Casio is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its iconic G-Shock watch in 2023, and as a tease of what else the year might have in store, it has just announced a set of colourful new timepieces inspired by minerals and stones.
Called the Adventure’s Gem Collection, the watches take inspiration from stones that have been used as navigation tools by adventurers since the Middle Ages. The mineral motifs seen on the case are created using forging with special dyes and ion plate finishing that gives the watches a rough, stoney texture and multicolour sparkle, Casio says.
The company adds: “As part of the metal-covered bezel’s finishing process, these models employ forging with special dyes, creating a mineral-inspired rough-moulded accent across the entire bezel face. The uneven portions are then given a glossy honing, and each part polishing – from the top to the sides – to a hairline or mirror finish.”
To create this look, Casio employs a two-step ion plating (IP) process where certain areas are masked after the first plating, then plated again in an additional colour.
Each member of the collection is finished differently, depending on the mineral or stone the watch is inspired by.
Three versions will be coming to the UK when the collection launches in January 2023. These are called the GM-5640GEM x Sunstone, the GM-2140GEM x Cordierite and the GM-114GEM x Calcite, and they are to be priced at £280, £270 and £290 respectively.
The sunstone model has a multi-colour shine that changes hue depending on the viewing angle, Casio says, and the rainbow coloured bezel is paired with a grey band. Features of this model watch include the G-Shock’s trademark shock-resistant structure, water resistance to 20 bars of pressure (equivalent to 200 metres), a 1/100-second stopwatch, countdown timer, multi-function alarm, backlight and flash alert.
Next up is the £270 Cordierite edition, pictured above, which has a blue face with a mixed-colour moulded resin band. Casio says how the “polarised vapour deposition: f the face gives off a different shine depending on the viewing angle. Features are similar to the Sunstone edition, plus a world timer for 48 cities, five daily alarms and a double LED light.
Lastly, for the UK market at least, is the Calcite edition. Pictured above, this features a metal bezel forged and ion plated with gold and black to represent calcite’s base ore. Casio says how hot-stamping gives the band its uneven texture, and the watch features ISO 764-compliant resistance to magnetism, and an auto LED light, plus the water resistance and stopwatch/timer functions of its Gem Collection siblings.
