The best square G-Shock: one case shape, four watches, and a 115-gram spread

Why the square is the one that lasts

The square is the original. Casio launched the DW-5000C in 1983 and has never stopped making the shape; the DW-5600 has been in continuous production since 1987. That matters far more than nostalgia on a site about buying one watch and keeping it, because it means straps, bezels and modules for a square are the deepest parts supply in watches. A square you buy today can be kept running indefinitely by a shop with a $10 strap and a coin cell.

It is also the most wearable G-Shock. At 42.8 mm wide with flat case sides, a resin square sits on a narrow wrist where a Rangeman overhangs it — which is why the square models dominate our small-wrist rankings.

The four squares, measured

All four are 200 m water resistant, shock resistant and mineral-crystal. Every other number comes from Casio's module guides or G-Central's spec sheets, which publish a US list price per model:

The ladder is not linear. The $165 GW-M5610U gets you the two features that change ownership — solar and atomic time — and the $220 GM-5600 gets you neither, because you are paying for the steel bezel instead. That is the one genuinely counter-intuitive fact about the square range and it is worth knowing before you buy on looks.

Solar is the whole decision

Two of these four run on light. Casio states about ten months of running with no light at all for the GW-M5610U, and ten months normal use plus 22 months in power save for the GMW-B5000. Worn outdoors, neither will ever run down, and neither will ever need a battery appointment — the rechargeable cell is a watchmaker-replaceable part a decade or more out.

The coin-cell squares are not a trap. Casio rates the DW-5600E's CR2016 at about five years, which is three service visits across a decade of ownership. But the radio time is the underrated half of the solar models: a GW-M5610U is correct to the second, forever, without you touching it. Once you have had that, setting a watch for daylight saving feels absurd.

Metal: what 115 grams buys

The GMW-B5000 is the square as an object rather than a tool. Stainless steel case, bezel and bracelet with a screw-back case — the most serviceable construction Casio uses on a square — plus Bluetooth on top of the solar and the radio. What it costs you is 167 grams against the DW-5600E's 52, a mineral crystal unless you pay considerably more for a titanium edition, and steel that scratches visibly where resin just goes matte.

The GM-5600 is the sensible middle: a steel bezel bolted to the resin case, 73 g, the metal look at less than half the weight. Its problem is the $220 list price for a watch with no solar and no radio.

Read the module, not the model name

Squares are sold under model names that hide real differences. The GM-5600 exists as module 3229 with a CR2016 rated at about two years and as the June 2023 module 3525 rated at about five — same model name, half the ownership cost. The GMW-B5000 runs module 3459. The "U" in GW-M5610U marks Casio's updated module generation. Check the full reference on the listing before you buy, because the battery figure travels with the module and not the name.

Why every collab is a square

If you have looked at G-Shock collaborations you will have noticed almost all of them are DW-5600s. That is not an accident: the square is the cheapest canvas, the most recognizable shape and the easiest bezel to reskin. It is also the reason a collab is a cosmetic purchase rather than a durability one — the module underneath is the same one in this table. We work through that properly in best G-Shock collabs.

The decade pick

Choosing between four squares

Want to never think about it? GW-M5610U. Solar plus radio time means the watch is correct and charged without any input from you, forever.

Want the cheapest watch that lasts? DW-5600E at $99.95, with a five-year cell and the deepest parts supply in watches.

Want it in metal? GMW-B5000 if you want the full steel bracelet and can carry 167 g; GM-5600 if 73 g and a steel bezel is enough. Know that the GM-5600 costs more than the solar GW-M5610U and does less.

Whatever you pick, check the module reference. It decides the stated battery life, and on the GM-5600 the difference is two years versus five.