Casio’s Earthwatch Mudman GW-9503KJ takes its colors from the shoebill

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Casio’s Love The Sea And The Earth line has its 2026 watch, and this year’s animal is the shoebill. Built with Earthwatch Japan, the GW-9503KJ-2JR is a Mudman colored after the tall wetland bird, on pre-order at Casio Japan now ahead of its November release, at approximately $410 equivalent. Part of the proceeds supports Earthwatch Japan’s activities.

This is a running series, not a one-off. Casio has built collaboration watches with environmental groups since the 1990s, and the Earthwatch Mudman has become the annual entry, with last year’s model themed on the hippopotamus. Shoebill is a stronger subject. It’s a large wetland bird that stands over four feet tall, with a clog-shaped bill, a stare that made it internet famous, and a Vulnerable listing on the IUCN Red List.

Price: approximately $410 equivalent
Where to buy: Casio Japan
On Amazon: standard Mudman GW-9500, $309

Blue-gray feathers, a gold beak

Casio took the palette straight off the bird. Blue-gray shoebill plumage sets the main color, and the metal bezel gets an ion-plated finish meant to catch light the way the feathers do. Gold on the dial ring and the front buttons, plus the light beige strap keeper, comes from the color of that oversized bill. Against the standard Mudman’s black resin, the metal bezel also changes the watch’s weight and feel. This one lists at 88 grams, where the resin-bezel GW9500-1A4 weighs 81 grams.

Shoebills live in the wetlands of east and central Africa and hunt by standing still for long stretches, waiting for lungfish to move. Japanese fans call it the bird that doesn’t move. Casio put that bird’s face next to the watch in its own campaign shots, and the pairing sells the design better than any spec can.

Earthwatch marks, inside and out

Earthwatch Japan’s logo sits on the strap keeper, and the band carries the printed message “Change the World. Yourself.” Press the LED backlight and the Earthwatch logo lights up inside the display. Its case back is engraved with the Love The Sea And The Earth symbol, and the watch ships in a special box made from recycled paper. Biomass plastic forms the main resin parts of the case, bezel and band, using renewable organic feedstock in place of part of the usual petroleum resin.

Earthwatch, founded in Boston in 1971, funds field research by pairing scientists with paying volunteers. Casio’s page for the watch credits it with more than 100 vetted research projects a year, 200 collaborating researchers and over 4,000 volunteers mobilized.

Under the colors it’s the full Mudman

The collaboration retains the Mudman’s core functions. Its Carbon Core Guard case is shock resistant and mud resistant, with sealed buttons built to keep grit out, and water resistance is 200 meters. Triple Sensor covers compass bearing, altitude and barometric pressure, and temperature, with direct buttons for the compass, altimeter, and combined barometer/temperature mode. The duplex LCD puts the compass graphic on the upper layer and time or measurement numerals on the lower layer. The compass view can show a bearing and the time together.

Tough Solar runs the watch on light, good for about six months of normal use without further light exposure after a full charge, or roughly 26 months stored in total darkness with power saving on. Multiband 6 pulls the time from radio towers, so the watch can set itself where compatible signals can be received. The case measures 56.7 by 52.7 by 14.8 millimeters and has mineral glass. The band fits wrists from 145 to 215 millimeters. This is a big outdoor watch that happens to wear a bird’s colors.

Amazon sells the standard Mudman instead

This shoebill edition is a Japan release, and the Amazon option linked here is the standard model. Underneath it, the standard GW-9500 Mudman sells there now in regular production colors, with the same sensors, solar charging and radio sync for about $101 less than that converted Japanese retail price, before import costs.

Price: $309
Where to buy: Amazon

Japan gets it this month, and the premium is the finish

Pre-orders are open at Casio Japan, with the release set for November and retailer listings pointing to mid-month. Casio’s current product page confirms the Japanese release; US availability and import pricing are not confirmed here.

Price: approximately $410 equivalent
Where to buy: Casio Japan
On Amazon: standard Mudman GW-9500, $309

The shoebill edition makes the clearest sense for collectors who want this specific collaboration. For the same core functions, the resin-bezel GW9500-1A4 is the lighter, less expensive alternative, with a negative rather than positive display.

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