Casio
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Casio has unveiled a new version of its finger-sized watch.
- The G-Shock Nano will debut in Japan first before coming to the US.
- The watch will cost $110.
If you missed out on Casio’s finger-sized G-Shock ring watch that debuted last year and quickly sold out, you might have another chance to snag one soon — and this one comes with an upgrade that makes it usable for a lot more people.
Casio has announced a new version of its ring watch: The G-Shock Nano 5600 Series is based on the classic DW-5600 model (the earlier one was based on the all-metal GMW-B5000). At first glance, this might seem like a smart ring in a retro package; however, it’s literally a digital watch scaled down 1/10 to finger size. It doesn’t have fitness tracking, heart rate monitoring, or any other smart feature.
Also: The best smart rings: I tested and found an obvious winner
Like last year’s launch, this new ring watch is debuting first in Japan. According to the official site for the watch, the price is $110, and the release date is sometime in November of this year. It comes in three colors: black, yellow, and red. You can sign up to be notified when sales go live.
Casio says this watch carries over some of the same features as traditional G-Shock watches. It is airtight, water-resistant to roughly 200 meters, and has a replaceable battery. The six-digit display shows hours, minutes, and seconds, and also shows the stopwatch, dual-time, and auto-calendar features. It has flashing lights that illuminate at a set time or at the top of every hour and an LED backlight. It comes with its own display stand, the product page explained, and special packaging.
The three side buttons aren’t merely decorative; they enable you to switch modes, turn on the light, and perform other functions.
Casio says the G-Shock Nano has been “meticulously recreated” from its inspiration version and has the same stainless steel buttons, buckle, and case back. If needed, you can adjust the band with the band holes just like a regular watch from about 48 to 82mm. This is a big upgrade from the previous version, which looked like it had a linked band, but was available in only one ring size — 10.5.
