A Week In Review: Casio G-Shock GA2100-1A1

The G-SHOCK GA2100-1A1 “CasiOak”, is it worth all the hype? 

 

Today, I’m talking about one of the most talked about G-SHOCK’s that I know of and, to be fair I haven’t been in the watch game for all that long (seriously for about a year) but, from what I’ve read about it, it seems to be one of the most sought-after watches that Casio has ever made! The GA2100 is mostly known for its resemblance to the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, a watch that most watch enthusiasts can only aspire to one day own. But that doesn’t get much easier with the GA2100 like some might imagine. Every time one of the GA2100 models is released it sells out. So how did I get one? Well, I was lucky enough to have been able to purchase it after winning an Instagram contest.

Casio. Who and what are they? Well, Casio is an electronics company that was founded in 1946 and was initially known for its production of the first entirely electric compact calculator released in 1957. Over the years Casio in the 1980s to 1990s was releasing electronic keyboards for the general public and in April 1983, released their first watch; The G-SHOCK DW5000C.

 

Known for its rugged durability the DW5000C was a watch that most didn’t really take interest in right away. It was popular in the US for its ruggedness, but the rest of the watch industry wasn’t interested in that at the time, during that time, the watch industry was more interested in thinner and lighter watches. Now, keep in mind this was only 14 years after the first quartz watch was released, so the quartz revolution was still in full effect. It actually took quite some time before the DW became known to the rest of the world. But once it did, oh boy did it! Casio to this day still make the DW5000 model and it was actually the first G-SHOCK I ever owned (and yes, I still have it). 

 

So how does the GA2100 really have anything to do with the DW5000C? Well, actually it does. Over the years G-SHOCK has always been known for making some of the most robust watches available (if you still aren’t sure, the armed forces use mostly G-SHOCK, so, yeah) and the GA2100 is no different. G-SHOCK, continuing to stay with what’s its known for, created a watch that was not only as robust as they have been, but also attractive. The GA2100 actually gets some of its looks from the DW5000C, G (G-SHOCK) designed the octagon case based on the original DW. Now, most might not see the exact similarities and I get that, but that’s what they claim so I'm going with it… They also share other things like the Digital display.

How did they manage to make a watch so robust and yet so thin at the same time? That was achieved with the help of carbon fiber (ouu carbon fiber). Using a high-strength resin material reinforced with carbon fiber, G was able to create a case that is only 11.8mm thin, without losing any of the strength of the watch case. The GA is also the thinnest in the G-SHOCK lineup. This certainly has its advantages, but I’ll get into that a little later. 

Now, let's take a deep dive into some of the things the GA2100 has to offer. The first thing I like to “flaunt” is the fact that the GA can tell up to 31 time zones from 48 different cities. Necessary? No. Cool feature? Yes. Not only that but it also has coordinated universal time, so you can set it up to show your local time without having to adjust it yourself. The GA also has a daylight savings on/off switch to make it that much easier when that time of the year comes around. It also has some of the more basic features like; stopwatch, countdown timer, and five hourly alarms can be set-up. It is also made to be able to keep its calendar to the right date all the way up to 2099, now I won’t be around for that long unless we become bionic, but it’s nice to know that my watch may still be.

 

So, what was it like to wear?

 

I wore the watch for the entire week (minus sleeping), it was one of the first things I would put on in the morning, and one of the last things I would take off before at night. One of the first things I noticed right off the bat was the comfort level that it had. This watch, though being a 48.5mm case, fit like it was a 42mm at most. The fit was definitely helped by the thinness of the case and just made it really comfortable as an everyday watch. Like previously mentioned I have a DW5000 and though that has a smaller case size, it's just as if not less comfortable. All of the buttons on the case are easy to press and can be easily reached when the watch is on your wrist. The watch is also super light, weighing in at only 51g (51g!! That’s the same as one-third of a baseball!) you almost forget its even on your wrist.

 Case and Dial.

 

The case design is absolutely beautiful and was one of the reasons I was so attracted to the watch even before I knew it was nicknamed after the Royal Oak. The eight-sided shape really gives off a high-end, high quality look and feel. The same can be said for the Dial, the analog hands make the watch super easy to read yet, are sleek enough so they don’t take up too much room but are chunky enough so you can read them just as easily when it's dark. I also love having an analog day display so I could remember what day of the week it is. And the digital display. Well, one of the things I loved the most about it was being able to have it show the month and date or, you can have it show the time, although that just seems pointless (at least to me). But, all of that doesn’t come at one cost. I do have one complaint about the dial and it’s the light. The “Super illuminator”, as G-SHOCK calls it, didn’t quite light up the dial as “super” as I imagined. It did a great job on the digital display but was lacking when it came to the rest of the dial. Basically, it has one small LED light just above the digital display that illuminates the rest of the watch from the bottom but even when mixed with the luminescent on the hands it just wasn’t enough to be able to quickly read the watch when it was really dark.

 

Final thoughts.

 

I have to say, I absolutely love this watch. Some people might not be the most interested in G-SHOCK’s and I get that, but for me this doesn’t even compare to any of the other G’S (including the metal ones). This was one of the first watches for me that the search was really necessary, a lot of watch enthusiasts talk about trying hard to find that one watch that you really love, and before the GA2100, I never really had to do that. Now, I got lucky and won the opportunity to buy the watch, but I’m extremely happy that I did, because had I not, I wouldn’t know what it was really like to be searching and then finally finding the one you’re looking for. The G-SHOCK GA2100-1A1 is easily one of my most comfortable watches, and probably my most valuable, both sentimentally and resealable value (almost double the retail). With that being said, I can’t wait to continue to wear the watch and experience more things with it, I look forward to using all of its features and knowing that all of the ones I will never use are still there. And maybe one day, I will be able to put a real Royal Oak next to the CasiOak in my collection.