Bad news for the U.S. release of the G-Shock GMWB5000SS-2

Although we were planning to announce its availability in the U.S., we somehow missed the G-Shock GMWB5000SS-2 (Casio Watch 50th Anniversary limited edition) at casio.com/us before it sold out last month. (There was an email for it sent out by Casio America, but we missed it.) We were then waiting to report about it being distributed to other retailers for those who missed a chance to buy it. After much waiting and recently asking some dealers about it, we are unfortunately not expecting that to happen anymore.

YouTuber Gi-Shock-Go did a video about the watch (youtube.com) and mentioned that it sold out quickly and then reappeared for sale the next day but quickly sold out again. The watch also sold out in other countries and regions like Japan and Europe but did not sell out in Singapore yet at casio.com/sg.

Since the Casiotron TRN50SS-2A from the same 50th Anniversary series was sold by several other retailers in the U.S., we were expecting them to sell the G-Shock GMWB5000SS-2 as well. After waiting around a month, we reached out to a handful of authorized U.S. dealers about the GMWB5000SS-2, and two replied within the same business day. Longtime G-Shock dealer Arizona Fine Time (a.k.a. AZFINETIME on Amazon and Ebay) said that their Casio representative told them the watch was an “online exclusive” (i.e. to be sold at Casio.com only) and that it wouldn’t be distributed to other retailers (except for the official G-Shock Soho Store). Topper Fine Jewelers said that they sold one unit and noted that it may have been a “special order.” They offered to inquire about ordering another one, but at this point we don’t expect that to be possible, and we will provide an update here if they respond to the contrary.

(Update: Topper confirmed that that it’s not possible to order the watch now.)

It’s unfortunate that Casio America did not choose to sell the GMWB5000SS-2 by a random sales lottery like they did recently with the GW6900NASA24-1 which has not sold out yet after almost a month, but perhaps they were not anticipating that it would sell out so quickly. Consider yourself lucky if you were able to purchase it, and condolences to those who missed it. We’ve seen the same exclusivity with some past G-Shock models in the U.S., so you might want to remember this when it comes to future releases. It would be better if Casio America could identify and label such online exclusives, although it might not have helped much in this case.