How (positively?) incredible is this new, $6,200 Casio G-Shock Gold Hammer Tone MRGG1000HG-9A? That was my first (actually two) questions when I glimpsed at this freshly debuted watch by Casio. It is among the most expensive G-Shock watches sold today but to understand why that is and how that may be justified, we must take a closer look. You may remember that we went hands-on with the so-called “Hammer Tone” Casio G-Shock replica watches first at BaselWorld 2016 – though in a different, even more restrained color combination. In case you have missed that one, be sure to check out our live images and thoughts on that debut piece right here. Okay now, let’s see what this late-2016 version has in store for us.
The most important element to any Hammer Tone G-Shock is of course the Tsuiki finishing of the case. Tsuiki is a technique that is based on using a hammer to create a relief design on metal sheets and something that, Casio say, “has been handed down from 1,200 years ago.” It is an ancient Japanese metalworking technique that has been used to shape, decorate and harden pieces of metal used for armors, copper-ware and more.
A little bit of research into the matter reveals that there actually are literally hundreds of different types of hammers and nails that are used to shape a flat piece of bronze or other metal into the desired shape and/or to decorate them with the desired pattern. The Casio G-Shock Hammer Tone pieces are decorated by Bihou Asano, a master metalworker in Kyoto, Japan; needless to say, with all cases and metal bands being hand-made, no two will be alike.
The whopping 49.8 millimeter-wide Casio fake watches for sale and 16.9 millimeter-thick case of the new Casio G-Shock Gold Hammer Tone MRGG1000HG-9A is in fact identical to the Hammer Tone piece we covered hands-on, but this iteration features a fusion of Japanese colors with its deep, dark gold IP-coated case and bracelet and its indigo blue DLC-coated dial and case elements. To be clear, the base material of the watch and bracelet is “deep-layer hardened” titanium that was then gold-coated, saving the MRGG1000HG-9A from a mid-five-figure retail price. If anyone knows their way around metal surface treatments, it’s G-Shock, so you can bet all case and dial elements are going to be excellently executed.