Casio

Casio Men's GW6900-1 G-Shock Atomic Digital Sport Watch

• Tough solar power, multi-band 6 atomic timekeeping, shock resistant
• Full auto LED back light, world time
• Daily alarm with snooze, chronograph, 12 and 24 hr formats
• Water resistant up to 660 feet (200 M)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

With a streamlined design and sleek styling, the Casio Men's G-Shock Atomic Digital Watch features performance functions and durable components that meet the lifestyle needs of the modern man. The strong and flexible black resin band fastens with an adjustable buckle, and this innovative timepiece offers World Time with 31 time zones, stopwatch, countdown timer, five alarms, stopwatch, 12- and 24-hour formats, and the handy capacity to automatically receive official atomic time through a built-in antenna. Three circular subdials give you all the information you need, and a rectangular display in the bottom half of the black dial offers the time and day, date, and month information. A handy EL backlight makes for easy viewing in any light conditions and turns on automatically with the tilt of your wrist. With solar power for added convenience and a water resistant depth of 660 feet (200 meters), this rugged and reliable timepiece is also shock resistant.

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

• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00284ADAI
• Item model number: GW6900-1
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,329 in Watches (See Top 100 in Watches)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SPECTACULAR timepiece...has everything you could want, December 6, 2009

By 

J. Hercik "spicymonkey13" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Casio Men's GW6900-1 G-Shock Atomic Digital Sport Watch (Watch)

This is my first Casio watch and up until the time of purchase, I had been one of those "$5-$20 cheap-o sport watch" buyers. So if I were going to spend anything around $90 for a sport watch I would need to make sure it was worth the cost. After reading an article on a men's health/lifestyle website about fashion ([...], I think), they recommended the g-shock series by Casio since they offer a lot of functions and good quality for around $90. I found the GW6900-1 on sale for around $70 and I decided to buy it figuring I could always return it later if it didn't work out. Here are my observations on the two main selling points...

Design: The GW6900-1 is very basic. It's modeled off of the original DW6900 (Casio Men's G-Shock Classic Digital Watch #DW6900-1V) which is apparently G-Shock's best-selling case design. Personally, I feel that the numbers on the display are a little small. But I really like how it's not too crowded or junked up by unnecessary frills. The three circular dials above the time/day/date display are quite simple and indicate 1) the battery strength, 2) which functions are enabled (alarm, snooze alarm, hour signal beep, auto EL and button mute) and 3) a 10-second count indicator. The case/band isn't the sleekest looking - there are more modern styles out there - but it's not ugly by any means. Also, it's a little on the bulky side (doesn't exactly fit under a shirt cuff), but I don't feel it eats up my entire wrist. The 4 function buttons are easy to press and their labels are nice and straight-forward with alternate operations shown just inside the frame. Very easy to follow and operate.

Functions: The product description above pretty much lays out all the cool stuff this watch has going on for it, so I'll try not to be redundant here. I do want to highlight some of the operations that make this worth the price tag.
- Auto-EL (electro-luminescent): One thing that impressed me about this watch even before I put it on was the "smart" back-light. As I removed it from the box, I noticed the back-light come on. I thought something was wrong with it at first, but as I read through the manual I learned that this nifty function is *supposed* to happen. The watch's light turns on for about 1.5 seconds (or 3, your choice) in a dark room when you tilt your wrist towards your eyes without the need to press the button. How cool is that?! You can disable this to save on battery life if you want, but I doubt it's all that necessary. Which brings me to...
- Battery Life: This sucker is equipped with a solar powered battery that lasts up to 10 months on a full charge. Further exposure to light will keep it going and that goes for everything from direct sunlight, to light filtered through windows even to fluorescent lighting found in most buildings. Chances are good that given the amount of interaction most humans have with the sun or other light sources, you won't need to worry about this dying on you anytime soon. (That is unless you're a vampire or really into the goth scene.) Also, it has a power-saving mode you can apply that causes the watch to go into "sleep" mode during the hours of 11pm and 6am.
- Atomic Timekeeping: Like pretty much every cell phone, this watch calibrates time automatically. But it does it in 48 cities across 31 times zones all while taking daylight saving into account. And it runs about 5-6 times in the wee hours of morning just to make sure. (You can set time yourself too if you'd like.) Also, it's classified as multi-band 6 which means it automatically receives signals from pretty much every main radio point around the world (U.S., England, Germany, China and Japan).
- Waterproofing: This is probably a moot point, but I found it neat to learn that with a 20BAR/200M rating, you can pretty much use this while scuba diving.
- The rest: It's got 4 regular alarms and one snooze ("persistent") alarm. A stopwatch that lets you measure elapsed time, split time and two finishes. A countdown timer (which is a non-negotiable for me given that it comes in handy whether your cooking something or doing laundry). Full auto-calendar (pre-programmed until the year 2099) and optional 12/24 hour formats.

That's about all I can really think of. I'm *extremely* pleased with my purchase and intend to have long, happy relationship with this watch!

*** REVIEW UPDATE ***
11/8/10 - A few months ago, I noticed that my watch was not holding a charge as well as it had during the first, several months of ownership. I was especially concerned when I encountered the flashing "LOW" battery indicator several times. Since there's no ideal place in my home to place the watch in sunlight to charge (lots of trees and bushes blocking windows), I would resort to setting it on my car dashboard when I went shopping or under a fluorescent lamp at work or home. Usually, this would bring the meter back up to (at least) medium strength. But the process would need to be repeated in 2-3 days. Frustrated, and thinking I picked the watch with a bad battery, I contacted Casio G-shock customer support and explained my predicament. Here is part of the response I received:

"...Solar G-Shocks must be charged, preferably using sun light rather than fluorescent lighting. You would have to leave it under the light for 73 hrs before it even reaches level one. The sun can charge it in about 17-23 hrs total. A watch that isn't charged will last about 9 months before flashing recovery. You can try letting it charge for 2-3 days, it is normal for the watch to stay on Med. If its on High and quickly goes to Low or flashes recovery, you may need to have the solar cell replaced...."

So apparently I was under the impression that charge times were far shorter than what the customer service rep told me (the result of a gross underestimation found in the instruction manual that comes with the watch). Thankfully and happily, I can report that after 3-4 days of leaving my watch in my car to charge during an 8-hour workday, the battery level indicator is once again showing a level 3 (high) charge.

I felt the need to share this update since there may be other users/potential customers who find themselves in a similar situation. (I noticed at least one very negative review which may have been prompted as such). Bottom line, you may need to be patient to get the results you expect from this timepiece.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GW-6900: A must Have for G-Shock Lovers!!, December 12, 2009

By 

Kristopher Contreras (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Casio Men's GW6900-1 G-Shock Atomic Digital Sport Watch (Watch)

Owning the original DW-6900 and then switching over to the GW-6900 is like talking about night and day. I own both and I must say to Casio: You guy's are freaking awesome! My dream came true when they released this model. All the features of the newer model G-Shocks in the same case design as the original. The GW-6900 is a no hassle basic G with a world time function which boasts 31 time zones with 48 cities to choose from as your home town in order to calibrate it with the Atomic signal. That's another feature I wanted to talk about. Atomic time is one of my favorite features amongst all Casio's. This model so far hasn't skipped a sync at all. Then there's the 200 meter or 660 feet water resistance. Which means that your holding in your hand a dive watch. Next up is another favorite feature of mine which is the solar power. I loath watches that don't boast this technology other than automatic time pieces which can be a bit pricey. Finally that last two features which are non negotiable to me when looking for a digital watch are the 24 hour stopwatch and 24 hour count down timer. These two features are a must for me on any digital. Let's also not forget the 3 daily alarms plus the 1 snooze. It's a great improvement over the 1 alarm the DW model had. In the end owning both the original and the newer model I must say that Casio has done an awesome job in revamping a classic!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars first Casio - and love it, December 19, 2009

By 

Still searching for more classics (Brew City, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Casio Men's GW6900-1 G-Shock Atomic Digital Sport Watch (Watch)

Have worn Nike watches for years for working out. They look nice but are pricey, don't have tons of useful features, aren't the most durable, and show their age very quickly. The glass face on my latest one cracked (the watch actually lasted for six years, not too bad for Nike), and rather than stick with the same brand, I decided to check out what was out there that might be a better value. I came upon the Casio G-Shock series, did some googling and other research and found that there's quite a following for these watches. Decided to order this watch and give it a test run, it has all of the features I'd actually utilize, and at a phenomenal price. I've now had it for a month and have put it thru the ringer, so to speak. Swimming, running, biking, dish-washing, etc etc - Love it so far. I've also decided to make it my official travel watch (travel for work quite a bit) and love the auto sync feature, multi-alarms are great as well. The solar power is also a great feature, the battery has yet to go below the "full" setting. It's a big watch, but light and has a relatively low profile so it doesn't constantly snag shirt sleeves. And I've received quite a few comments on the watch's looks as well. Good find - I'm now hooked on the G-Shocks.