Casio

Casio Men's GW5600J-1 G-Shock Atomic Tough Solar Watch

• Quality Japanese-quartz movement
• Tough Solar Power; shock Resistant; auto EL backlight with Afterglow
• World Time - 29 times zones (30 cities), city code display, daylight saving on/off

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

This Casio G-Shock watch is a highly accurate and durable digital timepiece perfect for travelers, adventurers, or anyone looking for a multi-function, rough-and-ready watch. Featuring atomic timekeeping, the watch automatically sets using radio signals to ensure perfect time accuracy. Charged by solar power, the battery can last up to eight months on a full charge without further exposure to light. The screen indicates the battery level, and the watch comes with a power saving function. Ideal for world travelers or international calls, the watch can be set for 29 time zones (30 cities), with or without daylight savings, and comes with a city code display so you know where you are. The watch also features four daily alarms and one snooze alarm, a countdown timer, a 1/100 second stopwatch, hourly time signals, and an automatic calendar pre-programmed through 2099. The octagonal bezel of dark gray resin gives the watch a distinctive look, and the octagonal digital display window offers an automatic EL backlight with afterglow for easy night reading. The rugged band and case are also made of resin. The watch is designed for enhanced shock resistance, is water resistant up to 660 feet (200 meters).

The Casio Story

With the launch of its first watch in November 1974, Casio entered the wristwatch market at a time when the watch industry had just discovered digital technology. As a company with cutting-edge electronic technology developed for pocket calculators, Casio entered this field confident that it could develop timepieces that would lead the market.

In developing its own wristwatches Casio began with the basic question, ""What is a wristwatch?"" Rather than simply making a digital version of the conventional mechanical watch, we thought that the ideal wristwatch should be something that shows all facets of time in a consistent way. Based on this, Casio was able to create a watch that displayed the precise time including the second, minute, hour, day, and month — not to mention a.m. or p.m., and the day of the week. It was the first watch in the world with a digital automatic calendar function that eliminated the need to reset the calendar due the variation in month length. Rather than using a conventional watch face and hands, a digital liquid crystal display was adopted to better show all the information. This culminated in the 1974 launch of the CASIOTRON, the world’s first digital watch with automatic calendar. The CASIOTRON won acclaim as a groundbreaking product that represented a complete departure from the conventional wristwatch.

Casio transformed the concept of the watch — from a mere timepiece to an information device for the wrist — and undertook product planning based on this innovative idea. We developed not only time functions such as global time zone watches, but also other radical new functions using Casio’s own digital technology, including calculator and dictionary functions, as well as a phonebook feature based on memory technology, and even a thermometer function using a built-in sensor. The memory-function watches became our DATA BANK product series, while the sensor watches developed into two unique Casio product lines of today: the Pathfinder series displaying altitude, atmospheric pressure, and compass readings.

In 1983, Casio launched the shock-resistant G-SHOCK watch. This product shattered the notion that a watch is a fragile piece of jewelry that needs to be handled with care, and was the result of Casio engineers taking on the challenge of creating the world’s toughest watch. Using a triple-protection design for the parts, module, and case, the G-SHOCK offered a radical new type of watch that was unaffected by strong impacts or shaking. Its practicality was immediately recognized, and its unique look, which embodied its functionality, became wildly popular, resulting in explosive sales in the early 1990s. The G-SHOCK soon adopted various new sensors, solar-powered radio-controlled technology (described below), and new materials for even better durability. By always employing the latest technology, and continuing to transcend conventional thinking about the watch, the G-SHOCK brand has become Casio’s flagship timepiece product.

Today, Casio is focusing its efforts on solar-powered radio-controlled watches: the built-in solar battery eliminates the nuisance of replacing batteries, and the radio-controlled function means users never have to reset the time. In particular, the radio-controlled function represents a revolution in time-keeping technology similar to the impact created when mechanical watches gave way to quartz technology. Through the further development of high radio-wave sensitivity, miniaturization, and improved energy efficiency, Casio continues to produce a whole range of radio-controlled models.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 3.2 x 2.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00134JNJG
• Item model number: GW5600J-1
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (152 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,844 in Watches (See Top 100 in Watches)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

109 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For me, the best watch in the world., May 9, 2007

By 

Brian Henderson (White House, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Way back in 1982, I bought one of the first Casio 5000 models. It was incredibly accurate, easy to use, had a countdown timer (which I used a lot) and seemed set to last for ever. In 1988 I crashed my motorcycle, and smashed the crystal on my watch. I threw it in a drawer, bought a new cheap casio (with less functions) and carried on. 3 years later I found the smashed one in the back of the drawer. It was still working and only wrong by 15 seconds! I've had various other watches since then, (really missed the countdown timer), but the Casio G-shocks were all way too thick to suit me. I really fancied the new Solar Powered and Atomic Clock synced Casios, but they were still too thick (and didn't have a countdown timer).
Then I found the GW5600J. Based on the old 5000 series, Atomic, Solar Powered, 5 alarms and a countdown timer, full backlight. And the same style and thickness as my old 5000! Not thin, but not ridiculous either.
I've had it a week now, I love it, I expect it to last the rest of my life (this sucker is tough), and neat, clear, easy to use and accurate!
If you like digital watches (as opposed to analog), this is the one.

169 of 177 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Two steps forward, four steps back, October 24, 2009

By 

HOV600R - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Casio Men's GW5600J-1 G-Shock Atomic Tough Solar Watch (Watch)

This is a solid, well-built watch. Had I purchased it alone I would have loved it. The problem is that I had ordered two versions at the same time to decide which one I liked better. I got this one and the non-solar, non-atomic, 1987-tech DW-5600E at the same time to compare.

Features the J has that the E doesn't have:

Solar power
Atomic time updates
Multiple alarms & snooze alarm
World time
Auto backlight on when raising your wrist in the dark

Features the E has that the J doesn't have:

Day & date displayed simultaneously on main screen
Countdown timer adjustable to seconds (instead of minutes as on the J model)
Alarm can be set for a specific time, day or month, or any recurring combination of the two
Smaller footprint for both wrist area and height
Time is visible in all screens except alarm set

The bottom line here is that the DW5600-E does the basic task of a timepiece better: it tells you the time, day, and date more easily and with less hassle than the newer model. There is no selecting the home city, putting your watch at a certain position in the window at night, worrying about charging up the battery, and all the techno-tasks related to a supposedly maintenance-free watch.

The fidelity of setting seconds on the countdown timer is crucial for fitness use (a minute is forever when doing something physically challenging...), or photography (I still develop film and 15 seconds can mean overdevelopment...), or cooking, scientific experiments, etc.

The 5600-E is lighter, smaller, and more comfortable to wear. The size difference may not seem like a lot on the spec sheet but the difference is tangible in practice. I like a slim, low profile watch and the 5600-E wins in this area.

It's also about half the price. The batteries on these things last ten years; if you spend the extra dough on the solar model it will take you the rest of your life to make up the cost difference. Also, the accuracy of these watches is great - you may get out of synch by about a minute per year, something you can adjust when you switch back & forth from DST. Neither solar nor atomic is a compelling reason to spend twice the money.

New in this case doesn't mean better. Unless you're a frequent traveler with world time being a prime consideration, or have a need for four daily alarms, the older 5600-E does the job of telling time easier and more affordably.

66 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, Retro Look, Just right functionality, August 24, 2007

By 

Just Anonymous (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

Multi-Band (US and Japan), Solar, G-Shock, World Time, and great retro looks makes this a great watch.

I've been looking for an Atomic Solar watch for some time and it appears that everything in the market is just too fancy for me....many atomic solar watches are gigantic, others have compasses, barometers, thermometers etc and although those functionalities are great....

sometimes, most of the time, during weekends - when going hiking etc -- many features needed in a great outdoors watch are unnecessary at the pool, mall, movies, bookstore etc.

The 5600 has all the right features:

1) solar (8month power reserve on one charge)
2) atomic (two zones US and Japan)
3) power saving mode
4) back light (the good backlight that makes the whole display glow)
5) world time (29 cities)
6) easy setup of two time zones
7) stopwatch
8) countdown timer
9) g-shock -- very tough
10) waterproof to 200meters (good for scuba diving or the pool)
11) replaceable band
12) multiple alarms
13) Auto sync with atomic or manual sync
14) Manual time set (calenar to 2099--I'll be dead by then so that works I think)

On the con side, this watch is a bit big but for some reason its not overpowering on the wrist even for midsize guys -- it looks like it belongs there....big but not huge and definitely not small.

In its basic mode it tells:

1) time (hours minutes seconds)
2) day or month/date
3) pm (or 12/24 hour time zone and whether you're in daylight savings time)
4) how much battery you have
5) whether it has signal from the atomic time sync

Overall, I feel comfortable wearing this watch and don't feel like I'm wearing a supercomputer on my wrist. It certainly won't impress anyone but it does what its supposed to to: tell time accurately without replacing batteries and without worry that it'll get banged up against something.

This is a great watch. I owned one like it in the 80s and am very glad they updated it with modern technology while keeping the core aspects of it the same. I got from mytimepiece on Amazon (quick delivery and exactly as promised -- great store).

Only hard thing was going through the extremely wide selection of great Casio watches to find this one. I'm sure I'll get a Pathfinder at some point to go hiking etc and feel like I can survive in the wild with just it and a knife (and to keep up with the joneses) but for the mall, supermarket, pool, backyard, and for treks through Cambodia, Africa, Asia -- this will be my go-to watch probably for the next 10 years.