It is a commendable effort from Casio though it hints somewhat towards the current trend of jumping on the luxury bandwagon, albeit the mid-tier ($4,000), slightly above the basic. That’s several steps up from the Edifice and a few more steps higher than the usual G Shock, but 30 years is a bit too long taken for the upgrade. Nevertheless, Casio has been able to shake off the stigma of toy-looks with this one; the Casio G Shock MRG 8100B-1AJ. Welcome to the class, Casio. It’s good you tested the water first before making it available for the mass.

The G Shock MRG line is an extremely limited edition of very high end Casio-s, built around the best among shock resistance technology and trapped in a scratch-resistant, double-hardened, luxury titanium body (bracelet and case).

There’s no dearth of usual G Shock features in it. There’s alarm, a 6-band radio control (Multiband 6), world time and 1/20th-second stopwatch. It resists seven different kinds of shock, namely electric, gravity, concussive and vibration, low temperature, water (200 meters), and sudden impacts. And it goes without saying it’s fully Solar, just like a premium sport watch is supposed to be. With all that, it is sure to survive an apocalypse.

Initial tests have been thrown underneath bus tires; dragged embedded there for 20,000 miles and shot from close ranges. It survived all without compromising on the form and still Casio considers it a mere Pass Out and not invincible.

Rumors are G Shock HQ broke 100 watches a day when creating the concept and sometimes they were just plain dropped from the sixth floor. So a hit from an ice-hockey stick won’t suck daylights from it. That’s assured, for once the specifications from extreme-job professionals (firemen, fighter pilots and the likes) are met, things hardly fail.

Now Casio wants to take the toughness concept further and bring out a smarter watch; in the sense, the MR-G 8100B-1AJ shall also connect to your smartphone using Bluetooth.  Once optimum toughness and functionality (according to Casio) are harnessed together, it will be the start to something higher in the premium grade.

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