green g-lide glx-5600a-3jf

one of the latest incarnation of the classic square 5600 series is the g-lide series first launched in the middle of 2008. this is a totally new watch containing a module that features a tide graph and moon phase indicator more commonly seen in the non-atomic gulfman these days.

the first three that were made available came in black, red and white.  the first special edition of this totally new model was a collaboration with the brand in4mation: the glx-5600x-3jr which proved to be a bestseller. in the space of one year three in4mation g-lide models have been released, the latest being the salmon pink glx-5600xa-4jr that followed the gls-5600x-6jr – dubbed in some circles as “purple rain“.

although i have been a fan of the square dw-5600 variants for the longest time, the new square g-lides did not appeal to me initially. i find the display too cluttered with the addition of the tide and moon functions.

in april this year, casio announced five more new square g-lide models. of the five, the one that interested me most is this glx-5600x-3jf. these set of watches were officially released on may 31, 2009 in japan and i am surprised it is already available i singapore (all except the salmon pink in4mation special edition).

the band printing include the word “g-lide” and a floral pattern running along the length of both straps; details which i had not noticed previously in the stock pictures from casio.

the green is highly glossy and i’m pretty sure both the bezel and straps are coated and will eventually peel given enough abuse. for now this seems like a fun and cheery watch to have.

gold defender iv : dw-069gm-9jf – black warrior of the north

rounding up the gold defender series is the dw-069gm-9jf, dubbed the black tortoise of the north – sometimes known as the black warrior of the north (北方玄武, Běi Fāng Xuán Wǔ). the word tortoise can sometimes be deemed derogatory to chinese… nobody likes to be labelled one. this explains why warrior is probably preferred.

the basic dw-6900 design has been a mainstay in g-shock’s product line. the three-eye devil is a favourite candidate for special editions and collaborations, so it was no surprise it was regularly included in early special series.

like dw-056gm, the dw-069gm is encased in a very basic black bezel and straps. the gold theme is maintained through the use of yellow letterings on the bezel and light button. an extra touch applied to the watch is a gold and reflective border encircling the perimeter of the display.

the colourway of this watch also reminds me of the early stussy and bape dw-6900 watches.

extracted from wikipedia:

“The Black Tortoise is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. The word for tortoise was taboo; and the entire entity is not just the tortoise itself, but both the tortoise and the snake. It is known as Genbu in Japan and Hyeonmu in Korea. It represents the north and the winter season.

In ancient China, the tortoise and the snake were thought to be spiritual creatures symbolising longevity. During the Han Dynasty, people often wore jade pendants that were in the shape of tortoises. Because of ancient Chinese influence on Japan, honorific titles and badges in Japan often referred to the tortoise or images of tortoises.”

gold defender iii : dw-056gm-9jf – azure dragon of the east

built around the classic dw-5600, the gold defender dw-056gm-9jf offer very subtle design details that may not make its membership in the series obvious.

unlike certain collaboration models and special editions that try to milk the watch’s limited real estate such as plastering the straps with logos/prints or over-elaborate designs on the display, the dw-056gm retains much of the visual elements of the basic dw-5600.

a thin yellow thin bordering the edge of the “dial” (do we call the face of digital watches a dial?) is followed by a second thicker border of the same colour.

the closest thing to gold on the watch is probably the lcd display that possess a slight gold/yellow tinge rather than the standard clear display. the bezel and straps are a standard black though the straps are of a different variety from the standard dw-5600. the strap retainer is also double-holed on the reverse side. lastly, the buckle is slightly bigger as well.

and of course the presence of the defender in question. in this case, the dw-056gm is badged as the azure dragon of the east. the dragon greets you when the backlight is activated, and a small illustration of the dragon in profile is printed on one of the straps.

extracted from wikipedia:

“The Azure Dragon is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. It is sometimes called the Azure Dragon of the East (東方青龍 / 东方青龙 / Dōng Fāng Qīng Lóng.

In Japan, the Azure Dragon (Seiryuu) is one of the four guardian spirits of cities and is said to protect the city of Kyoto on the east. The west is protected by the White Tiger, the north is protected by the Black Tortoise, the south is protected by the Vermilion Bird, and the center is protected by the Yellow Dragon.”

non-atomic mirb g-9200ms-8dr to be released

the website of javys, the hong kong g-shock distributor, has released information on a non-atomic version of the men in rusty black riseman – g-9200ms-8dr

this probably means we can see this model in singapore and probably the rest of the world soon. the atomic gw-9200ms riseman was (so far) a japan-only release. some of us (including myself) are still keeping our fingers crossed there will be a release for this atomic riseman in north america.

click on the image below for a larger view. the original javys web-page can be viewed here.

gold defender ii : g-2300gm-9jf – suzaku of the south

the second piece in the gold defender series is the g-2300gm-9jf. this was was dubbed “suzaku of the south“

suzaku is the japanese name of the  vermilion bird (朱雀 – zhu que). the korean name is jujak.

first a little on the g-2300 model…

the watch uses the 2184 module which is actually pretty feature-packed.

for a start, it has the popular tough solar technology which means the need for battery change is eliminated if you give the watch a nice regular tan.

in world time mode, the watch allows selection of one of  27 cities spread over 29 time zones. a databank also provides storage of up to 30 entries of names and telephone numbers; while five different alarms can be set. these features will probably look dated in the age of the iphone… but wait… i don’t think my iphone has the auto lightswitch feature – tilt the wrist in the correct angle and you activate the backlight with one hand.

i believe the basic g-2300 model is still widely available at an affordable price but i could be wrong. few people seem to wear this model in singapore now that the modern mudman and gulfman have made quite a splash in the market here.

extracted from wikipedia:

“The Vermilion bird is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. According to Wu Xing, the Taoist five-elemental system, it represents the fire-element, the direction south, and the season summer correspondingly. Thus it is sometimes called the Vermilion bird of the South (南方朱雀, Nán Fāng Zhū Què)…

The Vermilion bird is an elegant and noble bird in both appearance and behavior, it is very selective in what it eats and where it perches, with its feathers in many different hues of reddish orange.

The Vermilion bird is often associated with the mythical Phoenix due to their associations with fire.”

like the feathers of the suzaku, the bezels of the gold defender frogman and g-2300 take on different hues of gold and sparkle depending on the viewing angle; somewhat like the purplish gw-201-6jf snake killer frogman, the g-2000fl-6jr, and the dw-6900fl-6jr. the g-2300gm-9jf’s straps do not receive the royal gold treatment though, but is kept black and decorated with a small picture of the suzaku.

gold defender: gw-200gm-9jf frogman

realised this blog has been inactive for the entire month of may. so here’s what my lazy ass produced after a quick shoot.

the gw-200gm-9jf is part of the g-shock gold defender series released in march 2002. sjors also featured this previously on 50-gs.

each watch in the series takes on an element in ancient chinese mythology. the frogman is dubbed the “white tiger of the west”. i’ve managed to complete the entire series and hopefully will be able to feature them here soon.

i seem to have developed a bad habit of trying to acquire a second copy of each frogman i own (within the limits of my wallet of course).

these gold defenders arrived on my doorstep about a year apart. the recent purchase had some dinks on the bezel and the gold coating had lost some of its shine.

the white tiger lurking in the backlight and on one of the straps.

x-treme g-lide: dwx-111bd-8t willy santos

the dwx-111bd-8t is my only g-shock with the g-lide label. i think traditionally, g-lide models are associated with xtreme sports such as surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding.

the most recent gls-5600 and glx-5600 collab models all feature tide and moon graphs as well.

the first dwx-1xx g-lide was introduced in october 1998 and almost all of them came in sporty colours. according to g-shock perfect search, 39 models were released. some models also came with cloth straps other than resin.

besides the standard models, there were various collaboration special editions.

the dwx-111bd willy santos is part of a series of three special editions released in september 1999, each honouring a professional skateboarder. the two other g-lides in the series are: dw-111bd-4at steve caballero and dw-111bd-4bt omar hassan.

there are various design details in this series. all sport customised logos in the backlight. sadly, the light in this piece is spoilt and will cost 50sgd to fix at marco marketing.

the same logo is also printed on the watch band while the skateboarder’s signature is featured on the caseback.

g-hunting in taipei

currently taking a short holiday in taipei. was window shopping in 西門町 when i found a building in the area that houses several watch shops.

that spelled bad news for the wallet as soon i found out the mirb gw-200ms and master blue gw-225c were selling below the singapore retail price… i already have these models but the prices were just too tasty.

another shop also carried the dawn black gw-225a and gw-225e. should i or shouldn’t i?

real black vs men in rusty black part iv

the concluding part of today’s comparison is for the frogman.

in the case of the mirb gw-200ms-1jf, the frogman has raised the most debate in various areas – from the price to the colour of the screen and the look of the bezel and bands.

comparison with the famous real black dw-8200bk-1jf frogman has been centred on one main front: the colour of the display. physically they are obviously different models.

the real black is famous for the reddish/pinkish tint. someone found the mirb too pink, too sissy. well at least he is man enough to state that.

this series of comparison pictures is not meant to be scientific nor empirical. but just for the fun of it, i’ve thrown in the black helios gw-200bc-1jf  frogman in the last picture as a minor form of control. the black helios has a standard display, but it does have that “sissy” pink in its eye.

real black vs men in rusty black part iii

the third installment of the real black vs men in rusty black pictorial comparision features my favourite g-shock.

as mentioned  numerous times previously in this blog, the dw-8400 is one of my favourite g-shock designs. on the other hand,  the updated g-9000 new generation mudman is a very popular model among collectors and someone looking for an utilitarian but cool-looking watch (there is a third incarnation in the form of the gw-9010 rally mudman which i vowed never to touch…).

so here’s the men in rusty black g-9000ms-1jf and the real black dw-8400bk-1mjf: