News · Casio

Casio makes an analogue square with the G-SHOCK GAC-2500

The original G-SHOCK outline gets hands, small seconds and a three-cell date. The unusual dial is the point, but the international price is unstated.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 4 min read · 23 October 2026

• Casio announced the G-SHOCK GAC-2500 series on 22 October, adapting the original square case language to a fully analogue display.
• The GAC-2500-1A combines small seconds at nine with Casio’s three-cell Multi-Mission Date at three in a 47 g resin watch.
• The international listing marks November 2026 availability; the page does not state a list price or Australian release details.

There is a particular kind of G-SHOCK argument that never really ends: how much can you change the original square before it stops feeling like one? Casio has tried the answer in metal, colour and ever more elaborate digital modules. This time it has taken the rectangular case language and made an analogue watch out of it. The result, announced on 22 October, is the G-SHOCK GAC-2500 series.

A square case built around hands

The GAC-2500-1A keeps the big PROTECTION lettering and broad, stepped strap that make the original design recognisable across a room. Yet the black dial is not a digital screen pretending to be something else. It has an hour hand and minute hand, plus a separate small-seconds display at nine o'clock. The resemblance to the DW-5000C is deliberate, according to Casio's announcement, but the way you read this watch is quite different.

Its measurements deserve careful reading. Casio lists 46.7 × 44.5 × 12.7 mm as length, width and height, respectively. The middle figure is not a conventional round-watch diameter, and comparing it directly with a 44.5 mm circular case would be misleading. At 47 g, with resin and bio-based resin in the case and band, the watch should make a very different impression from its dimensions on paper. That last point is an expectation based on the stated weight, rather than a hands-on verdict.

The caseback image tells its own small story. Casio has put a steel back beneath the resin exterior, with four screws and the familiar SHOCK RESIST marking. The watch is shock resistant and rated to 200 metres. Neither specification makes it a dive computer, of course, but together they explain why this is more than a visual exercise in borrowing the old case outline.

Three windows, one useful date

The distinctive part of the dial sits at three o'clock. Casio calls it the Multi-Mission Date, a group of three cells that presents the calendar information within the analogue layout. That choice preserves a clear central hand stack and leaves the small seconds at nine to do a separate job. In an all-black watch, the dial could easily become a muddle of dark circles; instead, the date arrangement gives the eye a route through it. Whether it is the fastest possible way to read a date is a fair question. I think the layout earns its space because it looks designed for this case rather than dropped in from another model.

Casio lists Neobrite, while an amber LED supplies light when ambient illumination is not enough. Casio lists an afterglow function too. The display has a hand-shift feature, which moves the hands away from information beneath them. Those are practical details in a watch that might otherwise have been judged entirely on its outline.

Casio also describes a magnetic shock-release arrangement for the minute hand. The product page warns that an impact or vibration may temporarily shift the minute hand, which should return to its proper position within a few minutes. That is a useful reminder that the analogue mechanism is working inside a shock-resistant watch, not merely sitting behind the crystal as a decorative nod to one.

The module still has a job to do

Under the mineral glass, the GAC-2500-1A uses a battery-powered analogue module with a stated battery life of about two years on a CR1025 cell. Casio lists a one-second stopwatch with a maximum measurement of 29 minutes and 59 seconds, a full auto-calendar to 2099, and an accuracy claim of ±15 seconds per month. None of that is exotic G-SHOCK territory. It is enough, however, to make the physical controls and dial subdisplays part of a usable daily watch rather than a styling experiment.

The resin band is specified for wrists from 145 to 215 mm. Casio has not built this as a one-off collector's showpiece: the international product listing marks the reference for November 2026, following the October announcement. The overall idea is unusually coherent for an analogue reinterpretation. The square form is familiar; the date and small seconds make the new reading experience plain.

G-SHOCK GAC-2500-1A pricing and availability

Casio announced the GAC-2500 series on 22 October 2026 and lists the GAC-2500-1A on its international site as a November 2026 product. The international product page does not state a list price, Australian price or local availability. Those gaps are worth watching, particularly because the price will decide whether this feels like an everyday alternative to a digital square or a more specialised take on the same idea.

The judgement for now rests with the design. Casio has made a square that still looks like a G-SHOCK from across the room, then given its face an entirely different way of speaking. That is a stronger idea than merely moving the numerals around.