How to Set the Time and Date on Your Casio Vintage AE1200WHD-1A Watch

The Casio AE1200WHD-1A, better known to fans as the "Casio Royale" - is one of the most popular vintage-inspired digital watches around, and it's easy to see why. With its stainless steel bracelet, analog-digital world map display and rugged 100m water resistance, it's a brilliant everyday piece for travellers and collectors alike.

If you've just unboxed yours (or you're revisiting the settings after a battery change or daylight saving switch), setting the time and date is simple once you know where the buttons are. Here's your step-by-step guide.

Know Your Buttons

The AE1200WHD-1A has four buttons around the case:

• Top-left (A) — Adjust

• Top-right (B) — Light / decrease value

• Bottom-left (C) — Mode / move to next setting

• Bottom-right (D) — Search / increase value

Keep this layout in mind — we'll refer to the buttons by position throughout.

Step-by-Step: Setting the Time and Date

1. Display the Home City Time screen (T-1) In Timekeeping Mode, press the bottom-right button (D) until the lower-left display shows T-1. This confirms you're looking at your Home City Time, which is the one you want to set.

2. Enter setting mode Press and hold the top-left button (A) for a few seconds until the seconds digits start flashing on the display. This means you're now in the setting screen.

3. Step through the settings Press the bottom-left button (C) to move the flashing cursor through each setting, in this order:

Seconds → City Code → Hour → Minutes → 12/24-Hour Format → Year → Month → Day → DST (Daylight Saving) → Illumination Duration

4. Adjust each value When the setting you want to change is flashing, use:

• D (bottom-right) to increase the value

• B (top-right) to decrease the value

For the city code, this scrolls you through the watch's 48 preset world cities — Australian owners will want to set this to SYD (Sydney), which also determines your correct time zone and daylight saving behaviour.

To reset the seconds to zero, simply press D while the seconds are flashing.

5. Exit setting mode Once everything is correct, press the top-left button (A) again to exit and return to normal Timekeeping Mode.

A Few Handy Tips

• Setting the city code first matters. Choosing your Home City code (SYD for most Australian owners) before adjusting the time ensures the watch applies the correct daylight saving rules automatically each year.

• Daylight saving is separate from your city code toggle in the setting sequence — double check the DST indicator matches the season if your state observes daylight saving.

• The watch auto-corrects the day of the week based on your year, month and day settings, so you don't need to set it manually.

• No button presses for 1–2 minutes will automatically return the watch to normal Timekeeping Mode, so if you get interrupted partway through, you may need to start again.

• World Time Mode (accessed via the bottom-left button in Timekeeping Mode) is separate from these steps and lets you check the time in other cities without altering your Home City settings — perfect for keeping track of time zones when you're travelling.

Still Stuck?

If your AE1200WHD-1A isn't responding to button presses as expected, a quick reset can help: press and hold all four buttons together, or check that the watch isn't already sitting in an alarm, stopwatch or timer mode (press the bottom-left button repeatedly to cycle back to Timekeeping Mode first).

Got questions about your Casio, or after a replacement strap, battery or genuine parts? Get in touch with the team at Watch World Online. We're always happy to help keep your timepiece running true.