Casio

Casio Men's WVA320J-1E Atomic Tough Solar Waveceptor Sports Watch

• Tough solar power, waveceptor atomic keeping, world time, 3 daily alarms
• LED light with afterglow, Neo-Brite luminous hand and markers
• Stopwatch, 12 and 24 hr formats

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Based on the best-selling AMW320 case design, the Casio Men's Atomic Tough Solar Waveceptor Sports Watch #WVA320J-1E is more powerful and more accurate than ever thanks to Casio's Solar Power and Waveceptor Atomic Timekeeping technology. With its classic dive style design (which include features like a rotating bezel, resin band, and an LED display built into its bold, black dial), this handsome timepiece is ready for a day at the office or inspection by the ship's divemaster. The watch's reliable Japanese quartz movement is solar powered--which can accurately keep time up to six months without further exposure to light. And if you're in the US or Japan, the watch receives time calibration radio signals (up to six times per day), so you always know your watch is set to the right time. Other technical features include three daily alarms, an LED light with Afterglow technology, Neo-Brite luminous hands and markers, a stopwatch that records split time, a calendar (pre-programmed until the year 2099), 12- and 24-hour formats, and water resistance to 330 feet (100 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

• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002J4UBFO
• Item model number: WVA320J-1E
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,475 in Watches (See Top 100 in Watches)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not A Dive Watch!, March 1, 2010

By 

Mechwarrior "Smoke Jaguar" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Casio Men's WVA320J-1E Atomic Tough Solar Waveceptor Sports Watch (Watch)

The watch looks better in person than it does in the pictures. I recommend going to a brick and mortar store before committing on Amazon. The watch looks much better with an after-market nylon zulu/nato strap. Another version with a steel bracelet is offered, but I've heard that the quality on the bracelet is not great, so I recommend after-market bracelets (watch has standard 22mm lugs). The lume on the hands is very bright, unfortunately, the rest of the lume is a little dim, not sure if that is meant on purpose. Weak lume is a non-issue since the watch has a electric light that adequately illuminates the watch. The digital display can be used for a number of things, not just weekday and calendar day indication. It can also display different time zone times, power meter, stop watch, digital time, digital second indicator... etc. Its really cool to see that the digital time is exactly synchronized with the analog time. THIS IS NOT A DIVE WATCH! As far as a I can tell, the watch is not rated for diving, but it is styled after dive watches so I find that a little misleading. The bezel is unidirectional with 120 clicks. The atomic synchronization doesn't seem to work well here in Miami, reception from FT. Collins is poor to non-existent, but that is not Casio's fault. NIST has plans to build a station that will cover the east coast of the US but plans are not set in stone or near the horizon, so I wouldn't hold my breath. Bought the watch at $120 from Amazon (noticed the price went up :( Initially was told that the watch would ship in 1 month! but the actual ship time was a lot shorter in reality. I agree with another reviewer that the watch was a little confusing to setup initially and that the manual was a little confusing but eventually you will figure it out with a little patience.

Bottomline --- Watch is not perfect, it is not dive rated but is probably well suited for all other water activities. Packs plenty of high-tech features in a classic appearance. If you like the dive watch style but don't want the clunkiness of a dive watch, this is it. Casio reliability and quality is legendary.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice watch - poor manual, October 25, 2009

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Casio Men's WVA320J-1E Atomic Tough Solar Waveceptor Sports Watch (Watch)

I just purchased this watch at Sears. This is my first Atomic watch as I wanted a watch that I could travel with and have it take care of keeping accurate time and adjusting to the local time zone. The luminous dial is bright and the night light works very well.

This is not my first Casio so I was surprised to find how poorly the owners manual was written. I had to do trial and error just to figure out how to adjust the watch. Simple things such as setting the main time as well as the 2nd time zone were not clearly described in the owners manual. I found the manual referencing a model of watch different than the one I purchases yet the manual has the correct watch model number on it.

With regards to the quality of the watch I find it to be equivalent to the Citizen EcoDrive watches that I own. If the manual was better I would give the watch 5 stars.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review from a Fan of Casio Watches, March 31, 2010

By 

E. Shin (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Casio Men's WVA320J-1E Atomic Tough Solar Waveceptor Sports Watch (Watch)

INTRODUCTION

As revealed by the title for this review, I am a big fan of Casio watches. Always have been, given their looks, utility, quality, and price. While there are the "lower-end" lines of Casio watches (read, cheap), this is certainly not one of them. In fact, in my opinion, this is overall the best Casio watch I have ever owned or seen.

OBVIOUS ADVANTAGES

(1) Low Maintenance: With Tough Solar and Waveceptor technologies combined, this is the most low maintenance watch you can own. Once you set it up, you're pretty much done for the life of the watch. Imagine never having to change a battery or correct the time of your watch again. Now repeat. What a great feeling.

(2) Tough Solar: A bit repetitive of my first point, but the prospect of never having to change a battery makes this watch - and other Casio Tough Solar watches - tough to beat. This is my third Tough Solar watch. My other two have never had battery issues, and I have had them for over three years.

(3) Waveceptor: Atomic timekeeping is an excellent feature, assuming you can get a good signal for your watch to synchronize. Unfortunately, living on the east coast, my signal is weak.

(4) Looks: Obviously, a very subjective category. To me, the "beauty" of this watch is its timeless and straightforward design - nothing too fancy or crazy, but with some subtle styling cues that make it far beyond the ordinary. In particular, Casio's use of red lettering for certain letters/numbers, as well as the second hand. You will find some variant of this design utilized by Casio and other watch manufacturers for the last 25+ years.

(5) Utility: Stop watch, multiple time zones you can change on the fly, dual alarms, and an LCD display that shows your choice of month/date, day/date, or digital time. What else do you need in a watch?

THE HIDDEN ADVANTAGES

(1) Mineral Display: Highly scratch-resistant, and not the cheap acrylic displays that can be found on cheaper Casio watches. Making it a bit more recessed - like Casio's G-Shock line - would prevent more scratches, but also may have detracted from its appearance.

(2) Watch Hands: If you examine the watch hands carefully, you'll note the styling cues and quality that makes this watch stand out. In particular, the red-tipped second hand. These are high-quality dials.

(3) Watch Buttons: The cheaper Casio watches have plastic buttons. For the middle-range Casio watches, they may have aluminum/metal buttons, but that's it. This model has the metal buttons that are recessed within another metal ring, and are softer to the touch when depressing. Definitely higher quality and lends a more expensive feel and appearance to the watch.

(4) Watch Band: While a resin band watch, not all resin bands are made alike. Having owned both higher-quality and lower-end Casio watches, there are definitely other resin bands that are thin, hard, and cheap-feeling, resulting in earlier cracks, tears, and discoloration. This watch definitely has one of the softer, thicker, and higher quality resin bands.

MY REQUEST TO CASIO

Size: My request to Casio that they continue slimming down their high-end Tough Solar and Waveceptor watches and perhaps make some on the dressy/business side. This watch is perfect for this particular "style" of watch. However, it is a larger watch, being roughly the size of a Rolex Submariner, but perhaps not as thick. For example, I would love to see a Casio WVQ550A-1A1V (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JX7JOI/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=A3APZO11P5R2Q5) with both Tough Solar and Waveceptor technologies. Better yet, make that one G-Shock durable as well.

CONCLUSION

In short, this is the Tough Solar and Waveceptor-enabled Casio watch I have been waiting for. Up until now, this technology has largely been integrated into either Casio's G-Shock or Edifice lines, or into certain cheaper Casio models I am simply now too old (and successful) to buy. I own two G-Shocks (and love them also), but they are a bit sporty looking. The Edifice line is great, but they are also more expensive and generally use metal bands, while my preference is for resin-banded watches. This watch, subject to my single con above, completely fits my needs.

BUY THIS WATCH. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.*

* Unless, of course, you simply do not like the design, have a disdain for incredibly useful multi-function watches, are a watch snob, or do not like watches that are a bit on the larger side. I would say that this watch is about the size (or slightly smaller) of a Rolex Submariner, but not as thick.