G-Shock’s First Full-On Smartwatch Is Finally Here

Let’s face it: a G-Shock smartwatch was inevitable. The new G-Shock Move Pro GSWH1000 combines the full-featured smart functionality of Google’s Wear OS with the Japanese brand’s famous toughness — a merging of brains and braun, if you will. In other words, this is a smartwatch you can beat the hell out of like any other Casio G-Shock, and it makes for a strong proposition even within the competitive fitness-focused wearables market.

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As a G-Shock, the new GSWH1000 brings the suite of features the brand is known for. G-Shock has been building upon its digital tech over the years, offering smartphone connectivity, GPS and other developments that make some models nearly as useful as a full-on smartwatch like the Apple Watch.

The new watch builds on that by hosting an impressive list of functions and capabilities (as well as near-indestructibility) that could fill an instruction-manual-sized booklet: a heart rate sensor, GPS, Bluetooth, altimeter, barometer, compass and more. In addition to G-Shock’s typical 200m of water resistance, it also offers the world’s first shock- and 200m water-resistant microphone.

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All this means you can take your watch more or less anywhere, access the range of features you expect both of smartwatches and of G-Shock watches and not worry about a thing — except charging (which is done via a magnetic port). As a Wear OS-equipped smartwatch, it boasts a familiar range of functionality that’s almost impossible to enumerate, but naturally includes a touchscreen, customizable faces and alerts. Color maps — this is also G-Shock’s first smartwatch with a color display — can be downloaded for offline use.

The Move Pro GSWH1000 perhaps isn’t a game changer within fitness wearables, but it should make for a strong entrant considering the brand’s street cred for genuine toughness. (It should at least be in the running for “most rugged smartwatch,” and that’s notable in and of itself.) It’s perhaps not the most affordable smartwatch, but at a retail price of $699, it seems like a reasonable investment for those that can put all its features to use.

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