Casio G-Shock DW-6925E-7 Glorious Gold

Today I'm wearing my other new watch, the 6900 from the Glorious Gold collection. It's very similar to all my other 6900 G-Shock models, but has the 25th Anniversary caseback and the Glorious Gold color scheme. It's very nice and I'm becoming a really big fan of the 6900. Casio puts out some really nice versions of the 6900, and teh base watch itself has a lot going for it: it's big and chunky without being "oversized", it has a large, legible dial, and it has easy-to-use EL button and bright backlight (because it's battery-powered, not solar.) I suppose Casio could come out with an atomic solar version of the 6900, but I still think these stylish, practical originals would have a place in the collections and on the wrists of most G-Shock fans.

Casio G-Shock DW-5725B-7JF Rising White

As you might have already guessed, I got a new watch (a couple, actually) and couldn't wait to wear it. It's yet another 25th Anniversary G-Shock, this time part of the Rising White series. I have two versions of the DW-5025B from this collection. Today's watch is also very similar to my yellow 5700 as well as my old 5400. Not much else to say, it's good looking, nice and heavy due to the steel case and screwback, but legibility suffers for the sake of style with the dark reverse LCD.

Guess Quartz

Today I'm wearing another Guess watch (I promise to wear something other than a Guess watch tomorrow) this time in a very conventional, even classic, style. It's a "6-eater", meaning the seconds dial covers where the 6 would normally be. I had every intention of putting a new power cell in this one, but after opening it up this morning I realized I didn't have the proper size, only larger or smaller. Did I mention before that my biggest complaint about non-solar electric-powered watches is their batteries die when you keep them in storage too long? That's almost enough reason for me to swear off those watches entirely, although I do have some that I like very much, not to mention a number of non-solar G-Shocks. This one is simple and good looking and the more I look at it the more I'd like to get something similar with a mechanical (handwind or automatic) movement. The leather strap on this one also looks good, but isn't the greatest quality; the leather on the fixed keeper started peeling off of its paper substrate so I amputated the whole thing. The remaining keeper works fine.

Guess Quartz Chronograph

Today I'm wearing another Guess watch. I probably should have taken the time to fit a new power cell to it, but I'm confident it would work if I did. I've never worn this before, but I can't really say why. It could be the mix of stainless steel and gold, a combination that I've only recently warmed up to. I think it's reasonably attractive and more than a little Breitling-ish. It has a Japanese quartz movement so it is probably pretty reliable. The bezel does turn (one-way, no less) but there's no indication of water resistance anywhere on the watch, so it's far from being diver-spec.

Guess Athletic Quartz

Today I'm wearing my Guess Athletic quartz watch. I picked up a number of these close to ten years ago at a discount store. These were the same watches that would have been $60 or so in a department store at the time, but I got them for much less. Obviously, this was before I was serious about watch collecting, but I still enjoyed wearing this quite a bit. It's very similar to a G-Shock in it's construction. It has a metal case with a protective resin covering and a screw-in caseback. It also has an Indiglo EL backlight which illuminates when the button at 8 o'clock is pushed. The crystal is domed which makes the dial look distorted from some angles but reduces reflections when you view it directly. I think the case, dial and hands are all pretty good looking, and the whole thing is comfortable to wear. As far as cheap "fashion watches" go this one could be a lot worse.

Gruen Quartz Chronograph

Can you tell I'm getting to the bottom of the barrel? (No pun intended for the true watch geeks out there.) Today I'm wearing this Gruen chronograph that I picked up sometime in the past ten years but I've never worn. Not a bad looking watch, and it has a Japanese movement, so when I popped a new power cell in it started working perfectly and has been keeping excellent time. It's also unlike most of my chronographs as the big red seconds hand is not the chronograph hand, it's the regular seconds hand. It also has a 1/10 second hand which is fun to watch since it makes one revolution every second when the chronograph is running. But there ends the good stuff. It feels much cheaper than it looks in the photographs. Cheap all around, from the folded-link hair-pulling bracelet to the fixed bezel and snap-on caseback. I was thinking I should get rid of this one soon, but I wondered "Who would want it?" Then I remembered eBay.

Vintage Mallard Quartz

Would you look at that? Another Mallard. Of course this one is quartz and probably from the early 1980s. It's actually not that bad looking, and I'm not usually a big fan of two-tone watches, but the stainless case here along with the gold accents and subtly linen-textured dial works pretty well. Not to say it literally works as I haven't gotten around to putting a battery in it. Not sure if I expect it to work or not, probably leaning towards not. I'm sure when it was new it kept better time than most of my mechanical watches, but my dislike of quartz watches is anything but a rational one.