Tuesday, January 13, 2026 |
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Watch nerds sometimes focus on mechanical timepieces to the exclusion of all others. We get it—and we're guilty of it, too. But as impressive as all those complicated movements can be, we ignore the digital to our detriment. Because once you start exploring, you'll see that getting into quartz and batteries offer a window into a whole other side of the watchmaking world (and an exciting one at that). Esquire's Nick Sullivan recently visited the mecca of that kind of watchmaking—the place where Casio birthed the G-Shock. Read all about it below. —Jonathan Evans, style director |
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A trip to the HQ in Tokyo and the manufacture in Yamagata Prefecture was a window into the Japanese company's weird, wonderful world.
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All Swiss watch manufactures are not the same. But on the surface, yeah, they pretty much are. A lot of white coats, airlocks, dust suppression mechanisms, highly skilled watchmakers, and inspiring views of the snow-capped Alps beyond the plate glass windows. It takes experience to parse out the subtleties that make a particular manufacture stand out—one for its mind-bending métiers d'art decoration, another for the rigor with which it tests its calibers, another for its obsession with perfecting a particular type of movement.
Whistle-stop visits to Casio's Tokyo HQ and to its Yamagata Prefecture manufacture this past summer were a real eye-opener. There's climate control, airlocks, and dust-suppression just like in Switzerland. There are even mountains, given Yamagata is close to Mount Zao, a popular ski resort. But the outfits worn by the technicians, the machinery—much of it automated and robot controlled—and, for lack of a better term, the feeling is distinct. Casio is simply not like any Swiss manufacture I've come across.
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It's risky to do elective surgery on a happily-ever-after. When Scrubs ended after eight seasons in May 2009, Zach Braff's earnest and awkward doctor J.D. left the Sacred Heart hospital envisioning happy married life with Elliot (Sarah Chalke), a lifelong friendship with Turk and Carla (Donald Faison and Judy Reyes), and even a future wedding between the couple's children—plus an uncharacteristically heartfelt goodbye hug from his merciless mentor/nemesis Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley.) The new revival of Scrubs, debuting on ABC on February 25, picks up with the same characters 17 years later, but Braff and Faison say fans should note that what they saw onscreen before was kind of a Ghost of Christmas Future thing: a possibility, not a certainty. "I don't know if everyone remembers this, but the finale's happy ending is all in J.D.'s imagination," Braff tells Esquire for this exclusive first look at the new series. "It's what his hopes and dreams are for the future. But as we all know, as living on earth, our hopes and dreams don't necessarily all come true." |
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In recent years, there's one word you hear again and again from movie distributors and pundits: event. Making a great movie is nice. But creating a culture-shaking event is what's required in the current boom-bust film landscape. It's something everyone has known for a long time, but in 2026 it seems as if studios are really beginning to grasp what it actually means. From Tom Cruise in an auteur-driven comedy to the sequels to The Devil Wears Prada and The Social Network to Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and Greta Gerwig's Narnia (Narnyssey?), this year's slate is jam-packed with big, splashy cinema sure to get people talking. I'm excited for many of those projects, but there are a bunch of small indies (Maddie's Secret, $Positions, Blue Heron, The Scout) that have me equally, if not more, pumped. The entire film business may be crumbling, but I feel pretty confident that in 2026 the great movies will keep on coming. |
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