The G-Shocks That Got Us Into G-Shock

We are back with another roundup by our editorial team, this time focused on G-Shock. Our objective this time was simple: to pick the G-Shock which got us into G-Shock in the first place. This doesn’t necessarily mean we are choosing a watch we own, or even have owned (though both of those scenarios are covered in these paragraphs) but rather the G-Shock that opened are eyes to a brand which – to put it mildly – has garnered a fanatical audience.

So behold our entirely subjective list of what amounts to our favorite G-Shock watches. Let us know what models got you into G-Shock in the comments below!

Mark Bernardo: MTGB1000

Unlike many of my peers who found themselves drawn into a career in watch journalism, my road to watch appreciation didn’t run through the G-Shock. I have worn a watch for as long as I can remember but I have always been, for the most part, an analog guy: Timexes, Fossils, the Victorinox Swiss Army pilot’s watch I bought myself with my first sizable tax refund as a gainfully employed young adult. When I started as a writer and editor specializing in timepieces, my initial take on the model was probably something like, “Casio G-Shock? Isn’t that what all those officers are wearing when they’re cuffing perps on Cops?”

Having now outed myself as someone who watched Cops, I can now also admit that my narrow perception began to change drastically after a fateful press trip to Japan in the late 2000s — the first time, I was told back then, that watch journalists were granted access to Casio’s watchmaking factories and offered a rare glimpse not only at the process of making G-Shock watches but also at the industry-unique testing regimen that each of them undergoes before going out the door to be sold. 

Recalling that transcendent experience, it occurs to me that several G-Shocks encountered on the trip could vie for the one that “got me into” the model. The first one I saw catapulted into a concrete wall during the torturous testing process. The one that Kazuo Kashio, one of the founding brothers of Casio Computer Ltd., and then-CEO, was wearing when he sat down with me for the first interview he’d ever done with watch media. The one that Kikuo Ibe, the engineer who By God created the G-Shock, was wearing when he joined one of our press sessions and regaled us with the model’s now-legendary origin story. The first full-metal MR-G model that was unveiled at the same session (Casio USA folks were still calling it “Mister G" at the time and it was still exclusive to the Japanese market). 

But there’s a difference between appreciating a watch and “getting into it.” The latter requires a watch that you live with and wear regularly. And the G-Shock that has been flitting that bill for the past few years has been an MTGB1000 Carbon Series model that I received as a gift for Christmas 2022. It’s got all the bells and whistles of a modern high-end G-Shock, including smartwatch connectivity via Bluetooth and light-powered charging via Casio’s “Tough Solar” technology. It’s also got a seriously tough and high-tech case — made from an ingenious melding of carbon fiber, reinforced resin, and polished metal, here in a bright shiny blue — that is also quite handsome and stylish on the wrist, in an industrial-chic kind of way. Best of all, despite all of its avant-garde electronics, it is all-analog in its presentation. Don’t get me wrong: I have come to admire many examples of the classic, all-digital G-Shock as well, but this MTGB1000 is, in my estimation, the very definition of an everyday watch. Or maybe the better definition is “anytime” watch: I don’t actually wear it daily — I do review many other watches as part of my job, after all — but it is a watch that I can confidently be assured will be appropriate for just about any situation or setting.

Danny Milton: DW5600

Like my esteemed colleague, Mark Bernardo, I likewise did not have G-Shock as a foundational component of my collecting story. Digitally speaking, the Shark Freestyle kicked things off for me and would be followed by the likes of Timex before I went the way of the mechanical watch, and the hobby really kicked into high gear.

It wasn’t until I was firmly established (and I say that half in jest) as a member of the watch media (or watch illuminati as it were) that this author finally pulled the trigger on his first G-Shock. And I very intentionally went for the most basic, and the most classic, that was currently available at the time (2022).

That’s right, my first G-Shock was the DW5600 … just your plain old DW5600, and I like it that way. It is a watch that still tends to trade around $40 on Amazon, and given the reputation of the unbreakable nature of a G-Shock, I think this may still be the best buy in digital watches full stop. While I remain a casual fan of the brand at best, this watch at least gave me a glimpse into what all the fuss was (and is) about.

My DW5600 comes on a soft resin strap which blends seamlessly into the resin case with its colorful text and legible screen. When I say I get the fuss, it’s because this truly feels like a tool. It’s a watch to wear in those moments when fitness becomes a brief priority again, when you’re  confronted by friends who want to go hiking and you say yes because it’s polite and also because maybe hiking is good sometimes. It’s a watch I am legitimately not thinking about when I wear it, and is one that actually challenges me to try to bang up a bit.

No, it doesn’t give me the fuzzy feelings of a vintage Rolex Submariner or a Seiko SKX, but it represents the nonchalance that those watches lack. I get to operate freely, without thought, while wearing a G-Shock and know that I’m not giving up on the practice of wearing a watch at all. My DW5600 will stay with me until the day I manage to break it … and then I’ll just buy it again. 

Erin Wilborn: The Baby G

I can recall the first time the existence of the Baby-G watch entered my realm of consciousness. It was sixth grade, and the phenomenon of The Clique book series had just sunk its finely manicured claws into the hearts (and backpacks) of my middle school. For those unfamiliar, this was a seemingly endless series of short, easily digestible novels that interwove luxury brand name-dropping right alongside the kind of mean girl high jinx heightened to the Shakespearean tragicomic effect that appeals to tween girls (notable titles include but are not limited to ‘Bratfest at Tiffany’s’ and ‘Best Friends For Never’). 

It was between the covers of one of those books that it became quite clear to me the Baby-G was a symbol of status, a key visual marker of the Cool Girl. Despite my continued fondness for them, I still have not come to own one for myself – though they almost got me this year with the release of the Neon Jelly Trio released this year. I have definitely added and removed the pink and translucent model to my cart on more than one occasion. They’re unabashedly cute, endearingly nostalgic, fairly priced, and can still take a beating if necessary. What’s not to love?

D.C. Hannay: G2300

My watch collecting journey has probably been a lot like many people’s, a long and circuitous two-lane full of detours, potholes, and dead ends, but I do have a well-documented history and undying love for All Things Casio. While the first watch I remember was a blue-dialed mechanical Timex Mercury bought at the corner store in our little town, I soon succumbed to the beep-boop siren call of the digital age, and Kid Me was soon the owner of a majestic black plastic LED watch from the forward-thinking folks at Texas Instruments. I loved that watch and its battery-chewing red display, and was especially enamored of the colorful race car graphic on its case front, but alas, it met an untimely end after some ill-conceived waterborne hijinks. Which naturally led to the next stop of the technological freight train, the much less power-hungry LCD display, and of course, one of the cars on that train was built by Casio.

In the ensuing years, I owned many Casios, including one of those ubercool Melody Alarm models that would play happy little electronic tunes ad nauseam, annoying adults everywhere I went. Oddly enough, it wasn’t until much later (around the turn of the millennium) that I actually owned a G-Shock, despite many years of awareness. I was all about dive watches in those days, but one day, I became transfixed by an uncompromising chunk of badassery known as the G-2300.

Here was a watch I truly never needed to worry about handling with kid gloves. In fact, the brutality this watch has been subjected to, I would never wish on any living thing. It has been dunked in rivers, snorkeled in oceans, bashed against rocks, baked in the midday sun, and left for dead on several occasions. And still, it calls out for more abuse. Nothing short of an EMP is taking this bad boy out, and even then, I wouldn’t bet against it. 

A contemporary edition of the G-2300 is happily still available in the Casio catalog these days, and I may actually replace this one at some point. Not because the watch has malfunctioned, but due to years of hard living, one of the lug holes has worn to the point where I can’t trust that any strap I install will actually stay installed. Other than that, it’s still the near-autonomous, solar-powered, Bridgestone Desert Dueler truck tire of a beast that I fell in love with all those years ago. But sadly, due to the lug’s tenuous grip, I may relegate this soldier to pocket watch duty soon. This G has earned its retirement.

To sum up, the G-2300 genuinely meets the G-Shock brief of near-indestructibility, far exceeding any expectations I ever had for any electronic device encased in resin. I have less reliable friends than this watch. I can’t believe the thing still works, frankly, but kudos to you, Mr. Ibe. You did it.

Blake Buettner: G-Shock 5600

I was 11 years old when the movie Speed hit theaters. I remember that because my older sister had a bit of a thing for Keanu Reeves, and had the movie poster in her room. The date at the bottom was my birthday. That’s probably why I remember it so distinctly. But there’s another reason that this movie lingers in the back of my mind, more than 30 years later, and that is because it depicted a watch that I owned, on the big screen. It was a G-Shock 5600. 

G-Shock was also 11 years old when the movie Speed was released. The fact that we share a year of origin likely wasn’t all that compelling to me in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, but it’s what started my bond with the brand. By the time I saw it on the big screen, I was already a devotee, so to speak. Seeing it placed on the wrist of LAPD officer Jack Traven as he saved a bus full of characters speeding through LA only cemented its coolness. 

Young Blake Buettner with his DW5600 and its very long strap circa 1980-something

What I love about the 5600 is that it remains a distillation of everything great about G-Shock, both then and now. There are no embellishments, or unnecessary details, it's a pure tool. This is a philosophy that guides much of what I appreciate about watches to this day.