These Nikon and Leica Impressed Casio Watches Promote Out Quick

ARTICLE – Pierro Pozella fixes damaged movie cameras for a dwelling. He runs PPP Cameras out of a brick-and-mortar store in Birmingham, England, processing movie and respiration life again into gear that most individuals would toss in a drawer. Someplace between the repairs and the chemical baths, he began making watches. Not from scratch, and never the type that value greater than a used automobile. Pozella takes inexpensive Casio digitals and rebuilds them into one thing photographers truly wish to put on.

Worth: From £150 (Round $199)
The place to Purchase: PPP

His newest creation is the N168, a customized Casio watch impressed by Nikon cameras. It follows the Casio M-Version, a Leica-themed piece that bought out twice and compelled PPP Cameras to announce a 3rd manufacturing run. Collectively, the 2 watches have turned a small digicam restore store into one of many extra sudden names within the pictures equipment house.

How the M-Version began all of it

The Casio M-Version launched in January 2026 and caught the pictures world off guard. Constructed on the bones of a Casio AE1200, the watch swaps the inventory face for a customized purple dial that echoes the signature purple dot that Leica has used on its M cameras because the early Nineteen Eighties. The purple extends to the LEDs behind the watch mild, a element PPP Cameras describes as paying homage to a digicam’s inside mild meter. A leather-based strap replaces the usual rubber, mirroring the leatherette texture that wraps the physique of Leica’s rangefinders.

The primary batch bought out shortly. The second batch adopted the identical sample. PPP Cameras has since introduced a 3rd manufacturing run with models anticipated to ship in Might 2026. The M-Version is on the market in Chrome and Black, although each variations have bought out once more on the time of writing. Each are actually priced at 160 kilos, roughly $212.

Pictures shops picked it up shortly, praising PPP Cameras for its knack with customized digicam gear and framing the M-Version as an accessible nod to Leica’s design language. Protection unfold by means of digicam boards, pictures blogs, and Threads inside days. The AE1200 base already had a following amongst watch collectors who understand it because the Casio Royale, and layering a Leica twist on high of that gave the story additional traction.

The N168 brings Nikon into the image

The N168 takes the identical hand-customization strategy and factors it at a special digicam legacy. The place the M-Version channels Leica’s purple and silver refinement, the N168 leans into the black and yellow shade scheme that Nikon has used throughout its branding, logos, and digicam straps for many years.

The watch incorporates a putting yellow show that echoes Nikon’s signature look. PPP Cameras pairs it with a canvas strap stitched in yellow, pulling immediately from the woven digicam straps that ship with Nikon our bodies. The general impact lands someplace between a classic digital watch and a bit of fan artwork that truly works on a wrist.

Three editions can be found for pre-order. The Chrome and Titanium variations are each priced at 150 kilos, roughly $200. The Black version runs barely greater at 170 kilos, roughly $225. All three ship mid to late Might 2026. Each bit is hand-customized by Pozella himself, which explains each the restricted portions and the pre-order mannequin.

The individual behind the watches

Pozella will not be a watchmaker by coaching. He began volunteering in a charity store as a youngster, the place donated cameras that no person might repair turned his private workshop. “The individuals who ran the place instructed me that, in the event that they had been damaged, I might take them residence to see if I might mend them,” he instructed Monocle journal. Those that had been inconceivable to repair, the store let him maintain.

That early obsession with disassembly and restore changed into PPP Cameras, a full-service operation that now handles digicam repairs, customized repaints, movie processing, and a retail store. The watch line is the most recent department, and the reception has clearly outpaced what a one-person customization operation can produce. The sold-out M-Version runs and the pre-order construction for the N168 each level to demand that Pozella is scaling rigorously reasonably than shortly.

PPP Cameras beforehand developed a display screen cowl for the Leica M10 and M11 that blocks the rear show, forcing photographers to shoot with out chimping at their pictures. Pozella designed it as a result of he discovered the display screen “an pointless distraction” that modified how he approached taking footage. That very same philosophy of stripping issues again to what issues exhibits up within the watches, which skip sensible options totally in favor of persona and craft.

The place these match within the pictures equipment market

Digicam-inspired watches should not totally new. Artra Designs launched its Digicam One final 12 months, a mechanical watch with pictures design cues beginning at $887. Nodus launched the Obscura, the primary mechanical watch to combine an publicity gauge primarily based on the Sunny 16 rule. Each goal photographers prepared to spend severe cash on a timepiece that displays their craft.

The PPP Cameras strategy sits on the reverse finish of the value spectrum. At $200 to $225 for the N168 and $212 for the M-Version, each land in the identical worth vary as a single leather-based digicam strap from Leica. The M-Version is constructed on the Casio AE1200, a confirmed mannequin with a dependable quartz motion and water resistance. What Pozella provides is visible id and a connection to digicam tradition that mass-produced watches can not replicate.

The timing works in PPP Cameras’ favor. Etsy sellers and impartial modders have constructed a cottage business round customized Casio builds. Few have tied their work so on to a selected fanatic neighborhood the way in which Pozella has with photographers.

Pricing and availability

The Casio M-Version is priced at 160 kilos ($212) for each the Chrome and Black editions. Each are at present bought out, with the subsequent batch accessible for pre-order and anticipated to ship in Might 2026.

Worth: From £150 (Round $199)
The place to Purchase: PPP

The N168 is on the market for pre-order in three editions. Chrome and Titanium are priced at 150 kilos ($199). The Black version is 170 kilos ($225). All N168 orders ship mid to late Might 2026. Orders could be positioned at pppcameras.co.uk.