Casio Atomic G-Shock
A favorite of cops, troops, construction workers, pilots, extreme sports people, and the just plain clumsy, G-Shock watches are tough, very tough. While I've destroyed common, everday watch after watch, the G-Shock I've worn the last three years is unkillable and always accurate. Mine has been dropped from fourth-story windows, juggled with, trodded on, thrown at walls, survived repeated falls from desks, used while mountain biking and wielding a Fubar, and moonlighted as a cat toy. (Of course, being experimented on by programmers was probably its worst ordeal!)
The ISO standard for a diving watch -- typically costing a thousand dollars or more -- is that it can take a one-meter fall onto a hard floor and still run, albeit with a loss of accuracy. The G-Shock can take a *ten-meter* fall and submersion in 200m of water without stopping or losing accuracy. Enthusiastic owners have frozen their watches in solid blocks of ice, dunked them in liquid nitrogen and boiling water, and passed them through the dryer.
The prices can range from $60 to $2000 (!), depending on each iteration's bells and whistles (memo systems, countdown timers, tide predictors, etc.). All G's are about equally tough. But all other G-Shocks pale in comparison to the solar "Atomic" aka "Waveceptor." For $100, you can buy a model that never needs batteries, never needs maintenance, is much closer to being indestructible than the human body, and is always perfectly accurate because it's re-set nightly from atomic clock transmissions. It will even automatically adjust for Daylight Saving Time. (Assuming you're in range of a signal -- most of the US is covered, I believe.) This is literally a watch you can wear for decades without worrying about winding, servicing, re-setting, immersion in dishwater, involvement in bar fights, motorcycle accidents, or non-fatal hang glider crashes..
Mine is a UK-only model -- Casio are prone to this sort of hyper regionalization -- but it's almost the same as the one Tom Cruise wears in MI3 (though silver instead of black and set to the UK instead of US frequency). Casio changes models so fast that any model that has been worn for a few years will only be available used anyway. Nevertheless, the key internals and shock resist etc. stay the same, which is what matters. If I was buying a new G today I'd probably buy either the Casio GW9000A-1 or GWM5600-1, multi-band atomics that will get signals in the US and Europe. The first is a "Mudman" (pictured above) designed to resist button-gunking in muddy environments; the latter features a lighter and slimmer classic shape (pictured below)
G-Shocks don't have the compass of the previously-reviewed Protrek, but they aren't as bulky, they are much, much tougher and they're also flight-approved for NASA space missions. Only a couple caveats: every G I've used has a lousy alarm beep, because of the sealed waterproof case. While there are G's with hands, the lume is lousy. However, most or all G's have an auto-illumination system that can be turned on to light the watch when it's tilted towards your face.
-- Jonathan Coupe
[also recommended by Brad Reese]
Casio G-Shock - GW9000A-1
$94
Available from Amazon
GWM5600-1
$88
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Casio
Favorite (15)
Fred Beiderbecke
While I agree with most of the comments, it is not a watch that will live forever.
I have the bottom model pictured. After a few years the switch for the night light went out. Recently the battery died (I have another that I wear more an analog model) and it is unable to reconnect to the satellite.
They are good watches but not indestructible.
isaac32767
I own a Wavceptor watch (not a G-Shock, my lifestyle is a little less exuberant than Jonathan's). I'm more than happy with it, but it isn't quite as perfect as this review states.
The big issue is the radio synchronization. Maybe it works better in the UK, but in the US I don't get a nightly sync signal. (You can tell, because it displays a little icon for the next 24 hours.) Most of the time I get maybe 1 or 2 a week, though I've sometimes gone a few weeks without a signal. Possibly I'd do better if I ever followed the instructions for leaving the watch on a window sill at night. But I'm fine with what I have: even without the signal, the thing is accurate to within a second a day, and being correct to the nearest minute is all I need from a wristwatch. If you're compulsive about always having the exact time, this may not work for you.
The inconsistency of the radio sync also means you can't rely on the automatic DST function. If you need your watch to be correct the first day after the time changes, there's a better than even chance that you'll have to set it manually. And then you can't turn automatic mode back on, because that resets the time to the pre-change value! You can wait until there's another sync and then turn it on, but the easiest way is just not to use automatic DST at all.
As with all fancy digital watches, it also has a ton of features that nobody uses because they're too difficult to use and not really all that useful.
Oh yeah, and not all Waveceptor watches also have the "Solar" feature that means you never need a battery. Not that big a deal -- my battery has lasted 3 years, despite having to drive the analog hands my watch features.
All in all a good watch. Just not as perfect as Jonathan says.
Faramir
One helluva watch. I bought mine sometime in the mid-eighties and it's still going strong. Hard to think of what it's been thru. Mine's the old version with the metal case, can't get 'em light that any more.
Joe Ganley
Don't be too quick to call it indestructible. I had one of the fancier $200 models, and after having had it for only a couple of years I spent a week snorkeling in Costa Rica (to a depth of at most 15 feet), and its water seal leaked and it died. Estimate to fix was almost as much as the watch cost, so I just replaced it ... with a $40 Timex.
Bill S
I've owned three G-Shocks over the past 20 years. I replaced the first after the watchband and battery failed. The second, a DW-5600 (Japan-made), still runs fine, but its shell peeled off. I now have a DW-6600 (Korean).
The batteries are good for at least 5 years. Each of the three gained time, advancing by as much as 20 seconds a day. By contrast, my Timex analogue T20501 loses only one second a month.
Charles Peterson
I owned a solar, atomic Wavceptor G-Shock watch for about 6 months before the solar charging began to fail. I wouldn't buy a watch with the solar charger again but the atomic clock feature was great.
Austin
The only caution I would offer is if something goes wrong while under warranty, Casio's customer service has a pretty bad reputation - your mileage may vary. As to solar watches, Citizen's Eco-Drive is in an entirely different class than Casio.
CyberRanger
I've owned G-Shocks for over 20 yrs. My wife got me my first one while I was in Basic Training, in 1988. It survived U.S. Army Infantry Basic Training, Airborne School, the Ranger Indoctrination Program & a year at 2d Bn 75th Ranger Regiment & beyond. That watch is still running although the outer armor has dry rotted.
I am very hard on watches. Non-digital watches quit running within a few hours after I put them on. No idea why. I'd quit wearing a watch until my wife got me my first G. I've had several since. I had 2 other models between my 1st & my 1st solar G. I beat the crap out of both of those & they still run, but are hideously beat up. The 1st solar G wasn't very good. The solar charging capability was shaky. It spent most of its life being repaired. Its replacement (under warranty) is now my "work on the truck" or "welding" watch.
I now have a MTG-900 Atomic/Solar. It is the best G I've ever had since my 1st. It is stainless steel & works flawlessly. Its always correct & never needs a battery. It illuminates better than any G I've had. The stainless steel body is virtually indestructible... much better than the plastic bodies G's I've had before. It looks as good now as it did when I got it a year ago.
Almost every Ranger I served with wore a G-Shock. I've even seen one survive a fall from over 1000' when a band broke during an airborne jump. I've seen 'em run over by trucks, bashed against rocks, spends days on end in the water & get buried in sand for a year & keep working.
There is a G-Shock made for virtually every kind of activity you can think of. They're tough & compared to other "durable" watches, cheap.
Rodric Gagnon
These watches are standard-issue to US Navy divers. Very reliable for a relatively low cost.
ealmasy
The G-Shock watches are full-featured and amazingly rugged, but one caveat: they are BIG. The GW9000A mentioned above is 4.6cm wide and 1.5cm (almost three-quarters of an inch) thick.
This may not be a concern for some, but for those with smaller wrists or who are used to wearing dressier watches, it can be pretty jarring, so try one on if you can or at least think carefully (maybe measure a watch you are comfortable wearing) before ordering one online.
Jaime Cuesta
I bought my "Solar Atomic G-Shock" about 5 years ago under the misapprehension that the battery would last forever. NOT! It lasted about 4 years, then became comatose, and setting the watch in a brightly sunlit windowsill for a week did nothing to help. Turns out the battery does have to be replaced eventually, and my profligate use of the backlight button may have accelerated its demise. Now I wear a less expensive Casio that has vibrating alarms and a finite but documented battery life.
dogeatshouse
I was a pathfinder with the 101st and managed to break the face of 3 g-shocks when they first came out before I purchased a seiko automatic diver. The seiko is still going to this day, doesn't have any bells and whistles, but I have yet to bust the glass as easily as I did the g-shock's. If I scratch the seiko's glass I just have to polish it out and it's back in business. Not having to worry about a battery is nice too. Either way get a tag heuer rubber watch band. Neither the g-shock nor the seiko bands lasted for as many years as the tag heuer's (10 years so far - recommended to me by a diving buddy).
Cpeterka
Ya gotta watch this test... of the watch... http://tinyurl.com/8meva3
cesar
I bought the original DW5000 in 1983 and for the price it was a good watch with the exception of the band that only lasted a few months,but in those days casio g shocks were something new,a lot of people were using them. There nothing new abaut casios anymore,people got tired of them and analogs are mostly used today,only military and cops are basicaly using them so now is basicaly a working watch.Casios now are built with plastic cases and the bands never got any better so the cases are weaker and the bands are as bad as in the past and the new solar models are having problems wiith the batteries.With all of these i dont think casio is what is used to be in the 80s,now they are just trying to make money in the so called limited editions,some of them with atainless steel cases,but anyway i never used casios again since the 80s and im glad i never did,i used citizen eco drive,they are tough,extremly accurate and the battery realy last a lifetime,i had mine since 97 and never been opened and working great.
fred
need a good source for wave ceptor solar batteries.
i wonder if we will get gouged on the prices. i haven't owned mine long enough to need a replacement. part of me thinks i'll just buy another watch when the time comes:P
its not a capacitor,its a rechargeable battery is all. its probably useful for compensating for the power suck of the atomic time keeping receiver.
dingo
I bought the GWM5600 and found the functionality to be inferior to the regular old DW-5600E. Who cares if you're synced to the second? The batteries in the DW series last years and years and they're plain lithium ones you can get at the drugstore. Not to mention that the GWM's countdown timer can't be set to the second (bad for people that do intervals), and the time isn't visible in all modes. Casio messed with a good thing with the GWM and came out wanting. Buy the DW5600E instead.