The performance is exceptional, the design is modern and clean, and despite its large size, it wears exceptionally comfortably on the wrist. With that said, it takes the watch from being purely functional to being a design watch that has a sleek and modern design, whilst retaining the features that the G-Shock is known for. The Casio ”CasiOak” GA A is equipped with the Casio 5611 module. As discussed above, this module displays analog and digital time, stopwatch, world time, perpetual calendar, has five daily alarms, and a countdown timer. In the standard display, the digital screen shows running seconds, but it can also be set to display the stopwatch, timer, alarms, as well as different time zones. After all, it is a G-shock, and we expect it to handle almost everything we subject it to.
This would make sense and be on-brand for Casio as G-Shocks have always fit a variety of personal styles. It’s not only remarkably affordable for a watch that is basking in such intense hype, it’s also notably affordable for a G-Shock. At £99.90, it sits at the least expensive price point across the entire brand. Frankly, for that amount of money, if you want to see what all the fuss is about, it’s almost hard to justify not buying it. The watch is made to take a beating and can handle shocks and bangs without any issues.
Nor can you help but read the Royal Oak’s integrated bracelet into the way that the CasiOak’s strap meets its case. But this G-Shock also has a host of features that tap into broader notions of good taste that prevail within the watch world. It’s slim for its ilk – at 11.8mm, it’s the most slender that G-Shock currently makes. It’s also a predominantly analogue piece, with two hands and a physical day indicator.
The watch straps have been wrapped in the iconic tentacles graphics of OCTOPUS Brand, which is a bandana pattern for G-SHOCK in full black or black/red colours. Watches are sold in a special packaging, decorated with Octopus X G-SHOCK bandanapattern, and contain a bandana as special gift. Everyone will remember the toilet paper shortage of 2020, as panic buying took hold of people around the world, but watch collectors will remember another shortage.
The left side of the dial features a day display with a hand that points to the current day. On the surface this seems like an odd inclusion, but it solves 2 problems. It keeps the dial somewhat symmetrical; if you try to imagine the dial without it there, it would look odd. It also keeps the digital display compact and unobtrusive. While the handset is bright white and filled with lume, the markers are off-white, almost gray.
If you can do without radio sync and Bluetooth, this is the G-Shock to buy. If you have had any experience with a resin-cased G-Shock, there aren’t going to be any surprises here. The matte black case and strap have the feel of rubber but don’t feel cheap.
That nickname should give you a clue as to why it’s so popular. Sure, G-Shock has had a cult following for a long while now. Its collaborations with the likes of musicians streetwear titans and movies have thrust the brand firmly into the world of limited-edition, high-resale-value ‘it’ fashion.
Distinctive from most analog watches out there, this G-Shock model eliminates the crown – when the time is digitally adjusted with the onboard pushers, the hands auto-adjust precisely. It has an impressive feature set, is tough and durable, has a 200-meter water resistance rating, and is comfortable on a variety of wrist sizes. It is one of the few models the brand offers that can adapt to a variety of situations.
This is not a tactical watch and I’m not recommending it as a tool, I’m recommending it solely and exclusively as a design object. The GA-2100 has already been dubbed the “CasiOak” all over the watch internet, and other similar mashup nicknames are out there as well. But Casio has been making watches in loud colors in this general shape for years, so why does the GA-2100 suddenly seem to have claimed the mantle of Royal Oak on a hot dog budget? The answer, I think, is in how this watch wears, which is really unlike any other G-Shock I’ve strapped to my wrist. Unfortunately, most of the affordable analog G-Shock watches do not have the seconds hand, but the more expensive ones do. The GA-2100SU-1A with camo bezel and the green and black GA-2110SU-3A are new releases in the U.S. and are available at several retailers.