wus member kiwidj has pointed the way to a new video on the g-shock.jp website promoting the new gwf-1000 atomic frogman.
have taken the liberty to upload the clip onto youtube. you can also download the video directly from here. the file is in flv format.
seeing that i have been plain lazy to snap my own watches these past couple of months, i’ve decided to at least make myself useful and do some g-community service.
fresh from stumbling on the as-yet-unconfirmed mastermind japan atomic frogman, a grail member of a grail series has been spotted on yahoo auctions japan: the dw-9000bk from the very cool real black series.
i believe this is only the second copy of this watch that i’ve seen on yahoo since frequenting the auction site from end 2007.
the previous copy was snapped up by a buyer who subsequently flipped it on ebay; and the last known address of that piece is another collector in singapore who i befriended a few months ago.
at 69,800yen –> 63,000yen, it is pricier than more than a few notable g-shocks i can name offhand: the new atomic frogman, a near mint brazilian frogman gw-200cf, a mint icerc blue jelly frogman gw-202…
to be fair, the dw-9000bk is rarer than the real black mudman dw-8400bk and even more so than the real black frogman dw-8200bk. it was never officially listed in the g-shock perfect search archive, nor any of the g-shock bibles i own.
this is also the first time i have seen the full model number: dw-9000bk-1v : an indication perhaps that this was an export model that was not officially released in japan. the auction description seem to reinforce this too.
to sweeten the deal, the seller is also including an extra set of original straps. “www.g-shock.com” was printed on the underside of the retainers in the following real black watches: dw-056bk, dw-069bk.
photo © jahan’s blog hosted on hypebeast
“cult japanese label” mastermind japan (mmj) showcased its fall/winter 2009 collection in taipei on august 12 and in attendance were a host of personalities involved in fashion, street culture, entertainment and the like.
singapore-born artist jahan attended the show and posted some pictures on his blog over at hypebeast.
among the installations, art and personalities pictured in the blog was the above frogman!
the new atomic frogman(s) gwf-1000 and gwf-1000b were officially announced on august 27. so is this new special edition really in the works?
from the single picture, it seems this model will have a red tint ala the real black frogman dw-8200bk-1jf.
a custom logo in the backlight seems de riguer for a high-end limited edition such as this and it seems a pair of skull and cross-bones (the mastermind japan logo) are used.
if this collaboration materialises, it will not be the first mmj g-shock. the mastermind japan x g-shock valentine’s boxset comprising a dw-5600 and a dw-6900 was released in february 2008. here’s a recap:
i also had a chance to look into my g-rystal ball and saw the following:
1. hype beasts (–pronoun) hobbling on the streets after selling a kidney (maybe two…) to buy this watch.
2. the usual heated debate about the (de)merits of such a watch, as seen here and here.
hidden within the pages of the current casio catalog available to retailers are two new g-5500 tough solar models which i missed thanks to the onslaught of the new g-5600 and g-6900 variations.
while window-shopping this evening, i popped into a g-factory (“g-factories” are official casio stores here in singapore) and was surprised to see the dark grey g-5500ts-8 and yellow g-5500ts-9. these are currently selling at the full recommended retail price of about 170sgd.
these watches seem like further extensions to the g-5500 line-up with simple colour variations. they do however feature custom logos in the backlight: the city codes of new york city and tokyo are used in the g-5500ts-8 and g-5500ts-9 respectively.
the two models are currently not featured in the g-shock perfect search archive but some online japanese retailers do carry them.
***all pictures featured belong to their individual rights owners.***
in july 2009, casio introduced a whole new line-up of colour variations to the gw-m5600. these were essentially colour updates to the multi-band 5 models: gw-m5600-1jf, gw-m5600bc-1jf and the somewhat limited gw-m5600r-1jf.
available in white, yellow and dark green, it was soon revealed non-atomic versions sporting tough solar will also be available. these became the colour variations for the recently released g-5600e, the refreshed and updated version of the classic dw-5600e.
the dark green g-5600a-3 was my favourite in the set and after picking up the white and yellow versions earlier this week, my regular shop at the bencoolen finally received the the final piece in the collection.
upon receiving the actual watch, i had a pleasant surprise.
the g-5600r-3 has a very lovely and permanent blue/green hue in the display even when the backlight is not activated. this is reminiscent of the old g-viper g-5600gh-8jf, another watch that is also a classic in collectors’ circles.
the colour of the bezel and straps closely resemble the dw-5600fs-3jf (hero). here’s a quick comparison:
a recap of my recent tough solar acquisitions:
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
“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.
