CASIO G-Shock MTG-B1000-1A review

I’m owning the MT-GB100-1A for about four months now, wearing it almost every day, and I’d like to share my thoughts with you on how the watch held up and where my expectations were exceeded or where they fell short (you can check out my unboxing post with my initial impressions for comparison).

Why I bought the watch

If you are for the first time on my blog, I need to tell you that I’m a big G-Shock fan (see my reviews of the square and the Mudmaster). When I saw the new MT-G series B1000 (a bluetooth version of the MT-G with a new design), I fell in love with it quickly. I had my eyes on the watch, and went to the local G-Shock store in Taipei as soon as it was available in Taiwan (that was at the end of July). The staff told me that in the first week of August there will be a Father’s Day discount of 20% on all G-Shock watches. I decided to reserve the watch and bought it a few days later, because it cost me just 587 USD - a steal for such a high-quality build watch. I’m glad I bought it, that’s for sure, but I’m not happy about everything, so let me share the good and the bad of this watch to help you make a well informed decision.

Close-up images

The front dial close-up.

The case back looks amazing.

A side view exposes plastic.

The Good

Here are the things I love about this watch:

- The stainless steel case: It’s simply stunning. It looks and feels like a premium watch, same as my old Swiss watch that cost me over 2000 USD many years ago. I knocked the watch a few times, and there is just one tiny scratch. This is much better than my old watch that quickly got scratched, however do be careful to not knock it too hard.

- Sapphire glass: This is another part of the watch that makes it look and feel premium. I also hit it and brushed it a few times, and there were no scratches at all.

- Overall design: The watch is a looker. It’s beautifully designed and assembled. It’s made in Japan. The stainless steel as well as the sapphire glass give it a premium feel, the black resin strap looks awesome, so does the steel buckle.

- The lume and illuminator: I love the lume. It’s turquoise color, looks gorgeous (see at the bottom of this post). The illumination is also very nice, and quite strong. I can almost use the watch as a torch light in some situations.

- Complications: I love the fact that it’s a solar powered watch. It’s always running and working. I also love that it has Multi-band and Bluetooth to synch the time, so that it’s always accurate in terms of timekeeping. I also love the small dial that shows me another timezone, and the day of the week and the date_complications. Those are just very useful and practical for my daily life, but honestly, I do not use complications beyond that.

The Bad

Here are the things that I don’t like about this watch:

- The resin band, and the case back: While they look great, they are not very comfortable, especially the band was really bad in the beginning. It got better through time, though. My classic square is the most comfortable watch I own, followed by the Mudmaster. The latter has a similarly large band, but that one feels very snug and soft. The MT-G’s feels hard and stiff in the beginning, but a bit less so after 3 months of wearing . It also gets dirty easily, due to having a rough surface (a bad design decision in my opinion). The case back is also a bit rough due to the triple G logo and other inscriptions. Casio just launched the same watch with a metal bracelet, maybe it’s a much better choice (do try on both to get a good feeling for them). When I bought mine, only a rubber band was available.

- The sapphire glass legibility: While it’s definitely durable, it makes the watch dial very hard to read. It looks a bit like a magnifying glass from certain angles, and if you want to glance at the time from a very narrow angle it’s nearly impossible. You have to look at the dial directly (a bit like the iPhone X face unlock), so that’s a bummer. It got better through time, it’s less shiny now as it was in the beginning, so do keep that in mind.

- The smartphone app: The watch can connect to your iPhone or Android phone via bluetooth. There’s an app for all Casio Bluetooth enabled watches. Once connected, you can see some information such as when the time was synched, what is the battery status etc. I find the app very limited, and boring, and I almost never use it (maybe only to set World Time). Don’t buy the watch because of the app, it’s a marketing trap, basically. Hopefully Casio adds some more functionality to the app (or at least redesigns it).

- Stopwatch, Timer: There are some features which I never use. I prefer Stopwatch and Timer on my iPhone, using these features on an analog watch is just not the same.

More images

Front side.

Side view.

On the wrist.

The rubber strap.

One more time on the wrist.

Conclusion

Despite all the bad sides, I still love this watch, and see it as an accessory that adds great value to my style. It’s simply a stunningly gorgeous watch. I can wear it in formal and informal settings, it always seems fitting. I always found MT-G watches a bad value, but with price points below 1000 USD and Bluetooth connectivity they finally seem to be affordable (and if you get some discount on top, they are a steal). The improved design also helped to make it more appealing to me and won me over. I just hope the watch will prove to be reliable over the years, then it’s really going to be a purchase that I shall always recommend. I will be updating this post in the future, so do check back from time to time. As of December 2018 I highly recommend this watch, which now comes in many different straps, bands and colors (check out the product page).