The CasiOak goes metal

G-Shock is the subsidiary brand of Casio that’s known for their huge digital watches. It’s this stereotype that made the G-Shock GA-2100 a refreshing model in their lineup when it was launched in 2019. It’s thin at 11.8mm and is dominated by an analog clock, with a small portion of its face left for the digital screen. But it’s most iconic trait is the octagonal bezel that resembles that of Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak, thus earning the nickname ‘CasiOak.’

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Its peculiar blend of analog and digital, combined with its size and shape, made it a hit even for non-aficionados. Even I got one last year because it was love at first sight for me. But before I was able to get one, I had to wait because it was back-ordered everywhere. It has a retail price of $99 but flippers who were able to snag one would flip it for twice or thrice the price. Some regional websites of G-Shock even implemented a 1 unit per household policy to avoid hoarding.

Banking on this popularity, G-Shock thought it’s high time to make things a bit more prestigious with the new GM-2100. It retained the familiar form of the GA-2100 but has switched to a forged stainless steel bezel. Beneath this is a resin that’s glass-fiber reinforced that’s also damage and deformation resistant that secures the module itself. 

The top portion has a circular brushed-metal finish, while the sides and the rest of the cover has a smooth mirror shine. It’s complemented by the module and dials that were also finished in the same textured look. The wrist band was also given a refresh by having small square dots on its surface. In some models, they’d match the color of the watch though in a darker hue. 

Other features include light fadeout function, hand retract function, full auto calendar, and full Auto LED light. These are on top of the series’ standard features like shock and 200m water resistance, 5 alarms, 1/100 Stopwatch (1Hr), Countdown timer (24Hr), and World Time (31 Time Zones, 48 cities + UTC). 

The new G-Shock GM-2100 will be available in September in the US in four mixture of colors. Silver with black band that will retail for $200 while the other options – blue with blue band, green with green band, and red with black band will retail for $220. For reference, the GA-2100 it’s based from has an SRP of $99 and is priced in the Philippines at Php7,130.