Customer Reviews

Casio Men's GS1100-2A G-Shock GIEZ Series Multi-Band Solar Atomic Watch

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've only had this watch for a short while, but thought I'd share my first impressions of it. I chose the Casio GS1100-2A (Giez) for a few reasons. First, I'm not a big fan of digital watch displays ... I prefer the traditional analog style with hour, minute and second hands. Secondly, as an owner of a rather expensive dress watch that must be sent back to the factory every few years for battery replacement, I wanted an everyday watch that wouldn't require a lot of maintenance. Finally, although I really didn't need a chronograph, I travel a lot and wanted a watch that could handle multiple time zones. Ultimately, the Giez offered more of the features I was looking for than the others watches I looked at.

The Giez is part of Casio's G-Shock line, meaning that it's designed to withstand harsher conditions and isn't as sensitive to being hit or dropped. The casing both looks and feels solid, nothing cheap about this watch. I chose the GS1100-2A because of it's blue face. For me, the blue face appeared to be slightly easier to read than the black face of the GS1100-1A (which otherwise is the same watch). I also just liked the color.

The display itself consists of a traditional watch dial with three smaller chronograph-style dials within. The hour and minute hand work as you would expect, but what at first appears to be the second hand is in fact not the second hand at all. Seconds are displayed by the small inner dial at the bottom center. The large hand that looks like a second hand is really used as an indicator to assist in selecting city time zones, as well as some other functions. In the stopwatch mode, this same hand serves to measure 1/20th second increments.

The two other inner dials on the main indicate the day of the week (mo,tu,we,etc...)and the hour of the day (using a 24-hour scale.) There's also a small window to display the current date.

The Giez comes with a resin watch band. I would have preferred a metal band (simply for style), but the resin band is suitable for harsher environments, and so it's standard on G-Shock watches.

Another feature of the GS1100-2A is that it uses Casio's "Tough Solar" technology to keep the battery charged. Unlike non-solar watches, the battery in the Giez is rechargable, and depends upon the solar receptor (on the face of the watch) to keep it charged. Without light, the battery will last only about 5 months, as compared to the 2, 5 and 10-year lifespans of non-solar watch batteries. The manual contains a guide as to how much light the watch should get each day in order to keep going. If you're outside in direct sunlight (50,000 lux), you'll only need to expose your watch for about 8 minutes and if you're inside, with your watch exposed to direct sunlight through a window, you must keep it exposed for about 30 minutes per day. On the other hand, if you're inside (and not near a window on a sunny day), only exposed to typical fluorescent lighting, you'll need to keep the watch exposed to light for about 8 hours. Assuming you're wearing your watch, that means you'll have to wear it outside of your sleeve so that it can charge properly. Casio recommends that when you're not wearing the watch, place it somewhere that will be exposed to bright light. This may not be convenient for everybody.

In terms of accuracy, like many quartz watches, the Giez maintains an accuracy of +/- 20 seconds per month. However, it has one additional feature to help that along. The GS1100-2A is also part of Casio's Wave Ceptor "Atomic" line of watches. Each night (the exact time depends upon your home region) the Giez will attempt to receive the UTC time signal generated by the NIST Atomic Clock in Colorado and synchronize its time. Doing this nightly will keep your watch accurate to less than a second of the atomic clock's time. It also makes sure your weekday and date settings are correct. If you have the automatic Daylight Savings Time feature activated, the watch will even adjust itself forward and/or back one hour at the proper times of the year.

The actual time synchronization signal is broadcast by a 50,0000 watt transmitter in Fort Collins, Colorado, which (depending upon atmospheric conditions) can be received up to 2000 miles away. This covers the mainland US, but folks in Hawaii and Alaska may not be able to get the signal. Even then, geographic conditions (such as mountains) and other obstacles (such as buildings and tall trees) can also inhibit reception. So, there's no guarantee that your watch will be able to synchronize automatically. I live in New Hampshire and was worried about that after hearing that the Northeast is particularly difficult in terms of time signal reception. The first day I got the watch, I tried a manual synchronization from inside my home office on the first floor. Even though I put the watch near a window as instructed in the manual, the synchronization failed. Before I went to bed however, I placed the watch on an upstairs window sill that faces west. (The manual recommends placing the watch by a window.) During the night, the watch will make up to 6 attempts to receive the UTC signal and synchronize itself. Supposedly, the signal is best received in the early morning hours. The next day I woke up and immediately went over to the window to check on the watch. The Giez provides a way to let you know if the last synchronization attempt was successful and sure enough, it had worked fine. Of course, what that means is that if I want to keep the watch synchronized with the Atomic clock, I'll have to make sure to take it off and put it on the window sill each night. That's not going to be a big deal for me, but it may be to some. The transmitter in Colorado is not the only one in the world, there are also transmitters in Japan, the U.K. and Germany. Most Casio Wave Ceptor watches will recieve the US and Japan signals (helpful for those traveling to Japan.) However, the GS1100-2A also recieves the the U.K. and Germany signals, which most of the other Wave Ceptor watches do not. Unless you'll be travelling to those areas of the world, that extra functionality won't be useful to you. (I travel a lot, so that was a factor for me.)

As far as operating the watch is concerned, it's obvious that the more features a watch has, the more buttons (and button sequences) you'll need to learn. The GS1100-2A has a stopwatch and an alarm. It also can be used as a world time watch, with settings for 29 time zones. There are 4 buttons on the watch (one protruding from each quadrant of the case). Depending upon the function you want, you must press one or more of those buttons in specific sequences, and/or hold them in for specific lengths of time. Some won't want to be bothered to memorize those sequences while others won't mind ... but it's something to be aware of. So far I've learned only a few of the basic sequences, but I'm still referencing the manual for most operations. It took me a bit of time to initially set up the watch because of that. The manual is complete, but a bit confusing in some sections. It could have been written better.

Interestingly, when the watch is adjusting it's time, or transitioning from one world time zone to another, or changing from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time, motors inside the watch actually rotate the hands automatically, so there's no need for you to manually turn a knob.

All in all, I like this watch. It's quite solid and appears to be well built. I can tell it's going to last awhile. It has a good feature set, and it's a bit more stylish than many "geeky" hi-tech watches. Like many hi-tech watches, there's a bit of a learning curve in terms of it's operation; And as I stated earlier, in order to take advantage of the Solar and Atomic Synchronization features, you may have to alter your daily habits in order to accommodate the need for light, and to also position the watch near a window at night in order for it to receive the time signal. If the the solar feature isn't of interest to you and you don't want to have to think about keeping it charged, I'd definitely look at a different watch. Most of the non-solar watches offer much better battery life. Also, if you're living in a city (in between tall buildings) or if you are nestled in between high mountains where signals may not get through, you might not want to pay the extra bucks for the atomic time feature. I lucked out and can get the signal, but others may not be that lucky.

The retail price of this watch is $300.00. I paid about $200.00, but I've seen it advertised on-line for a few dollars less (although shipping costs may offset that.)

Casio's GS-1100-21 Stainless Atomic Tough Solar "GIEZ" is a high end Casio that is a technopile's delight. Because it receives the radio timing signal in Europe, Asia, and the US it can be used in international travel. The user's manual requires VERY close reading and the operation of the watch some learning and patience. A truly attractive time piece, it is a delight to own and a pleasure to wear.

Dick R.

The Casio Men's Multi-Band Atomic Watch #GS1100-2A is a fantastic, rugged, very solid watch. It's also water and shock resistent. Very attractive styling, and the blue face is easy to read. It's heavy and thick, but the face is actually slightly smaller in diameter than I'd thought, which is perfect because I was expecting a massive chunk of a watch. As soon as I took the watch out of the box, interior motors automatically began winding the hands to the correct time for (not surprisingly) the wrong time zone (preset?). But that's okay. After a quick glance through the operating manual, which will definitely take some patience, I manually synchronized the time with the atomic clock. The hour and minute hands are luminous after just a few minutes in light, and are bright in darkness (although I haven't timed how long the luminous quality persists). The watch seems incredibly well-constructed and durable, and I have no doubt that this watch will last for years, if not decades. The urethane band seems comfortable enough. I do have trouble reading the day of the week on the chronograph-style dial, but that's a very minor thing. Both the second hand (located on one of the interior dials, not where you'd expect it) and the date window are both easy to see. I still haven't figured out how to do everything, yet, but if you plow through the operating manual, it's worth the time even though the manual isn't always simple to understand. The stopwatch works fine, as does the alarm, which only chirps for 10 seconds. I am impressed with this watch and happy with my purchase. Worth the money. (I ordered mine from shopemco, and they did a great job of boxing it up securely and shipping it very quickly - thank you, shopemco!!!) I hope this review helps you.

I purchased this watch about a week ago and so far it's worked just fine for me. I think it's an attractive rugged looking watch that should last me a long time. But, there are a couple of things that I don't like.

As another reviewer said: The dial is small by today's standards. The case feels to be an appropriate size, but the actual dial is only a small portion of the face. You feel as if you're looking through the porthole on a deep sea submarine when you're trying to tell the time.

The small dial at the 3 o'clock position combines the following functions (day of the week, daylight savings/standard time, alarm mode and minute hand for the stop watch) With all those responsibilities the markings are exceedingly small. Forget trying to read the actual print when looking for the day of the week unless you really stop and stare directly at it under very bright lights. At a glance, it just appears as 7 hash marks.

The dial is rimmed by a series of markings denoting different times zones or cities within those time zones. The markings are small and since they're under the crystal they contribute to making the dial feel small. They're used when you're using "world time" mode. In other words, when you're setting the watch to different time zones.

I also have to take issue with how you switch between certain modes. The only way to get to the alarm mode is to go through the world time mode by pressing the left lower button twice in quick succession. If you're not fast enough, then the watch will stop in world time mode, thereby resetting your watch to another time zone(which can take awhile depending on the time zone selected, as the hour and minute hands will slowly sweep through to the appropriate time)This can be frustrating when all you want to do is change the alarm and you then have to wait 20 seconds while the watch resets the time.

This business with the lower left button is particularly frustrating when you realize that both buttons on the right hand side are used for the stopwatch. Does this make sense to have one button on the left perform two functions while using two buttons on the right to manipulate the stop watch? I also own another Casio G-shock Geiz watch that has all the same functions, but does not have this bizarre button setup.

When I first received the watch I tried the manual mode for receiving the atomic clock signal. I was never able to get it to work. But strange enough the automatic mode worked perfectly in the middle of the night and has worked ever since.

Other than the small size and quirky way the buttons are set up, I'm pretty pleased with this watch.

Would a sapphire crystal instead of a mineral crystal be too much to ask?

Received as X-mas gift, and I'm very pleased. Operates well, only complaint is with Instruction booklet. Trying to set Alarm takes some doing, but persistance (and practice) pays off. Looks great and Atomic time setting (automatic) is really neat, and accurate !

The watch set the time and date by itself. I have not had to read any instructions or do anything so far. Looks great, perfect time and sets itself...hey, what's not to like.

Good watch only little fault is the date could be a little bigger making easier to read and the strap easier to put on ,as for multi band only used in USA and UK but keeps perfect time

Hits:
Battery is recharged by light. This works very well. The watch needs very little light to run continuously.
Chronograph functionality is easy to use.
Misses:
Watch face is small by today's standards. This makes the inner dials very hard to read.
I have yet to get it to read the "atomic" time.

I have always wanted this watch, so when I was asked what I wanted for my birthday the choice was easy. There are two types of people who might purchas this watch. First there is the Geek, who loves to play with the complications. Second is the COOL DUDE, who just likes the looks. I am the second,& to me,It really looks good.
This watch is also made with a black dial, but I would reccomend the blue as it is easier to read.
I got the urethane band which I like better than the steel counterpart.It makes the watch lighter, & goes with the rugged look.
One disappointing feature is that Casio uses a mineral crystal, which makes scratching more likely.
All in all, I give this watch 5 stars,as it satisfied all that I was looking for. Buy it,& you will probably look as rugged as I do.

The GS1100 is a beautiful watch. I just wish it was easier to set up. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get the atomic signal for the auto time setting but I bought it anyway figuring I could manually set it up. The miniscule manual is difficult to read and is at some times vague. Seeing the dials on the face is hard enough. One mistake and you could be waiting a awhile before you can readjust it again as all buttons are locked out until the hourly hands stop. I've followed the directions but the stop watch second hand is locked on my home city. I can't reset it to 12 o'clock position for some reason. Maybe I got a faulty one. I'm going to try and work on it more today. But I'm really considering returning it.