Review: new Casio G-Shock GMW-B5000TR

G-SHOCK has announced the release of the GMW-B5000TR, a new addition to the square full metal 5000 series of shock-resistant watches made with a new titanium alloy developed specifically for G-SHOCK.

Review: the all metal Casio G-Shock GMW-B5000TR

The Case and Dial

The external components of the GMW-B5000TR employ a new titanium alloy in the TranTixxii™ designing titanium brand. True to Casio’s unflinching pursuit of advanced materials for G-SHOCK, the new titanium alloy was developed with Nippon Steel Corporation over a six-year period of R&D.

This special alloy delivers roughly twice the hardness of pure titanium, but still boasts the same lightweight, anticorrosive and hypoallergenic properties. This intense hardness makes it possible to produce a mirror finish comparable to stainless steel on titanium, which typically has been difficult to process in this way. The result is the first titanium G-SHOCK with a mirror-finished bezel and band.

Casio uses this advanced material technology to create its first full-metal watch with multicolor ion plating. The gold ion-plated case plays off the polychromatic ion plating for individual links of the band and buttons, in red light and dark gray, plus more gold, as well as newly developed dark blue, infusing this metal model with the playfulness of G-SHOCK design.

The dial elements and text also come with matching tri-colors, making the watch a thoroughly colorful street fashion watch. The watch uses a super-twisted nematic (STN) display with black-coloured background. Texts are crisp and highly legible. It offers overall excellent viewing angles, though the display can appear washed out at certain positions. Additionally, the watch is equipped with a Super Illuminator LED – Casio-jargon for LED backlight. It senses ambient light and lights up accordingly, ensuring an effortless time-telling experience in all situations. There is no brightness control, but the backlight has a nifty ‘fade-in/fade-out’ feature which is easy on the eyes, especially so in darkness.

Features and Functions

Surrounding the LCD are solar cells which enables the watch to be recharged when exposed to a light source. They feature the iconic “brick” pattern. A flat bezel protrudes from the case providing protection to the LCD and solar elements.

The GMW-B5000TR is equipped with Smartphone Link functionality for automatic time adjustment, world time, and many more functions that are easy to use. The innovative design is accompanied by practicality, thanks to the original Casio Tough Solar power system, Multiband 6 radio wave reception, and full-auto LED backlight.

Concluding thoughts

The Casio G-Shock GMW-B5000TR is as you’d expect with all other G-Shocks: tough as nails yet possessing a certain panache. The full titanium construction makes it tough, durable yet lighter than the steel versions. As far as collectibility goes, fans of the full metal 5000 series are likely to pick this up to add to their growing list of colorful variants. For the average utilitarian user however, the color scheme might just be too flamboyant for a beater watch.

This GMW-B5000TR-9DR is priced at $2,199 and will be available at https://www.g-shock.sg/ and at all G-SHOCK stores from 19 May 2021.