News · Casio

Casio gives the anniversary MR-G a platinum-leaf dial

The 800-piece MRG-B2100HR-1A combines hand-applied platinum, laser-made structural colour and a 27-part bezel.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 3 min read · 28 September 2026

• An 800-piece MR-G anniversary edition with a lattice dial finished by hand in platinum leaf
• Laser-made structural colour shifts across the 27-part bezel and bracelet
• Available from November 2026, with regional pricing not listed in the international announcement

Casio announced the G-Shock MRG-B2100HR-1A on 24 September 2026, marking 30 years of MR-G with an unusually literal meeting of craft and engineering. The limited edition takes the familiar full-metal 2100 shape, gives its dial a hand-applied layer of platinum leaf, then uses laser-made structural colour across the bezel and bracelet. Only 800 will be made worldwide.

The starting point matters. MR-G is where Casio pulls apart an otherwise straightforward G-Shock silhouette and rebuilds it in more elaborate metals, with far more finishing than the utilitarian brief strictly demands. Here the octagonal bezel comprises 27 separate parts, allowing each surface to be polished before assembly.

A dial made individually

The lattice dial is derived from kigumi, the Japanese method of joining timber without nails or metal fittings. Casio has used that reference on other MRG-B2100 models, but the treatment is different this time. Kyoto artist Hiroto Rakusho applies platinum leaf to every dial by hand. Casio says the powdered leaf creates subtle shimmer and gradations of light and dark, giving each watch its own character.

That variation is the most convincing part of the anniversary premise. Limited editions often lean on a numbered case back and a changed accent colour. This one puts the individual work on the side its owner will actually see. The dial remains recognisably functional, with broad applied hour markers, a framed date window at three and a compact mode display between seven and eight. It is busy, but its silver hands and markers remain distinct against the black and platinum ground.

The bezel and bracelet are not painted. Casio uses an ultrashort-pulse laser to create microscopic structures in the metal surface, producing iridescent colour as light moves across it. The result shifts through blue, green, pink and bronze rather than holding one fixed hue. The mottled surface echoes the metal-leaf textures in Rakusho's artwork.

There is a useful tension between that colour and the underlying design. The hour markers and hands remain silver-white, the date frame is bright and the mode hand carries a small orange tip. Those conventional high-contrast elements stop the decorative treatment from swallowing the display. The platinum leaf is allowed to look irregular because the timekeeping information does not depend on reading its texture.

Exotic alloys, familiar resilience

The top bezel is Cobarion, a cobalt-chromium alloy chosen for hardness and a bright finish. DAT55G, another high-hardness alloy, appears in the bracelet. The remaining case, back, buttons and crown use titanium alloys, while a dark DLC treatment ties the structure together. Casio lists the watch at 49.5 by 44.4 by 13.6 millimetres and 122 grams. Those measurements are substantial on paper, although the weight is modest for a metal bracelet watch of this complexity.

It retains the practical equipment expected of the line. Water resistance is 200 metres. Tough Solar charging supplies the analogue display, while radio time calibration through Multi Band 6 and Bluetooth connection to a phone provide two routes to automatic time correction. The sapphire crystal has an anti-reflective coating, and the watch carries magnetic resistance as well as G-Shock's shock-resistant construction.

The connected functions are supporting actors rather than the reason for this edition. Phone pairing can adjust settings, find the handset and keep a record of time and place, but the watch is also specified to run within 15 seconds per month when no synchronisation is available. Its full auto-calendar is programmed through 2099.

Casio specifies the bracelet for wrists from 150 to 205 millimetres. That detail is less glamorous than Cobarion or platinum, but it matters on a 122-gram watch whose visual mass continues around the wrist. Structural colour runs across the bezel and bracelet, with dark and bright metal remaining visible between the textured areas.

The anniversary argument

The MRG-B2100HR-1A is commemorative without relying on a museum reissue. MR-G began in 1996 as an attempt to make a premium metal G-Shock that could still be treated as a G-Shock. Thirty years later, this edition pushes the same idea through a contemporary manufacturing vocabulary: separable components, specialist alloys, hand craft and surface engineering that changes the way the metal reflects light.

Price and availability

Casio says the 800-piece edition will be released in November 2026. The international announcement did not publish regional pricing. That missing figure prevents a value judgement for now, but not a design judgement. The strongest detail is not the scarcity. It is the contrast between an individually applied precious-metal dial and a watch built around repeatable, industrial precision.