You’re looking at the Casio G-Shock GA2110ET-8A, perhaps better known as the grey “Casioak,” which I’ve been wearing on and off ever since I purchased it a few weeks ago. I did so in something of a panic after learning from one of my favorite YouTubers, Maverick Watch Reviews, that Casio had discontinued the model. “OK, well, that looks super cool, and I want it, so there.” One quick trip to StockX later, here we are.
For the $150 or so that I paid for it, I now have a fun, grey watch that I can wear around the house (like many people, I’m working from home these days) and match with my growing sneaker collection without having to worry too much about knocking it around. It is a G-Shock, after all. That it vaguely resembles the watch that Instagram and Reddit have fallen in love with is a neat little boost. And at a time when every little boost makes getting through the day less terrible, I’ll take it.
So on a macro level, I’m happy with the purchase. But it’s when you zoom in that it starts to lose a little bit of its shine.
First, the thing is a chonker, at least for me and my 6.5-inch wrist. It’s got a 45mm diameter and 48.5mm lug to lug, putting it at the very edge of wearability for me.
A bigger issue is the dial. I love the individual colors but I’m not sure it’s the most legible dial I’ve ever seen.
I think there’s a few reasons for that, starting with the hour and minute pencil hands. The hour hand, to my eye, is just a little too far away from the markers; it feels like it takes a beat or two too long to process where it’s pointing. It reminds me a lot, actually, of the analogue Apple Watch faces.
Then there’s the digital display window that spans the 4 and 5 oclock. It’s shaped like a trapezoid and by default displays the date (in the M.DD format) and running seconds. The issue here is that the hour and minute pencil hands completely obscure the cutout while passing over it.
How often do I need to know the time down to the exact second? Not often, especially nowadays when the only locomotion I’m engaged in is shuffling around my home. But aesthetically it’s displeasing, and as I’ve explained on The HourTime Show podcast, dial aesthetics are huge for me.
Nighttime visibility also isn’t great. The hour and minute hands are lumed but they don’t get very bright nor do they stay illuminated for very long, and the LED doesn’t do a great job of lighting up the small LCD display. It’s a far cry from my G-Shock square.
So all in all, I have mixed feelings regarding the Casioak.
At a first glance it looks neat, and I ultimately don’t mind having it in my growing collection.
But legibility issues mean I’d probably consider it to be a fashion watch more than anything else.
- Case / bezel material: Carbon / Resin?
- Resin Band
- Neobrite
- Shock Resistant
- Mineral Glass
- 200-meter water resistance
- Double LED light
- LED light for the face (Super illuminator, selectable illumination duration (1.5 seconds or 3 seconds), afterglow)
- LED backlight for the digital display (Super illuminator, selectable illumination duration (1.5 seconds or 3 seconds), afterglow)
- World time
- 31 time zones (48 cities + coordinated universal time), daylight saving on/off, Home city/World time city swapping
- 1/100-second stopwatch
- Measuring capacity:
- 00’00”00~59’59”99 (for the first 60 minutes)
- 1:00’00”~23:59’59” (after 60 minutes)
- Measuring unit:
- 1/100 second (for the first 60 minutes)
- 1 second (after 60 minutes)
- Measuring modes: Elapsed time, split time, 1st-2nd place times
- Countdown timer
- Measuring unit: 1 second
- Countdown range: 24 hours
- Countdown start time setting range: 1 second to 24 hours (1-second increments, 1-minute increments and 1-hour increments)
- 5 daily alarms
- Hourly time signal
- Hand shift feature
- Full auto-calendar (to year 2099)
- 12/24-hour format
- Button operation tone on/off
- Regular timekeeping
- Analog: 2 hands (hour, minute (hand moves every 20 seconds)), 1 dial (day)
- Digital: Hour, minute, second, pm, month, date
- Accuracy: ±15 seconds per month
- Approx. battery life: 3 years on SR726W × 2
- Size of case : 48.5×45.4×11.8mm
- Total weight : 51g
