G-Shock's New Japan-Made Watches Selling Out Fast

For centuries, the glowing red chochin lanterns outside Japanese izakayas have signaled good food, cold drinks, and long nights with friends. Now, G-Shock is bringing that iconic piece of Japanese culture to the wrist with two striking new watches: the DW5600AKA-4 and DW6900AKA-4.

The two classic G-Shock silhouettes feature red resin cases and bands, in honor of the izakayas' red paper lights, which date back to Japan's Edo period. The watches' faces are boldly decorated with the Kanji characters reading "耐衝撃," meaning "shock resistance" in a script that evokes traditional Japanese establishment displays.

The strap is hot stamped to mimic a lantern's frame and build dimensionality. Black buttons and band loops elicit the classic black lacquered lantern holders and an image of a chochin is engraved on the case back. Each piece offers an orange backlight, meant to project the warm glow of a lantern, and are only US$ 190 each.

he watches are both proudly crafted at the Yamagata Casio factory and marked with "Made in Japan" detailing. G-Shock delivers each piece in a special decorative box covered in red chochin lantern artwork and the G-Shock logo.

The DW5600AKA-4 and DW6900AKA-4 both feature the brand's namesake shock resistant structure, 200-meters of water resistance, a Super Illuminator LED backlight, a multi-function alarm, countdown timer, a stopwatch function, a flash alert, and a full auto-calendar good to the year 2099.