Casio has released a G-Shock range that’s polished, yet rugged. Sound too good to be true? Let’s find out...
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the iconic Casio G-Shock? Well, in my mind words like sporty, indestructible and fully loaded with features pop up. Now it is ideal for sportspersons, trekking, pretty much any outdoor event and in some countries even rescue operation staff, fire fighters and the police also wear a G-Shock. The problem arises for those who are forced to part with their G-Shock when they enter their professional corporate world. Casio too is aware of this issue and therefore, they decided to introduce a new range of G-Shock — G-Steel, which is suited for all occasions and environment.
We got our hand on the G-Steel GST-S120L-1BDR model, which gets a midnight black metal bezel with a contrasting mustard coloured synthetic leather strap, which promises to endure a lot of punishment. This band is made up of resin materials, making it water resistant and tough. Even though the watch oozes of rugged looks, yet it is polished and caters to the more ‘adult’ or mature buyers. Like any G-Shock, this G-Steel watch has a rock solid shock resistant body and comes with layer guard structure.
The G-Steel certainly had me at hello with the beautifully crafted analogue and digital displays. As the seconds can be read from one of the LED displays, the analogue doesn’t come with a second hand. It may take some time getting used to this, but later on, I realised this actually ensures that the dial doesn’t look cluttered and this also gives us a better view of the digital dials. For better readability of the three digital display contents, simply press the adjust button on the top left and both the hour and the minute hands move out of the way. The watch provides 31 time zones all based on the name of cities, therefore, in the case of India, it’s Delhi. It also offers automatic daylight saving option, which is irrelevant in India, so I didn’t bother with the settings.
This Casio G-Shock G-Steel offers many other features like 200M water resistance, solar power battery, LED lights in the dial to make it easy to read at all times, 5 daily alarms, a stopwatch, countdown function, and a calendar that’s pre-programmed until 2099. The G-Steel’s dial background is luminous and can be set for 1 or 3 seconds. There is no 2 seconds option. Even the two analogue hands glow in the dark, but what was slightly disappointing was that the indexes in the watch don’t. Don’t get me wrong, the back ground light is bright enough, but it’s just that in most G-Shock watches the indexes are luminous.
The G-Steel is a solar powered watch and all it needs is a ray of sun to charge its battery. You don’t need to keep it directly underneath the sun. Just sufficient sunlight in the room does the trick. Below the third digital display at the bottom, there are letters — L, M, H — which indicate the battery’s power. These solar power batteries from Casio are known to have a shelf life of at least 10-15 years. It also comes with a power saver mode. If the watch isn’t worn for over 24 hours and kept in a drawer, the digital display shuts down and after a week or so the analogue hands stop working, but the watch’s mechanism keeps updating the time and date. So once you again wear it, it tells you precise time without you needing to manually adjust it.
Casio G-Shock is known for its legendary toughness, but due to its indestructible plastic frame, many have shied away, including yours truly. But the G-Steel now manages to balance both ruggedness and sophistication, therefore, it can be worn for any occasion. Now the model we reviewed costs ₹15,995, but the G-Steel range starts from ₹14,995 and comes with two other colour combinations Golden and Black and Black and Blue. So choose whatever variant suits your personality, as it is worth owning one.
