This Luxury G-Shock Watch Was Inspired By Ancient Samurai Helmets
Each MRG Shougeki-Maru model has a hand-carved bezel, meaning no two are exactly alike.
As a Japanese brand, Casio G-Shock continues to look to the Pacific island nation’s historical samurais for artistic cues in its flagship MR-G line, whether it be the feudal warriors’ weapons, armor, or bladesmiths.
The latest is the MRG Shougeki-Maru, inspired by the samurai kabuto helmets. Masanao Kikuchi, a 15th-generation craftsman for an iron casting outfit that was originally founded to serve for a Japanese warlord, finished the forged titanium bezel and band using a sand die, brushes and misting tools reproduce the rugged look of rusted steel.
Third-generation metal craftsman Masao Kobayashi then hand-carved a mythical blue dragon on 400 different bezels to evoke a kabuto helmet crest, making each watch one of a kind.
A deep hardening process brings layers of both brown and blue ion plating, the latter of which is removed from convex surfaces to accentuate the rusted steel look and ascending dragons. This also results in a unique coloration that’s reminiscent of navy blue odoshi armor. A final heat treatment creates a unique crystallized pattern effect and adds extra abrasion resistance.
On the tech side, the timepiece features 200-meters of water resistance, the ability to switch between 39 time zones, a solar-charging system, and an impressively long 18-month battery life in power-saving mode.
Hypebeast reports that the MRG Shougeki-Maru will retail for about $9,720 USD when it arrive’s on G-Shock webstore in the coming weeks.
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