Casio G-Shock FROGMAN GW200MS-1

Modern Tool Watch. The watchmaking industry is one where demands of style have eschewed most of the modern technological improvements. While there have been marked improvements in the materials and fabrication process of modern wrist watches, like the use of sapphire crystal glass and machines which can measure to the most exacting of tolerances, overall the typical wristwatch today is pretty much the same as it was thirty years ago: a mechanical or quartz analog watch. 

Manufacturers flog modern tool watches with new advances in resistance or accuracy, as part of their marketing. In 2008 we saw the Omega Speedmaster Alaska Project, which was a chronograph watch, which when fitted with the supplied anodized aluminum outer case allows the watch to withstand temperatures as cold as -148° C and as hot as +260°C. The same year also brought us the Rolex Sea Dweller DEEPSEA which can withstand pressures of up to 390 atmospheres (3900 meter water resistance rating). Recently, I read about a  US$500,000 manually wound tourbillion watch that Richard Mille created for Rafael Nadal which can withstand the rigor of tennis.

There is a strong effort to keep the traditional tool watch "current". However, for the modern day adventurer, explorer or soldier heading off to an inhospitable environment, Omega's Alaska Project, Rolex's DEEPSEA and Richard Mille's tennis watch are of little practical value. 

Casio G-Shock FROGMAN GW200MS-1. For US$350, you can get one of the best tool watches in the world. Casio's G-Shocks have been flight certified by NASA, used by members of the military and rescue personnel. The Frogman has the following features:

    * Shock Resistant
    * ISO 200M Water Resistant
    * Low Temperature Resistant (-20 C / -4 F)
    * Full Auto EL Backlight with Afterglow
    * Dive Time and Surface Interval measurement function
    * Dive time: 1 second increments, up to 23:59'59
    * Surface interval: 1 minute increments, up to 23:59'
    * Memory capacity: One set of data (dive time, dive start time and surface interval)
    * Dive Site Function: Current time in 10 dive sites, 14-character site name, daylight savings on/off, GMT differential)
    * ID Function: C Card Number (built-in title, 16 char & 10 digits), Passport Number (built-in title, 16 char & 10 digits), Blood Type (Rh factor/ABO type)
    * 1/100 second stopwatch
    * Measuring capacity: 23:59'59.99"
    * Measuring modes: Elapsed time, split time, 1st-2nd place times
    * Countdown timer
    * Measuring unit: 1/10 second
    * Countdown range: 24 hours
    * Countdown start time setting range: 1 second to 24 hours (1-second increments)
    * 3 Daily alarms
    * Hourly time signal
    * Battery power indicator
    * Power saving function
    * Full auto-calendar (pre-programmed until the year 2039)
    * 12/24 hour formats
    * Accuracy: +/-15 seconds per month
    * Storage battery: Solar rechargeable battery
    * Approx. battery life: 5 months on full charge (without further exposure to light)

Not being a diver, I do not want to comment on the dive timer function of this watch, but I chose this watch to write about since it is rated ISO 200M water resistant, which means is rated as divers watch for scuba diving.  If the dive timer and divers watch rating are of no importance to you, you can get a G-Shock with all the other features for US$99 or less. If you are willing to pony up US$700, you get a Frogman, with multi-band atomic timekeeping (which adjust the time on the watch to an atomic clock), a tide graph and moon phase indicator.   

It is amazing that features which are difficult to incorporate into a mechanical watch, can all co-exist in a digital watch. Effectively, this divers watch is also a perpetual calendar (until the year 2039), world timer, a split seconds chronograph, countdown timer (like a Regatta watch)  has a day night indicator and serves as ones dog tags keeping important information like blood type in case something uneventful should happen.

As a timepiece, its +15/-15 accuracy rating per month is more accurate than the finest mechanical chronometers and led back-light allows it to be read in total darkness (to find out why quartz watches are more accurate, read this article here). Being solar powered, you would not have to wind the watch or replace the battery for the life of the watch.

From any practical measure, a G-Shock is a pretty amazing watch. It won't be replacing my mechanical timepiece which only displays the the time and date, has lume which is all but useless and needs to be adjusted one minute every three weeks. But if I ever get to go on dream vacation to the very end of the Earth, I know what watch I will be bringing.  

About Casio. Casio Computer Co., Ltd. is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters  in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio  is best known for its calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches. Casio released it first G-Shock watch in 1983.