Paying tribute to both mental and physical strength

MUSIC trends come and go quickly but homegrown electro label Darker Than Wax (DTW) has defied the odds and stood the test of time.

It celebrates its fifth anniversary this month and marks that milestone with a limited edition G-Shock watch - developed in partnership with Casio - that will be launched on Friday.

DTW's co-founder Dean Chew says the label identifies strongly with G-Shock's "absolute toughness" mantra on both "physical and mental" levels. "We believe in the notion of quality, craft, attention to detailing but most importantly, a kind of mental robustness that transpires across everything that we do," he notes.

Like the iconic G-Shock watch which was invented in 1983, DTW has gone through an evolution, while withstanding the test of time to stay relevant.

The two got talking when Teppei Takahashi, the assistant general manager of Casio Singapore, discovered DTW's music from a mutual friend and attended one of its showcases last November.

Casual conversations about music eventually evolved into talks about a collaboration, and the limited edition DTW x G-Shock New Times watch was born.

Essentially a re-imagined and re-designed version of the popular GD-100 model, the timepiece boasts an eye-catching black and yellow colourway with subtle details including a special backlight.

"The design is inspired by shades of architecture, spaces, club culture, shadows, contrasts and the in-betweens - we have always been informed by these cultural entities, and wanted to reflect that in the watch," explains Mr Chew. "It's a dark and rugged look that we went for, reflected through shade of glossy and matte black surfaces, lined with sandy yellow accents and our brand ethos 'We Move' subtly placed on the watch dial."

The watch will only be sold in Singapore and London and is set to be a collector's item after being featured in online style bibles Highsnobiety and Hypebeast.

DTW is also the first music label Casio has ever worked with, and the package includes a USB drive that doubles as a mixtape of tracks by acts from around the world that are signed to them.

"We conceived this entire collaboration as a marriage between music and product design; hence, I had the idea of assembling 15 artists from our global roster to create a track each, and they had to do so with the notion of time and space in mind," reveals Mr Chew, who adds that each act was hand-picked specifically for this project for its musical strength and versatility.

Asked what was the toughest part of putting together the package, he replies: "I think every aspect of putting together this watch was challenging - from conceptualising the design, to assembling the team of artists to developing the proper line of communication between every single participant in the working process - it has really been an incredibly enriching experience."