Casio G-Shock GD-100-1ADR

It's been 28 years that the world has experienced the ruggedness and durability of G-Shocks. Attributed to the need of a shockproof watch after his watch got damaged upon falling to the floor, Kikuo Ibe, an engineer in Casio went to his lab started experimenting on a shockproof watch. Testing it by dropping the prototypes out the window of the 3rd floor until one survived. By it's humble beginnings, the G-Shock line has garnered huge success and has now hundreds of styles to choose from.

For this post, I can present to you one of the latest models in the market. Officially released in Japan last September 2010, this watch is part of the Classics line and is more of a spin-off of the X-Large Combi Series of GA-100.

My review of the all digital Casio G-Shock GD-100-1ADR.

Case:

Dimensions of the case is 50mm in width, 52mm from lug to lug and 17mm in thickness. The durable plastic resin casing protects the watch from shock and water resistance up to 200 meters. The stainless steel case back is screwed to the case with markings of where it was made, model no., module no. and G-Shock trademark logos. What I love about the case, quite possibly one of the selling points of the watch is the large size for that modern hey my watch is bigger that my wrist look but hey not that ben10 comic look. The crystal is nicely guarded by four indices in the case that serve as bumpers. The buttons are safely secured under the case guards to prevent the plastic buttons from damage or being pushed accidently. Buttons are also big, that allows for easier operation, not convenient but effective. The case also has that large markings of G-SHOCK PROTECTION which I love. It's like a constant reminder of it's main feature or a tattoo of Superman on Shaq.

Movement:

Module no. 3263 Casio Quartz movement. Battery lifespan is estimated to last for 7 years considering normal watch operation.

Strap:

The rubber strap is attached through screws and a spring bar. Width of the strap is 28mm from the case, then tapers to 21mm at the ends. The thickness of the straps thins out from 2mm to about 1.5 mm at the tip which then allows it to be flexible and comfortable. It also uses the two hole buckle design for added lock and fit.

Dial:

The dial is an all LCD display that has two eyes on the 3 o'clock side and connects to 3 indicators all the way to the 9 o'clock position. The indicators divides the LCD into two. Upper portion displays the day, date, milliseconds, modes and settings. While the lower portion gives you mostly time keeping information. Another selling point of the watch are the 2 powerful LED lights that makes the watch face glow in the illumination feature. The neutral face with the LEDs make this a watch easier to read than other Gs.

Features:

For the timekeeping mode, it's pretty standard. What you see is what you get. The numbers are medium size, not an easy grandpa read but will do. And it comes a setting of four multi-timezones for timekeeping that's a basis from the world time function.

You have the World time, which covers 48 cities in 31 countries which includes UTC and the very useful daily savings time.

The timer, which is capable of counting down from 24 hours. Pretty neat.

The Stopwatch function is still the same as with other G-shocks. Elapsed timing, split time, and the 1st and 2nd place times. Still lacking is the Lap Timing and Memory recall for those runners and anybody timing laps or cycles. That's one wish I'd definitely like Casio Genie to have bestow on this watch.

The Alarm has 5 independent alarms that can be set to daily or one time only. That's it, no setting of weekends or weekdays only or anniversaries and others. The volume of the beep of the alarm is medium, not loud enough to wake me up, just able to let me know that it's time for kitkat.

Then there are the Flash alerts which you could set for you alarm or hourly chimes and all.

The watch also has that Auto Light Switch where the Super LEDs light up every time the face of the watch is tilted to more than 40 degrees or the viewing angle. It's a cool feature but I tried using it while driving or just doing the normal things, the watch lights up everytime of course and I could only guess when the battery will run out. Pretty useless I think, same with Timex's Flix system. Only useful if you're like paralyzed from the neck down and the only thing you can move is your wrist.

Price:

Stated 89$ on the gshock.com

In summary, the watch has its strengths and weaknesses. Bad news first, no lap time memory recall (Timex IM +1), useless Auto Light Switch, and Alarm feature has no weekend/day setting. Good points or I'd rather say great points goes to of course, the tried and tested gravity shock protection, extra large case that enables larger buttons for easier operation without sacrificing durablity, built like a tank, strong materials, super LED illumination, world time, 200m WR, affordable and of course you'll get a lot of respect from the fashion, music, sports, celebrity, military and WIS following all over the world.

This G-Shock GD-100 is not the jack of all traits, but what ever it provides, it's the best at it.

This is blue95.tumblr.com

I am formally introducing blue96.tumblr.com. This is a new blog I created where I post anything that catches my attention and so must you. It could be a must have, an art, fashion, collectible, something interesting. All in photos, videos, links, audio, quotes and anything else. This blog has fewer write ups though as I want to present directly what it is and just give you where I found it. Hope you enjoy.

http://blue95.tumblr.com/

Podcasts about Watches

Podcasts....made popular from the ipod that you can download streamed audio or video of various sorts of what not that it is about now has come to the topic on wristwatches. Yes those time telling devices that tick away in your wrist. And to my knowledge, I have come across two streaming and downloadable podcasts that offer this. I shall then give slight details on each, my thoughts and how they compare.

The first started in November of 2009. Its HourTime from hourtimeshow.com.

Hosted by popular blogger of watches Mr. Ariel Adams of ablogtoread.com and a writer at luxist.com and askmen.com and his partner Mr. John Biggs who as hosted couple of sites like crunchgear.com and wristwatchreview.com and even has a written a book about IT. Now on its 62th episode, the guys are going stronger day by day to providing a meaningful, straightforward and sometimes funny discussion about our beloved hobby and passion.

They have gone through various discussion and topics of almost every brand you can remember. From Casio, Seiko, swatch up to the big guys like AP, PP, RM, JLC, VC, MB&F and of course the popular Rolexes and Omegas. But what makes me stick and follow every episode of this show is that they provide us listeners with the right out comment about watches. How they like em, how they dont, how this watch is like a good buy or how ugly the watch is. They are not afraid what to say, how the brands may think or who anyone else thinks. They're like Top Gear of watches with a combination of Clarkson, Hammond and May. Sometimes, they do disagree on some thoughts about the watches. It's really like listening to two expert WIS and their opinions on the watches and everything that happens around them which includes industry news, trade shows, awards etc. To add to that, their podcasts are of very good quality thanks to some sponsors.

The other choice is What Time Is It? from blogtalkradio.com or whattimeradio.com.

The show is hosted by Jerome Peneau, a social media strategist and who now works for Marvin Watches. Well for this one, its basically just an interview session with the industry movers and shakers of the watch industry. Starting from Max Busser, Stephen Forsey, Hublot's Jean-Claude Biver, Morten Linde and Jorn Werdelin and even Hodinkee himself - Ben Clymer. It's great listening to see how these greats in the world of horology tell stories of how they came about and how they got into the industry. How they strategize, conceptualized and created their thing. Its like listening to business news and just that its filtered all on the watch industry.

In summary, Hourtimes is a podcast about watches, by watch geeks and for watch geeks. Whattimeisit is a podcast for the who's who in the business. I for now am more of a watch geek and have listened to all 62 episodes. Now you know my pick.

Till the next blogcast.

Links:

http://hourtimeshow.com/

http://www.whattimeradio.com/

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/whattimeradio

Where Is The Cool? - Digital Magazine Message Video [HD]

Jack Archer and the WITC team. Cool things become uncool tomorrow, but having a lifestyle of being cool lives forever.

I refer whereisthecool.com

Maratac Zulu Strap

In the voluntary membership that i entered into for the past 3 years, it has been in the WIS club to which i have came to known the various side tracks u can do aside from pulling a trigger on a new watch to join the precious collection. One of which where i am going to talk about today the fun habit of changing straps. And one of the popular choices aside from the basic bracelet, rubber or leather is nylon strap. And one of the popular brands aroung is the the nylon ZULU strap from Maratac. What is it? Why is it popular? What makes it different? These were the lingering questions running through my head and here are what I have known so far.

Searching through the web for a site for Maratac does not exist. Instead, you get retailers and delears of the products from Maratac. Thus I do not know what the company is about aside from that they produce military accessories like flashlights, knives and other tools and of course watch strap. The one the I am going to write about is the popular single piece zulu strap.

Composition of the strap is basically a nylon webbing that has been sized to the length of a watch and fitted with a buckle and strap keepers.

The nylon webbing itself is both flexible, comfortable and tough. The strap holes and ends are sonic welded. The buckle and strap keepers are stitched which ensures functionality under rough conditions. The buckle and strap keepers are made of stainless steel with brushed finishing and about 5mm thick.

By the look of the strap alone, its not your average way of a watch strap design, its all in one piece, has holes for the spring bar. And so, simple as it really looks, I just want to give a step by step installation procedure for dummies.

After removing the existing straps on your watch, install back the spring bars on the watch as simply shown on the picture below.

Slip the strap through the top spring bar....

Then slide past the other spring bar now covering the case back with the strap. If you have noticed, I placed a transparent tape on the case back just to protect it from any scratches it may get from the strap, but never have heard any reports of damages from other users but just to be safe so they say.

and you are set...

Nylon straps are a good alternative straps from steel (because it is more rugged looking and matches well with your jeans), rubber (because it doesn't get brittle and more comfortable) and leather (because it is more durable and makes you look younger of thats what you want and like leather, it gives more emphasis and complement on looks of the watch).

Maratac, good job!

Pulsar PS2004 Automatic Watch

Pulsar, who's history goes way back and now handle by the biggest watch brand in Japan, Seiko, hast its offering for this year which is their open heart collection which from my observation quite relatively new to this brand. The watch I am going to give some thought about is the PS2004 model which is the two toned silver gold dress watch.




The case is all stainless steel with polished finish in almost all views. The bezel or top of the case has a elegant gold bolt trim lining the shiny ring. The over all case width is 44mm and 46mm including the crown. The crown is likewise finished in gold color with adequate crown guards the complement it. Basically this is one of the selling points of this watch for me due to the big size of the case and the simple and elegant design in overall case design with a hint of sporty feel to it. The exhibition screw down case back also brings sporty feature giving a water resistance of 100m.



The dial on this watch is the primary feature that it can boast. It has an on-dial aperture display showing the balance wheel of the movement. For mechanical lovers, this is one sure delight. aside from the exhibition case back showing the rotor and other movement gears, the owner has another reason to keep looking at the watch longer that one should aside from looking at the time. Not so many watches on this price level can offer this feature and thus making this watch different from the rest. This version has a white dial face with gold hour indices and chapter ring display the 5min interval time.



The hands are plated in gold with hour and min hands with luminous paint for viewing on low light conditions. The design of the hands are elegant and simple, quite right for what this watch is made for.

The watch is equipped with the 21 jewel Pulsar Y674 calibre. For the Seiko purists out there like myself, you can easily spot the resemblance to the bulletproof 7S26 movement. And by resemblance and similarity, I'd conclude the movement is reliable and tough as nails too. The rotor is cladded in grey with Pulsar markings that defines it from the other shiny steel parts and gears of the movement. From a few days of use, the accuracy shows a +15 sec/day accuracy which is a decent result from the movement's accepted tolerance. Further improvement is always a choice through regulating the movement. The case back says the movement is made in Malaysia with serial numbers for the finished assembly.



The bracelet is stainless steel with hollow and folded links with a fold-lock clasp. It has a brushed finish accented with gold tones in the middle. From a personal view, the watch would look great on a pair of 22mm brown leather straps. Neat!



Overall, the watch is decent and pretty "in" with the current watch designs of today with is big size case considering it's supposed to be a dress watch. It combined the toughness of a sports watch, elegance of a dress watch and traditional mechanical art of the open heart dial displaying "Pulse" of the heart. Good job Pulsar.

Many thanks to Ariel Adams (ablogtoread.com and hourtimeshow.com) and Pulsar for giving me a chance to review and shed my thoughts on this beautiful time piece.

My Horological Opinion and Advice

I have been wearing a watch since the the time my brain was able to develop storage memory. I am not a doctor and not any scientist so far but I have never had a memory of having a naked wrist aside from taking a bath, sleeping or just lazying it up in the house. And so therefore this thoughts are from the mind of a practical wristwatch user with upscale interest in anything involved in horology in the hopes to help anybody that might need such information. I try to make it as simple as reading time.

For me, there are only two types of watches as I based it from how the watch is regulated to tell time, Which is a mechanical or a quartz watch.

Mechanical watches are mainly composed of gears, screws and springs in its movement or the engine of the WATCH. Mostly these watches are similar in looks to that of a quartz watch but the components inside are still that of century old technologies with improvements over the period of time. These type of watches are less accurate than quartz watches and are more expensive in selling price and maintenance costs. And aside from that, these watches are not grab and go pieces, there is a consistent effort from the owner as to powering the watch, setting the time quite often, sending it to service more often and all other tasks needed to own and use one. Which is why some dubbed as romantic for the owner since mechanicals require or better yet need you to live. Its power source comes from you by winding it or wearing it which is the case of automatics, and the frequent resetting of time due to its inaccuracy effects after a month or so. Which is why this romance is often accepted by watch enthusiasts and collectors like myself. Its like we are wearing a watch that has a personality and dependence to you, which shall I say creates more attachment to your relationship with it. Crazy though but its not sick at least.

Quartz watches on the other hand are quite new if you'd compare it to the mechanicals. The first commercially sold quartz wristwatch was available on December 24, 1969 by Seiko. It was the horological technology that really changed the watch industry and took the norm of majority. It changed how everyone then perceived the watch up to this day. These watches are in majority powered by batteries. Though many advancements have already come for the past decade which came from the technology driven land of Japan. Seiko, the pioneer of the quartz wristwatch has its popular kinetic watch, which generates power from the movement of your wrist stored in a capacitor or rechargeable battery and regulates the watch through a quartz crystal for better accuracy. Citizen, does also have their Eco-Drive which gets power from solar energy or any light for that matter as they say and of course house a quartz crystal too that regulates the watch.

So the next practical question is, which is better? Well of course with everything considered, I'd say its the battery powered quartz watch. Why, because mechanicals are inaccurate, needs maintenance and constant attention and more expensive. Kinetics are accurate, but it still needs more service and maintenance, its a lot costly to replace the capacitor or rechargeable battery and more expensive. Eco-Drives are far better and should come close second to battery operated ones. But, does being better mean that it should be the type of watch that you should buy? In common sense yes, but some of us are crazy like me would not use this as the overall basis. Therefore if we have simply defined the types of watches, we can defined three types of people who wear watches. And these people are defined as to why they wear these timepieces. I call em the 3 F's. Function, Fashion and Fun.

Function are those who use a watch to primarily tell time. It could be military, security, professionals, divers, sportsmen which value the accuracy, durability and usability of a timepiece. Therefore these market should go for quartz time pieces that come at bang for the buck price. A seiko, citizen, casio or a timex would always fit the bill.

Fashion are for those whose primary objective is that these watches are part of their full fashion get-up. They sport whatever is new, and whatever style is in. May it be quartz or mechanical, depends on the purchasing power.

Then there are those for fun. Well not necessarily fun as a joke, but as a passion or a hobby. This is where enthusiasts and WIS (watch idiot savants) belong. They normally purchase a lot of watches over time that are more that what they need. Majority of which get mechanicals and some quartzes depending on the popularity or rarity of the watch.

So I guess i have just pretty summed up what is all about to know about what is it about watches and who wears em. So which are you?