Yesterday I wore and took pictures of (but didn't have time to post about) a Casio G-Shock I bought just over two years ago. It's a GW-9200RJ-4JF Riseman (not to be confused with the original Riseman) and is part of the Men in Rescue Orange series. Not to bore you with minutiae, but the watches pictured in that link are actually the "export" versions. The U.S. got the export version, but I bought this from a person who imported it from Japan. In the case of the Riseman, the main differences are the lack of radio controlled atomic timekeeping (Multiband 6) on the U.S. version, and a different caseback. The caseback on the U.S. version has an engraving of a dragon while the Japanese version has a flying squirrel. Both versions have the orange-tinted display and very cool backlight graphic, described by Casio as "a special multi-purpose rescue tool". The watch is great for a number of reasons: It's bright orange, and I love bright orange, so I love wearing it (especially if I'm wearing some coordinating orange clothes or shoes.) It's big and chunky, similar to a Frogman, but somehow looks more futuristic. It has great functionality, including a thermometer, barometer, altimeter, world time, 5 alarms, etc. Second only to my Pathfinder PAW-1300 in functionality, which adds a compass but gives up some water resistance. This is one of my watches that gets worn very regularly, especially in the summer, and I don't believe I'll tire of it anytime soon.
Today I'm wearing my newest Pathfinder, a PAW-1300T-7V. PAW for Pathfinder (in the world outside the U.S.A. these are called "Protrek" and the model numbers start with PR,) 1300 for the series (newer than my 1100,) T for Titanium, 7 for silver accents, and V for international (non-Japanese) version. This has all the functions of my PAW-1100T but weighs less and is much slimmer (only 11.5mm thick, while the 1100 is over 14mm thick.) This was the ultimate Pathfinder, all the functions available in a Pathfinder in a package that made it very wearable under most conditions. Of course, Casio couldn't rest on their laurels, so the PAW-1500 series is the newest King of the Hill, which adds tide graph, moon phase and 200m water resistance to the long list of features. I'm not sure if I'll get a 1500 or just wait for whatever comes next. It's almost certain that Casio will keep improving their technology and packing more features into smaller, more durable packages.
The watch that I'm wearing today, my Casio Sea Pathfinder SPF40-1V, was my first Pathfinder. I got it pretty recently after seeing it worn by Hugh Laurie on House, M.D. I had always noticed the Hamilton Khaki King he wore and still want to get one, so I was very surprised to see a new watch show up this season, and more surprised that it was digital and huge. I tracked down the model on Casio's website and ordered one the next day. It's not the first time I've done that as I also have some sneakers that I first saw on House. I did think the watch would be a one-shot deal, maybe something to do with the plot of that episode, but it was never mentioned nor shown close up and he's worn it in every episode since. When I recieved it I was pleasantly surprised by the large size (54mm wide x 17mm thick) as well as its legibility and myriad functions. I've since bought some other Pathfinders but the Sea Pathfinder is still the biggest. It also contains some features that my other Pathfinders don't have like yacht race start timer, moon phase and tide graph, but is missing the solar power and radio-controlled atomic time setting. I believe the newest Pathfinder, the PAW1500, has all the features of the regular and Sea Pathfinders (except the yacht timer, I believe) but is probably still smaller than my PAW-1100T. All the gizmos come with a price on the Sea Pathfinder: battery life. It's only rated for 3 years but I'll probably get more since I won't be wearing it too often. I don't think I'll be buying another battery-powered Pathfinder, but I'm very glad I got this one
Today's watch is one of the "Masters of G" series, the Casio G-Shock DW-9100B-2AV Riseman. Off the top of my head, I think the Riseman is the strangest looking watch model I own. Not just because it's large (over 2 inches wide!) and has a big sensor intake on the left side, but the strange shapes on the bezel, the multicolor leather and nylon on the band and funky textured buttons all add up to a very alien looking watch. Rather than have me run through all the features, allow me to quote a 1999 G-Shock catalog: "RISEMAN features Altimeter, Barometer, Thermometer, Auto Switch Backlight, Shock Resistant Housing, 200M Water Resistance, Auto Calendar, Daily Alarm, Hourly Time Signals, 12/24 Hour Formats, 1/100 Sec. Stopwatch, Low Temperature Resistance" as well as "A built in sensor measures barometer pressure, which is converted to relative altitude, from 0 to 19,680 feet in 20 feet intervals. Auto/manual memory measurements (up to 50 sets of data), reference altitude setting, altitude alarm and tendency graph." Whew! That's a lot of stuff. Remind me not to quote Casio promotional materials in the future. It's definitely an interesting watch, even if I'll only ever use the altimeter/barometer trend graph to see if I should expect better or worse weather. While Casio does have pictures of skydivers next to it in their catalog, I don't see myself wearing it to go skydiving. Nor do I see myself going skydiving. But it seems like it would be plenty tough for the job...
...although "Toughest Watch In The World" might be a bit of an overstatement. I'm pretty sure I have some stainless steel or titanium cased watches that would stand up to any number of sharp things a lot better than the plastic over plastic (ok, urethane over "strengthened composite fibre/plastic") construction of the Riseman. But hey, I didn't buy it to drop into a wood chipper, I bought it because it's big, funky and original.
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