Casio GA-2100-1A1ER Review | GQ Claimed This Watch Was “Cool AF” But Were They Right?
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Though it pains me to admit, some material possessions really can make you feel a little bit cooler; designer sunglasses, fresh new trainers, that bracelet from H&M which perfectly defines your complex individuality.. and for some reason, this almost illegible plastic watch from Casio.
Launched in 2019, the newly honed G-Shock GA-2100 immediately struck a chord with G-Shock fans and broader watch enthusiasts alike. A catchy little nickname picked up in a forum undoubtedly helped capture the attention of those in the know. Momentum began to build and the model’s hype soared to notoriety, gaining rave reviews in mainstream fashion and lifestyle mags including Vogue. “Cool AF” was a quote in British GQ magazine. Years before Swatch filled city streets with flippers of the Moonswatch, the alchemists at G-Shock discovered how to turn plastic into watch-design gold. Fervor grew, and before long this hip new timepiece became unobtainium - for a couple of months it was sold out, globally. When serious collectors with bone fide RoyalOaks started buying these things, it was clear that this £99 watch wasn’t just a poor man’s AP, it had become an icon in its own right. The “CasiOak” had arrived.
Design
Was the GA-2100's resemblance to one of Gerald Genta’s masterpieces, truly coincidental?
As frequently demonstrated in Ben’s Watch Club, watch designs are often very similar and relatively difficult to protect by manufacturers from a legal standpoint. This has resulted in many homages to well-known designs – some subtle, some out-and-out clones. Most manufacturers are resigned to the fact there’s little they can do on the matter; typically, only the Branding/Logo can be protected - leaving case shapes, dial designs, bracelets, hands, and movements on the table and open to replication without legal contest. Look at the number of Rolex duplicates legitimately on the market today.
However, the shape and design of the RoyalOak is so unique that in 2014, AP won a landmark Intellectual Property Rights case. Shirking the norm, and successfully proving that the RoyalOak design is distinctive enough that it is an AP trademark in its own right. It was a warning shot to others – don’t mess with the RoyalOak.
Fast forward 5 years, and the distinct absence of a legal challenge against Casio indicates that the GA-2100 design is technically and legally, nothing like the RoyalOak. I wonder if, as the GA-2100 gained notoriety, lawyers at Audemars Piguet might have quietly taken a quick look at the “CasiOak”. The idea of some very serious people in AP, wearing expensive suits, huddled around a walnut table in the Vallée de Joux, nervously unboxing a £99 plastic Casio, brings a smile to my face.
Case
Interrogating the design similarities between the RoyalOak and the G-Shock GA-2100, there is a passing resemblance, but it’s vague. Sure, the G-Shock’s bezel has 8 facets, but they’re uneven in length whereas the AP is classically octagonal with expensive symmetry.
The repetitive faux rivet indentations on the Casio’s black resin strap might, at a stretch, remind you of the beautifully crafted bracelet links of the RoyalOak. Some of the newer full-metal G-Shock models get a little closer, still, with their bracelet designs, but in reality the two straps are entire worlds apart.
The analogue hand style and chunky hour markers of the CasiOak are in no way similar to AP's lesson in proportions and restraint.
The dials share little to no similarities.
So with objective scrutiny, we are left with only two design features which the pair actually share in common:
They both have integrated bracelets.
They both have analogue circular dials within Octagonal bezels.
And that’s pretty much it. They do tell the time, but even that is accomplished in very different ways.
Dimensions
Lug-to-lug Distance: 48.5mm
Case Diameter: 45.4mm
Case Height (incl. bezel): 11.8mm
Lug spacing: 16mm (notched)
Dial Aperture: 32.8mm
Advertised accuracy: +/- 15 seconds per month
Water Resistance 200m
G-Shock History
So if not a copy of a horological design icon, how did the GA-2100 design come about?
G-Shock as a brand was conceived with a focus on toughness; "Gravity Shock(proof)". Throughout the 80s, 90s, 00s their resistance to external factors (water, temperature, pressure) improved, and features like solar power, dive timings and electronic compasses were added with lumps and bumps and pushers and dials and very little regard for aesthetics. By the mid 2010s G-Shocks were large, garish and ungainly. The GWF1000 “Frogman” was almost 60mm in diameter. They resembled a combination of nerdy calculator-watch, with a hint of P.E. Teacher stop-clock. Fine for a high school kid with braces, or to compliment a pair of technical sandals on a dusty army base somewhere dangerous. But these offerings left a significant gap in the market which was filled with more traditional mechanical watches. Casio designers set about filling this gap with a more stylish, wearable G-Shock model. They aimed to retain the core functionality with near indestructibility but squeeze it into something a little more fashionable.
GA-2100 Design
The GA-2100’s design was inspired by the 1983 G-Shock DW-5000C. This may raise some eyebrows, given that the DW-5000C and its modern derivatives are firmly categorised as “Square” in the G-Shock catalogue.
Whilst the GA-2100 is very much Octagonal. However, upon closer inspection of the ‘Square’ G-Shocks, one must concede that they aren’t actually square at all – they’re 8-sided, with long top and bottom facets, joined by short, but definitely 6 additional sides. The G-Shock team ran with the concept, extrapolated those proportions and arrived at a handsome Octagon.
Dimensions
Besides the good looks, another improvement which may not be immediately obvious, is the relative slimness of the case. G-Shock’s thinnest watch, at a hair under 12mm, is legitimately skinny; 2-3mm thinner than the RoyalOak Offshore for example…
This thinness makes it wear incredibly well, sitting close and low to the wrist, with no concerns about it catching on cuffs. The bracelet also appears to have been tweaked for wearability by making a more acute departure angle from the case integrated “lugs” and heading more quickly ‘downwards’ rather than ‘outwards’ from the case body compared to older models. The result is that the GA-2100 hugs the wrist more naturally, leaving less of a gap between the skin and strap.
Due to the complex case design and pushers, the case diameter measured at its narrowest point is 45.4mm, which looks quite large on paper but it is far more compact on the wrist due to the integrated bracelet than its dimensions suggest. In real terms, it wears more like a 42mm case and I had no issues wearing it on my 6.5” wrist. You could certainly get away with wearing it on much smaller wrists too, by embracing the famed G-Shock chunkyness.
Whilst subtle, this package of physical enhancements really elevate the GA-2100 from a cool-looking watch, to a fantastic overall wearing experience. It looks great and feels great too.
Watch Features
In terms of features, G-Shock managed to keep the traditional suite of timing solutions you may be familiar with from other models:
- Time & Date (TIME): The digital display can either show you the current time - repeating the analogue hands, or, the date and month. The analogue minute hand jumps forward a fraction every 20 seconds – on mechanical watches, the minute hand moves continuously, but imperceptibly, so seeing the minute hand ‘tick’ on this model is a fun little easter egg for the Digi-analogue handset.
- Worldtime (WT): Allows you to track the time in a second timezone. With 31 time zones and 48 different locations from Papua New Guinea to Fernando de Noronha, it’s got you covered.
- Stopwatch(STW): Measures to the nearest 1/100th sec for 24 hours.
- Countdown timer (TMR): Allows you to set a length of time after which point an alarm will sound - good for boiling eggs, gym sessions or trying (and failing) to control screen time.
- Alarms (ALM): 5 adjustable alarms can be set plus an hourly ‘Signal’ alarm.
- BackLight: The 2 o’clock button’s main job is to trigger the lighting of the dial display. The LCD display is backlight which is quite effective, although the digits can be a challenge for the bespectacled out there. There is a surprisingly bright LED hidden between the 4 and 5 o’clock hour markers. It’s surprising for two reasons; the first being just how bright it is, especially if triggered in the pitch black - use with caution if stealth in the dark is important to you.
Secondly, despite its retina-burning abilities, due to the positioning of the LED, it is almost entirely useless at actually illuminating the dial as it is designed to do. Positioned very low in the dial structure, it points up and away from the dial, and really only illuminates the edges of the hands and the hour markers 10, 11, 12. So if you need to tell the time after midnight - you're better off checking your phone. The LED light doesn’t even charge the lume on the analogue hands. Whilst disappointing that G-Shock didn't manage to make this black-on-black model secretly readable, I guess it is embracing the form over function fashion mantra. Sadly in the daytime too, the inverted black LCD with lighter numerals is cool looking, but very small and hard to read.
Unique features
Retrograde Day Indicator: A strange but interesting addition to the dial is the prominent ‘retrograde’ analogue Day indicator at 9 o’clock. This dial moves from Sunday at the top of the indicator, down to Saturday at the bottom, then flicks back up to Sunday at the stroke of Midnight on Saturday night. Though adding to the asymmetry of the dial, this additional piece of dial furniture balances out the digital display at 5, and does not look out of place. It actually has some nice finishing with a very finely ridged detail on the semi-circular section and a mixture of black finishes on the triangular arrow indicator.
The G-Shock design team also added quick-release functionality to the strap, allowing in their words “customization with any outfit or occasion”. Despite this feature, I couldn’t find a section on the G-Shock site to buy alternative straps - I guess it's a good job black goes with everything. There are, however, some 3rd party offerings out there, and you could always buy a second or third GA-2100s and switch straps between them.
What I didn’t like
Visibility - with black-on-black, dull grey hands, a small inverted digital display and mineral glass with no apparent AR coating, this watch is often difficult to tell the time on. In the daytime, the glare from the dial overpowers the stealthy dark features beneath the glass. At night, the backlit LCD is reasonable, but the digits are very small – especially for sleep-blurred eyes.
The lume on the analogue hands is pretty dire – not bright at full charge and losing luminosity quickly thereafter. Casio describes its lume as ‘afterglow’ and I think that’s a reasonable description. Don’t buy this watch thinking it will have fantastic legibility because it’s a G-Shock. It really doesn’t in this 1A1ER guise. However, it’s such a handsome beast when you can see the dial, for many, this lack of legibility is trivial.
Most of the watch is arguably finished well with good attention to detail and crisp finishings which you could realistically expect of a watch 5 times its price. However, the handset's edges are raw metal and fairly roughly cut – the deformations catch the light and stand out against the otherwise good-looking dial features.
What I really liked
The sizing and proportions of the watch are great. It’s much slimmer than I had expected and truly feels great on the wrist. Something which can’t always be said for the thicker G-Shocks.
The dial details are generous and add a huge amount of interest and depth to the dial, for example, the hour markers have 4 different face angles. Minute markers are cut into the rehaut, and the retrograde day display has some polishing on the micro grooves which reflects the light nicely – somewhat reminiscent of a vinyl record.
The dial text is subtle and paired back, with muted tones complimenting the covert vibe.
Despite the heavy lean towards a fashion watch, it’s done in a very ‘G-Shock' way, meaning it still has the carbon core shock protection, 200m of water resistance, and more features than you can shake a stylish stick at.
There’s a certain caché to wearing this icon. It’s far more fun, and way more durable than many watches multiple times the price-point. I’d happily wear this over a Moonswatch any day and know I’d made the right choice.
There are currently 50 models on offer in the 2100 series, with frequent new colourway releases, full metal iterations and versions with enhanced tech. Something for everyone.
Alternatives
G-Shock recently launched the GA-B 2100 (£129 RRP) which brings solar charging and Bluetooth connectivity to the 2100 model range, offering an almost endless power source without the need to change the battery, and enhanced accuracy with app-based time setting. You do lose the day indication in place of a ‘mode’ indicator in the funky retrograde display, but it’s a small price to pay for the benefits of solar charging and absolute accuracy.
If you’re willing to forego the coolness of the GA-2100’s analogue hands, the G-Shock “Square” 5600 line is worth a look. The GW-M5610U-1BER is a black-on-black variant with an inverted LCD display and solar charging for £135.
Final Thoughts
I very much enjoyed wearing this watch, it felt more stylish and special than I thought a £99 plastic watch ever could. It runs rings around the fragile Moonswatch in terms of cult status and usability.
I am disappointed that the lume isn’t great, and both displays are often hard to read day and night. But there’s something very pleasing about the depth of the dark dial. When I look at the other colourways, there are some tempting ones out there, but I can’t help channel my inner Karl Lagerfeld and choose form over function on this occasion – go for the black one. GQ got it right, despite its flaws, or perhaps because of them, it really is cool AF.