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Casio’s newest G-Shock collaboration is a banana. Bait has announced “Yamagata’s Finest,” a DW5600 finished in ripe banana yellow with brown speckles scattered across the band. It will go on sale this week.
Yamagata Prefecture is where Casio’s Yamagata factory builds the G-Shock, and Bait is essentially marketing the watch as “made from that farm.” A banana is sweeter for a narrow window, so Bait calls it a reference to timing, which is as obvious as clock puns.
The execution is solid. Photos posted by Bait show the speckled print on the strap, loop, and buckle instead of stopping at the case. The display is a positive LCD, so it appears dark on pale, and turning on the backlight reveals the collaboration’s printed banana mascot graphic on the panel. That mascot is called “Shawty with Freckles” and is also engraved on the stainless steel case back.
Everything else is standard. That means 200m of water resistance, 3525 module, EL backlight, stopwatch, countdown and alarm.
Bait packages it in a yellow tin with the words “Bait Farms Non-GMO,” and next to it is a matching clothing capsule, with a uniform jacket, cap and T-shirt. By the way, the company has a long series of them. It made an initial DW5600 in 2020, an Apple-themed one in 2024, and later a Toyo Tires model.
The launch event will take place at Bait Santa Ana in California on September 29 from 5pm to 9pm, featuring DJs, food and drinks. The watch will then hit all Bait Chapter stores and BAITMe.com on September 30th. It hasn’t released a price yet. For reference, the 2024 DW5600 “Innovation” sold for $150.
Most of my time is spent writing, and somehow, it still hasn’t stopped being fun. My work mostly revolves around everyday technology, games, watches, DIY modding, and occasional pieces on the chaos of tech politics when companies and governments collide. I try to keep things simple and honest, without sounding like a product brochure. I have a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and an associate’s degree in English studies from the College of New Caledonia in British Columbia, Canada. Away from articles and deadlines, life is usually focused on making music, taking photos, or trying to finish games that should have been completed months ago.
