New Casio Luxe Black G-Shock leak puts solar and Bluetooth at $20 over the current model

The Casio G-Shock Luxe Black model reported in September with Tough Solar and Bluetooth now has a reference number, a price and a month. Russian site Casioblog says it will arrive in November as the GBM-2100LXB-1A2, at around $280.

Interesting figure, really. Casio’s standard GBM-2100-1A goes for $280 in the US, so the Luxe Black treatment would cost nothing extra. Within the Luxe Black line the new model is $20 above the metal-covered GM-2100LXB at $260, and that $20 gets you Tough Solar and Bluetooth Mobile Link, neither of which any existing Luxe Black has. The resin GA-2100LXB is further down at $145 and also goes without.

The colorway is the other change. The four Luxe Black models released in July pair black with either silver or gold accents, while the GBM-2100LXB-1A2 reportedly adds blue. Casioblog describes a matte, fine-grained dial that absorbs light to cut glare, and thinner hour indexes without the usual stepped edge. On the dial base, a square geometric pattern replaces the brick texture used elsewhere in the range. A blue ring applied by vapour deposition sits around the display.

The bezel is ion-plated for scratch resistance and combines matte polishing with a fine hairline brush. The strap is bio-based resin carrying the raised square texture particular to the GBM-2100, and the module sits behind a steel bezel and a glass-fibre reinforced inner case.

Everything else matches the GBM-2100 series as Casio lists it. Water resistance is 200 meters, the case runs 49.3 by 44.4 by 11.9 mm and the watch weighs 72 grams. Functions cover world time, a stopwatch, a countdown timer, an alarm, a double LED backlight, an automatic calendar and Hands Shift, which moves the hands clear of the digital windows.

Casio has not formally announced the watch as of writing.