Three Shades Of Casioak
I have managed to surprise myself with the joy of such simple wrist-worn fun. I’ve also enjoyed wearing the only watch in the house with a retrograde display for the weekdays, a proper world timer, 200m depth rating and all the other functions we simply take for granted. In short, the Casioak is a technological marvel spiced up with cheap fun – for about $220AUD it offers value with a capital V. I am seriously impressed. This is a watch for everything, and I genuinely understand why it’s got such a star rating among the watch community. The office is not the office anymore, and while we might long for suiting up again to impress colleagues with our sharp taste in tailoring, this is not the time.
While the GA-2100 has more of the original G-Shock DNA in its style than some other recent models like the GA-2000, it is also a subdued style that has a mainstream appeal. Fans will easily recognize it as a G-Shock, but at the same time, it doesn’t scream “G-Shock” g shock watch to others. The Casio G-Shock GA-2100 is both a blast from the past as well as a peek into the future of tough everyday watches. Using a Carbon Core Guard structure to protect the inner module, along with a double-layer caseback, the GA2000HC comes in two versions.
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 Casio ”CasiOak” GA baby g shock 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.
And of course it lights up by pressing the clearly labeled “light” button at 2 o’clock. Rather than the basic resin case most budget G-Shocks have used for decades, Casio’s new Carbon Core Guard technology is giving a tough new life to their classic designs. The carbon fiber-reinforced resin case allows some of the best resilience you can get from a watch, reflected in the GA-2100’s surprising 200-meter water resistance, a figure usually reserved for higher-end dive watches. The tech, while stronger, also allows for a thinner case, which means you get a stronger material without adding on the bulk, reflected in the GA-2100’s more manageable 45 mm case size. In case you’ve been living under a rock, a quick refresher. The 2100 series launched in 2019 as a more subtle G-Shock, intended to slot neatly into the wardrobes of a younger, style-conscious audience.
The new GA-2100, dubbed the CasiOak due to its case’s resemblance to an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, breaks away from the square-shaped case. While G-Shocks have been analog before, the GA-2100 presents the handset front and center, overtaking the digital display, giving the watch a familiarity that mechanical watch wearers will love. The watch comes presented baby g shock on a black integrated resin strap which of course goes very well with the design of the watch. A nice feature is that it has a quick-release mechanism that allows you to remove the straps with ease. This variant of the GA-2100 flies under the radar with a stealthed-out aesthetic featuring greyed hands against a dial that looks like it was 3D printed.