens.
