The world-time function was the closer for me and ended my hunt for a dedicated, mechanical world-time watch. I was agonizing over adding yet another watch to my collection that would be single-purpose, and a relatively quirky one at that. The GW-5000U-1JF is a veritable Swiss Army knife. In the week I’ve owned it, I’ve found multiple uses for the stopwatch, timer, and alarm functions as well. And I’ve used the world-time function more often than I thought I would already. I may be at serious risk of a one-watch collection if I don’t start wearing another watch soon.

My core watches have been or are turning out to be relatively affordable, fun, and largely Japanese… The daily alarm reminds you about recurring events with an acoustic signal at the time you have set. This model has 5 independent alarms for flexible reminders of important appointments. Whether in Europe, North America and Japan or in the outer reaches of Canada, Central America and China - once the watch has been set to the local time, it receives the relevant signal and shows the correct time wherever you are. In many countries, it also sets itself automatically to summer and winter time. Then the new ‘U’ version came out and I bought the GW-5610U discounted to see if the changes made any real difference. Invisible solar cells in the watch convert light into energy and supply all functions. A rechargeable battery provides the necessary capacity for operation in poor light conditions.

Not just another black G-Shock Square

A last neat feature I want to mention is the ability to move the hands out of the way. With a push of a button, hands are moving and permit a free visibility of functions in the little round digital displays, like stopwatch or date. Specifications and Pricing And then I’ll end here with the technical specifications and the price of the Casio G-Steel GST-W130L. Although the maximum width of the stainless steel and resin casing may just exceed 50mm, the bezel diameter is 44mm. And that’s the feeling the watch gives as well as being worn. A rather, but not overly large watch which wears comfortable. The price in Europe currently is €299 (including VAT), which in my opinion is a bargain.

Adjustable date format (M.DD or DD.M) and adjustable day of week language (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian) For fans of precision: the countdown timers help you to remember specific or recurring events by giving off an audible signal at a preset time. The time can be set to the nearest minute and up to 24 hours in advance. Ideal for people who need to take medicines every day or those who do interval training. Home city time and world time display swap in world time mode by pressing the top two buttons (A and B) at the same time I am a kid of the 1980s, and although I had some watches before, the first watches I bought myself (being a kid) was a digital Casio W-14 in 1986 or so.

Synthetic resin is the ideal material for wrist straps thanks to its extremely durable and flexible properties. I then went with the GW-5600 that linked through to my iPhone which I quite liked - but I still hankered after the simplicity of the self contained GW-5000. The button tones for using the mode button can be turned off. This means that the watch no longer beeps when switching from one function to another. Preset alarm or countdown timers remain active when the button tones are deactivated.

Elapsed time, split time and final time are measured with 1/100-sec accuracy. The watch can measure times of up to 24 hours.Now with the light setting on 3 seconds and the brighter LED I found that could read it in the dark quite easily and the optional DD:MM format also helps legibility. Technical amendments and errors excepted. The sizes in figures do not correspond to the original sizes. Perfect for free diving without scuba gear: the watch is water resistant up to 20 bar according to ISO 22810. Hence, what ís so totally different about these watches? I wouldn’t say that the movement Casio uses here, their caliber (Casio uses the term ‘module’) 5515, isn’t high-end. In a totally different way, however. It’s probably not beautifully decorated and finished, but it’s extremely functional. Solar-powered, and multi-band time reception, for instance, are examples of specifications that we don’t find in every quartz movement. Purpose Build