G-Shock

Not to be confused with Shock G.

G-SHOCK BABY G

Owner	Casio
Country	Japan
Introduced	1983
Related brands	Watches
Markets	Worldwide
Registered as a trademark in	G-Shock
Website	gshock.com

G-Shock is a brand of watches manufactured by Casio, known for its resistance to shocks (e.g. hard knocks and strong vibrations). Its full form is Gravitational Shock. They are designed primarily for sports, military and outdoor adventure oriented activity; nearly all G-Shocks have some kind of stopwatch feature, countdown timer, light and water resistance.

History

The first G-Shock was made in the 1983 Casio DW-5000C designed by an engineer working for Casio named Kikuo Ibe, around the triple ten concept: the concept for a watch that has a 10 year battery life, is water resistant to 10 bar, and can survive a 10m fall onto a hard surface. 200 prototypes were tested by dropping them from rooftops or third story windows.

The shock resistant design has 10 layers protecting the quartz time mechanism, including the urethane rubber outer bumper protecting the steel watch case, the stainless steel case, the hardened mineral glass watch crystal, the stainless steel screwed down caseback, and the "floating module" where the quartz mechanism floats free in a urethane foam cradle, with the outer buttons and LCD module attached with flexible cables. It was released in April 1983, seizing the unfilled recreational and sporting market for bulky, functional watches. For the next few years Casio released a handful of new models each year. The Baby-G series was released in 1991, targeted towards women. The popularity of G-Shocks increased rapidly throughout the 1990s, and by 1998, 19 million G-Shocks had been sold worldwide and there seemed to be a peak in demand as over 200 new models were released in that year alone.

Current models

G-Shock G2900, with 10-year battery and E-Data Memory

G-Shock MR-G MRG-7100BJ-1AJF

This line of watches has expanded considerably since then and now includes atomic clock synchronization and Tough Solar functionality in the latest models. The Cockpit Series G-Shock is the official timekeeper of Nismo Racing. Many newer G-Shocks feature metal (steel or titanium) banding and ornate analogue timekeeping.

Twice a year (Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter collection) the basic models are updated. New limited models are introduced more frequently through the year. As with Swatch watches, G-Shocks have become collectors items. Arguably, the most sought after line is the Frogman. Limited edition Frogmans such as the Brazilian, Men in Yellow, Black Helios and Black Spots are some of the most desirable Frogmans.

Casio also produces collaboration models, often with popular fashion brands, like A Bathing Ape (Bape), Stussy, Xlarge, KIKS TYO, Nano Universe, Levi's, Lifted Research Group, as well as Coca Cola, Pulp68 Skateshop, Lucky Strike and Marlboro.

G-Shock is popular with mountaineers, firemen, paramedics, people working in the offshore, police officers, astronauts, film directors (Tony Scott was often pictured wearing a GW-3000B, as is Ron Howard and Francis Ford Coppola) and soldiers. Ex-Special Forces soldier Andy McNab mentions in several of his novels how his fictional character Nick Stone relies on a G-Shock watch. According to Mark Bowden's book Blackhawk Down, the DELTA Operators wore G-Shock watches during the combat events of 3 & 4 October 1993. Since then, G-Shocks watches have become very popular with Special Forces groups in both American and other NATO nation units, due to their being "battle tested".

Models DW-5600C, DW-5600E, DW-5900, DW-6600, DW-6900 are flight-qualified for NASA space travel.

In 2012, Casio released GB-6900, a Bluetooth-capable model of G-Shock. Casio claimed the battery life of 2 years on a single CR2032 battery.

Casio continues to innovate with new G-Shock features. Popular features include Tough Solar battery charging and Multiband 6 time synchronization through radio signals from six transmission stations worldwide. The GW-9400 Rangeman and GWN-1000 Gulfmaster models have a Triple Sensor with a digital compass, thermometer, and barometer/altimeter. The MTG-S1000, GW-A1000, and GPW-1000 feature Triple G Resist which includes resistance to shock, centrifugal gravity, and vibration. In 2014 Casio introduced the GPS Hybrid Wave Ceptor feature in the GPW-1000 Gravitymaster that allows the watch to synchronize the time through GPS signals and also adjusts the time zone automatically. The MRG-G1000 is also equipped with this feature.

List of models

Astronaut Thomas Reiter during Expedition 14 wearing a G-Shock DW-5900 on the International Space Station

Metal/Titanium Series

• MT-G
• MR-G
• GA-1000[Gravitymaster]
• Master of G
  • Frogman
  • Gulfman
  • Fisherman
  • Mudman
  • Riseman
  • Rangeman
  • Antman

Origin Models/Squares

• DW-5000
• DW-5200
• DW-5600C
• DW-5600E
• GW-5000
• GW-5600

Vintage/Classic Models

• DW-5700
• DW-5800
• DW-5900
• DW-6000
• DW-6100
• DW-6200
• DW-6600
• DW-6900
• DW-8200
• DW-8600
• DW-8700
• DW-9000
• DW-9050
• DW-9052
• DW-9052V
• DW-9500
• DW-9600
• DW-001
• DW-002
• DW-003
• DW-004

G-Lide Surfing editions

These models were released in 1996, designed and specifically made for the surfing market. These models were the very first G-Shock watches to have a countdown timer. The countdown timers on these models were designed to count down for surfing competitions, so a surfer can keep track of the progress while competing in the water. Many of these models came equipped with a pair of strap adapters and a single one-piece resin or nylon band. These styles of band are also known as "crossband" in the Japanese domestic market. Resin bands for these models had open gaps or slits through the band. Casio refers to them as drainage slits; the idea is that water will drain out with no problems while in action when surfing. Most of these series models had a translucent band. These models were branded as X-Treme for the Japanese domestic market.

X-Treme Snow Board/Skateboard Editions

These models are identical to the surfing editions, and also released in 1996. They were designed for snowboarding and skateboarding competitors and competitions. The only difference is that these models came with nylon velcro bands.

Limited edition models

• MRG-8000G-1AJF
• MRG-8000RG-1AJF
• MRG-8100G-1AJR
• MRG-8100R-1AJR

• Go Green Project: G5600GR-7, G6900GR-3, G2300GR-3

Modules

Frequent updates have produced a proliferation of modules with slightly varying feature sets:

Module	Solar	Stopwatch	Timer	Alarms	Alt. time display	Other features	Watches
Squares
3163	No	→2400hrs	→24hrs	5	No other modes	World time, custom memo, selectable timer modes and Presets, etc.	G-7800, G-7800B, G-7800GL, G-7800L, G-7800P
3160	Yes	→24hrs	→24hrs	5	No other modes	World time	G-5600E
2597	Yes	→100hrs	→100hrs	5	Timer, alarm, world	World time	G-5600-1JF/G-5600-9*
2924	Yes	→24hrs	→60min	5	No other modes	Atomic, world time, day or date view only	GW-5600
1545	No	→24hrs	→24hrs	1	Stopwatch, timer	Auto-restarting timer, flashing backlight, screwback (5025)	DW5600E, DW5025D-8
3229	No	→24hrs	→24hrs	1	Stopwatch, timer	Updated calendar; years 2000 to 2099, auto-restarting timer, flashing backlight	DW-5600E-1VQ
3063	Yes	→1000hrs	→60min	5	Timer, alarm	Atomic, world time	GW-M5600
3159	Yes	→24hrs	→24hrs	5	No other modes	Atomic, world time, screwback (5000)	GWM5610B-1, gw-5000, gw-S5600
3151	No	→24hrs	→24hrs	3	No other modes	Tide, moon, world time	GLX5600-1
3221	Yes	→24hrs	→24hrs	5	No other modes	World time	GX56-1A
Master of G
3050	Yes	→100hrs	→60min	5	Timer, alarm	Atomic, world time	GW9000A mudman
3089	Yes	→100hrs	→60min	5	Timer, alarm	Atomic, world time	GW9100 gulfman
2422	Yes	→24hrs	→24hrs	3	Alarm, site, dive	Dive site, dive time	GW200 frogman
3184	Yes	→24hrs	→24hrs	5	Alarm, site, dive time	Tide, moon, world time	GWF-1000 frogman
4765	Yes	→60min	→60min	1	Alarm, world	Atomic	AWG100-1A AWG101-1A AWG100BC-1AV
3147	Yes	→24hrs	→24hrs	5	Stopwatch, timer, alarm, world	Atomic, alti/Baro, world time, temp	GW9200 riseman
3261	Yes	→1000hrs	→24hrs	5	Stopwatch, timer, alarm	Compass, temp, moon, world time	G-9300 (New) Mudman
3410	Yes	→1000hrs	→24hrs	5	Stopwatch, timer, alarm, world, alti, compass	Compass, temp, alti/Baro, world time, sunset/rise	G-9400 rangeman

External links

• Official G-Shock website