Hot take: the three iconic G-Shock families
Out of all the many G-Shock designs that have come out since the early 80s, which form factors / families are the most iconic? I set out to pick the three most iconic designs: one digital, one tri-graph, and one ani-digi.
- Digital: the 5600 family. Has flown myriad times in space, this family is the definitive space watch of the Shuttle era. Released in 1987, but an incremental advance from the original G-Shocks. The iconic shape of the 80s, and (uncontroversially, I expect) the most iconic G-Shock of all time.
- Tri-graph: This display style is perhaps the most distinctive display arrangement among Casio watches, and I think it reached its peak with the 6900 family. When they first appeared in the mid-90s, they were a huge hit. In my mind, they're the most 90s of all the G-Shocks.
- Ani-digi: I expect this to be the most controversial take, since it's a much younger family than many, but I think the most iconic ani-digi G-Shock has to be the 2100 "CasiOak" family. Absolutely exploded in popularity when they dropped just a few years ago. To my mind, this is the G-Shock family of the 2020s.
Okay, that's my trinity. Am I right? Am I totally off-base? Is there a whole category I should have considered besides these three? Come at me, mudmaster men, frogman fans, gulfman groupies!
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Theresa O'Connor
she/her. mom, queer trans lady, engineering manager at Apple. Member, @49Crowns.
San Francisco, CA
Member since
Last active: 1 hr ago
6.30” / 16.00 cm
Other than the mudmaster type, I'm hard pressed to even think of another G-Shock base style.
I don't think this is a hot take at all. I think it's very spot on.
I don’t think that’s a hot take at all. That’s pretty spot on.
I only recently joined the G-Shock train with my choice of the grey CasiOak.
But I've known of the existence of other models before purchasing, sort of sifted through a little of the immense catalogue and decided this fit my goldilocks: I enjoy reading time in analog, yet I also love having the precision of quartz. I love the octagonal case and the chunky indices, and am a personal fan of subdials of a useful complication.
I already got the digital with the GW-B5600, got the ana-digi from the GST-B400.. Now I'm conflicted, should I get the full analog ones (MTGs) or Master of Gs (regardless of it being an anadigi or full analog)