The watch Journey – The watch brand tier List – Casio and G-Shock

Welcome to the 13th instalment of my watch journey. The Watch brand Tier list currently stands at Rolex Last, Tudor second last followed by the fashion brands, Swatch watches, Tissot and Citizen. Hamilton, Tag Heuer, Longines, Omega and Seiko.
The next on the list is Casio or G-Shock! 

Casio is a manufacturer of electronics most notably calculators and digital watches. A post WWII company it’s managed to survive the all the financial crises over the decades and adapted to changing watch usage and buyer trends. They make Quartz based based watches that cover the entire spectrum of the market and the sole and genuine maker of tough watches with the G-Shock brand. 

Casio are the brand for digital watches and still make a few land mark models like the military’s favourite the F-91 and its variants, the calculator watch that was so popular it now defines the 1980’s watch category and of course the DW5600 series that started the G-Shock range and now the GA2100 series that still runs out of stock. The fact that there are so many clones indicate they enduring popularity and want inclusion in various films. In 2024 the fact that that some models in particular the gold coloured ones are used as a genuine fashion statement shows how watch influencers are not the influencers (self proclaimed).

Casio is a unicorn amongst Japanese watch makers and a leader in applying the latest functionality to their watches.  They clearly started the smart watch trend, offering novel functions like infrared, radios, compass, thermometer, barometer, depth, moon, wave cycles message notifications, step counters, heart rate monitors before any watch marker Japanese or otherwise. They have also ventured into the genuine smart watches using Android OS and have developed Apps for connectivity.

In terms of marketing they have tapped into the all age groups via collaborations with popular brands,  contemporary pop culture stars and worth while causes. Since the watches last so long these are collectable, mind you their value may take a little longer to be realised. That said there are some very expensive and limited edition models. 

So are Casio or G-Shock watches worth buying? Of course that’s why they are near the top of the watch brand tier list. They make great value watches, very well made, accurate, durable and fashionable.