Dressing The Stereotypical Sport Watch

We’ve covered relatively dressy watches up until now. But in this episode, we’re taking our gloves off and getting our hands dirty… figuratively… There’s no timepiece more suitable for rough and tumble activities than a stereotypical sport watch. And even then, we’re diving straight into the deep end of the pool. We’re talking about the ultimate sport watch series, the Casio G-Shock. Let’s welcome our contender for today, the G-Shock GA-2100, a slightly dressier version of the quintessential G-Shock series.

Close-up of the Casio G-Shock GA-2100-1A1 watch, a rather dressy looking sport watch. — Casio G-Shock GA2100-1A1, featuring an ana-digi display, blackout dial, negative LCD, “stealth” version of the highly popular GA-2100 series.
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A Very Short History Of G-Shock: The Ultimate Sport Watch

The story goes that Kikuo Ibe, the father of G-Shock, dropped and broke his watch. And that inspired him to design a watch that can withstand the same shock that broke his watch. TLDR of the story – he developed a watch to withstand the “Triple-10” :-
(1) Survive a drop from 10 metres height.
(2) Water resistant to 10 bar pressure.
(3) Battery life of 10 years.

G-Shock development story: An interview with Kikuo Ibe.

I don’t intend to venture too deep into the G-Shock history rabbit hole. But are you itching to know more about the G-Shock backstory?… Well, here’s a comprehensive history of the G-Shock evolution. Suffice to say that G-Shock is the ultimate sport watch. It’s more than tough enough to take all the punishment you can dish out to it. Some would even call it a “beater” watch, but I personally wouldn’t go that far.

Wrist shot of the G-Shock GA-2100, with medium grey sport jacket and dark blue/grey jumper. A sport watch is best matched with an equally sporty outfit. — G-Shock GA-2100, a dressy sport watch, on the wrist, with a typical dressy casual outfit.
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Dressing The Sport Watch

Enough with all the tough talking. Let’s get on with how to dress the sport watch. As its name suggests, it’s the antithesis of the dress watch. Sport watches are inherently casual in nature, and in image projection. Let’s not get into how James Bond wears a dive watch (another sport watch) with his black tie ensemble again…

(1) Business Formal

Solid charcoal grey suit, solid white shirt, solid burgundy tie, and solid white pocket square. — Two-piece, solid charcoal grey suit, with a solid white shirt, solid burgundy tie, and solid white pocket square.
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Close up of a pair of solid black plain toe Oxford dress shoes. — Solid black, plain-toe Oxfords, are as conservative as you can go.
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A definite NO – One should never wear a sport watch with a business suit. That’s blasphemy… Just like how you should never wear basketball shoes with a business suit… You just don’t…

(2) Business Semi-Formal

Solid olive green suit, solid blue shirt with white contrasting collar and cuffs. Burgundy tie with small repeating patterns, and pocket square. — Two-piece, solid olive green suit, with sporty, slanted hip pockets, and a ticket pocket above the right hip pocket. A pale blue shirt with contrasting collar and cuffs, small-patterned burgundy tie and coordinating pocket square.
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Close up of a pair of whole cut in ox blood, with wingtip patterned brogue. Another type of typical dress shoes. — Whole cut in ox blood, with burnished toes, and wingtip patterned brogue.
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Another definite NO – Same reason as above. You should never pair anything sporty with anything formal. So never pair a sport watch with anything remotely formal.

(3) Business Informal

Solid navy, double breasted blazer, with 6 X 2 gold buttons. Solid blue shirt with navy and yellow regimental striped tie, solid grey trousers, and pocket square. — Double breasted navy blazer with 6 X 2 gold buttons. Solid pale blue shirt with navy and yellow regimental striped tie. Solid medium grey trousers, and a contrasting pocket square.
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Close up of a pair of brown double monk-straps. A less dressy dress shoes. — Brown, double monk-straps, to exude a more playful vibe.
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NO / MAYBE – Business informal may be more dressed down than previous examples. But it’s still inherently too dressy to pair with a sport watch. However, I will reluctantly give some concession specifically to the GA-2100. Not exactly the greatest match, but a concession nonetheless. If I have any other choice, I’d still stick to a dressier timepiece.

(4) Business Casual

Grey sport jacket in mini-Glen check weave, a solid pink OCBD shirt with block stripe knit tie in autumn colours, and a pair of solid burgundy chinos. — Grey sport jacket in mini-Glen check weave. Solid pink OCBD shirt with a knit tie in autumn colours. Solid burgundy chinos, and a contrasting pocket square.
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Close up of a pair of brown penny loafers. One of the least dressy dress shoes. — Brown penny loafers, a typical “less dressy” dress shoes.
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A reluctant YES – I wouldn’t generally agree to pair a sport watch with a business casual outfit. However, this isn’t a hard refusal. I’m all for pairing a dressy looking sport watch with business casual. But calling the GA-2100 a “dressy” sport watch may be stretching it a little far. In all fairness, I find it hard to say no to this pairing.

(5) Dressy Casual

Unstructured, charcoal brown flannel sport jacket, denim OCBD shirt, and khaki chinos. — Charcoal brown, unstructured sport jacket with an open collared denim OCBD shirt. Khaki chinos, and a contrasting pocket square.
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Close up of a pair of khaki canvas derbies. — Derby shoes in tan canvas stretch what it means to be “dress” shoes.
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YES – This is the level that I start getting comfortable with pairing a sport watch. Rest assured that nobody will raise an eyebrow if they see you wearing a sport watch with this outfit.

(6) Just Casual

Denim trucker jacket, solid white t-shirt, and solid olive green jeans. — Denim trucker jacket, solid white t-shirt, and olive green jeans.
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Close up of a pair of white trainers. — White trainers, with a thin red and black stripe. A stereotypical pair of casual footwear.
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A definite YES – This is the natural habitat for a sport watch, any type of sport watch.

Is There An Outfit That A Sport Watch Simply Feels At Home In?

Actually, there is a class of outfit that you simply can’t go wrong pairing with the GA-2100. After all, it’s always best to pair a sport watch with a sporting outfit, doing sporting activities. And what better sporting activity than water activities?…

A pair of swim trunks and a pair of swim goggles, to indicate water activities. — Swimming, with a pair of swim trunks, a pair of swim goggles, and a sport watch.
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Wrist shot of the G-Shock GA-2100, on the bare wrist, suggesting water activities with a sport watch. — Ahhh… It’s great to finally put the 200m water resistance to the test.
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And that feels like a match made in Heaven…

Disclaimer – This Watch Is A Loaner Unit

Hours Galleria was kind enough to loan us this G-Shock GA-2100 for this episode. Hours Galleria is an independent watch dealer, based in Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia. They’re also a verified seller on Carousell (with a perfect score review no less). They buy and sell pre-loved watches, as well as (with sufficient notice) brand new watches too. They also provide watch repairs and servicing, specialising in luxury watches, movements and genuine spare parts. Worried about unscrupulous watch repairs swapping out genuine parts with third-party parts every time you send your watch for servicing? Well, you’ll never have to worry about this when you engage Hours Galleria for your servicing needs. Here’s a link to their online shopfront on Carousell.

Solid medium grey sport jacket, dark blue/grey roll-neck jumper, black pocket square with geometrically spaced purple specs, and a typical sport watch - The G-Shock GA-2100. — Pairing the sporty GA-2100 with an equally sporty, casual outfit.
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As usual, if you like what you read here, you can thank me by buying me a coffee. Love it or hate it, caffeine really does fuel all the research for this long running series. So any amount of coffee, big or small, is very much appreciated. Drop your questions and comments below, and don’t forget to visit Hours Galleria. Tell them that you found them here on Espoletta. Who knows, they might even give you some special treatment too (wink). And come back for the next episode, when we sink deeper into the dark abyss, with the retro digital sport watch… The ultimate G-Shock watch…