G-Shock #21: Though Positive Yellow DW-6630B

Casio has something with the color yellow. In 1992 Casio introduced the first G-Shocks with colors, the yellow DW-5600C-9B and the blue marbled “winter Premium” DW-5600D-1. In 1994 Casio released the first “round basic model’, the DW-6600. I think it was around this time Casio became unstoppable in releasing nice colored G-Shock models.

Yellow is of course a great color. I can only think positive associations with this color. I live on a agricultural island. When riding on my bicycle in summer, I see the bright sun shine over the golden barley fields. My view of good times in summer. When I am on holidays in France, I very much enjoy driving along the huge sunflower fields. I think that yellow is particularly a color that makes you feel good. I once read an interview in an old G-Shock magazine, where one of the designers of G-Shock was interviewed. Although the text was in Japanese (and I don’t have a clue where that interview was published), it was pretty clear that the designer called this color “Positive Yellow”. In 1997 Casio released the Auréle collaboration model. The phrase “Positive Yellow” was even printed on the box.

This DW-6630B-9 was released in November 1994. It was released together with a purple and a blue version, but this yellow version was far popular than the other two. Casio released G-Shock in Europe in October 1994, so this was one of the first colorful G-Shocks available here, specially in Germany. It was sold in great numbers. You still can find many of them in used condition on eBay. In the past you could have them between €10 and €20 and I think that if you want to have one now, if you pay more than €30, it is over priced.

Sjors would not be Sjors, if he had not a few of these. About 10 years ago it was not an exception that 5 -10 of these were on eBay auctions simultaneously. I just did a quick search and I found one in pretty reasonable condition on the first result page with “G-Shock” as search phrase and another one in moderate condition.

The coolest part of this watch is also the most vulnerable. It’s the face protector. This piece of metal wire is coated black, but over time the black coating chips off. If you want to baby your watch, you might not like this, but as a beater, it only adds to the though look of the watch. It seems this watch was at first not intend to be distributed outside Japan. in the ring around the display you can clearly see the text “Fox Fire”. Fox Fire is the Japanese name for “Illuminator”. It means the watch has an EL backlight. It might not be very important to write such a text on the display, but the DW-6630B is a version of the DW-6600 and the DW-6600 was the first G-Shock with an Electro Luminescent backlight.

The backlight of the DW-6600 is well known. It is probably the brightest EL backlight on a G-Shock. You almost can use it as a flash light. It even got a Flash Alarm on board. If this feature is activated, the EL lights up when an Alarm sounds. As on many DW-660o, a big G is shown in the EL backlight, but unlike the usual red, this G is yellow.

So, what do we find on board. The DW-6630B comes with the 1199 module, the same module as found on the DW-6600. It’s pretty basic. An Alarm function, a 60 minute Countdown Timer and a 24 hour Stopwatch. In all modes the time is shown, which is something some people like. It is indeed handy when you are using your Stopwatch to time several events or are monitoring a longer countdown, though, with only a 60 minute capacity, what’s long.

The LCD is shown in one big display. The display is divided in three area. The upper part shows the date in Time Keeping function and the mode and current time in other modes. The bottom part shows all the time functions. The middle part shows the progression of time in two layers. The upper part counts the 10 seconds, the lower part the seconds, There are only 5 arrows, but they change up and down. Some people think these animations are a waste of space, but I think it is nice to see the time progression on the display. You can compare it with the progression of a seconds hand on an analog wristwatch. I never heard anybody complain about the presence of that. For a long time Casio used both DW-6600’s and DW-6900’s for their special releases, but in the past years the DW-6600 has not been used anymore. It seems even that the complete line has discontinued.

The DW-6630B-9 is a fun watch to wear. Not real a watch to pet. The face protector challenge you to use this watch during extreme conditions. The yellow color won’t stop you. I once saw an interview with artist Paul McArthy, known for his confronting art, including installations and live painting. That DW-6630B would probably have been beat up a lot, but it looked in still good condition of television. Finding a mint one, will be almost a mission impossible, but a nice used one, can still be found real cheap. After almost 19 year, you might even wonder how many of those were sold in the mid 90s. If it's wise to buy one? The resin of these watches will become victim of resin rot probably more sooner than later.  Actually, one of mine already has. Still, it's a fun model. The purple model was also sold in Europe. Although not real rare, they are not that easy to find anymore. I never have seen a blue model in Europe, so I guess this was a Japan Domestic model. Not a big problem for me. I much rather have a yellow G-Shock, then a blue one.

G-Shock #20: Xaymaca 1998

Since 1994 Casio released frequently music inspired G-Shock models. Quite a lot of them were inspired by Reggae or the Rastafarian culture. In the 90’s these models were often released in or around July. Probably to accentuate the summertime (in the Northern Hemisphere). Between 1996 and 1999 Reggae inspired models were released under the G’Mix label as Xaymaca models.

Original packaging of a mint DW-9550RX-9T. Photo's and G-Shock by Psweeting (WatchUSeek), used with kind permission. 

G’Mix was the Japanese G-Shock sub-label for music related models. Outside Japan these models were released under the Tough Label flag. It’s similar what Casio did with the X-Treme models and the G-Lide models in the 90’s. Probably the first name they came u with was Tough Label, but because the L is hard to pronounce in Japanese, the chose for G’Mix. In my opinion I associate G’Mix more with music, than Tough Label, though I rather like the last name.

Strangely, no Xaymaca model made it to an international release. The only international reggae inspired models that had an big international release was the DW-002BM “Bob Marley” model and the DW-002R “Reggae” models, both not part of any series.

This particular model, the DW-9550RX-9T, was released in July 1998. Two Xaymaca models were released that month. No less than 11 different DW-9550 models were released that month. Besides these Xaymaca models, there were also Brazillian Mix models and Groove Tune Models.

Xaymaca is the old name of the island Jamaica, given by the first original inhabitants, the Taino, the Caribbean branch of the Arawak indians. It means “Land of Wood and Water” or “Land of Springs”. Around 650 these sea going indians habited the island. The Taino were brown skinned slightly build people. The origin of their forefathers lies in Asia. Via Alaska they traveled southwards to Venezuela. The men worked as fisherman and the women grow food like cassave, sweet potatoes, allspice and corn. Also they grow cotton, which was used for clothing.

Around 1400 the bellicose Caribes arrived on the island, which made the peaceful life of the Taino quite difficult. With the arrival of Christoffer Columbus on the island in 1494 it became even more difficult. The indians were used as slaves. Due to overwork, infectious diseases and war sadly killed the native population on Jamaica. Although the Taino have been extinct, we still use Taino words. For instance, the Taino smoked a pipe though their nose. The name of this pipe was tabaco (tobacco). Other words we still use are derived from barbacoa (barbecue), juracán (hurricane) and Kanoa (canoe). Nowadays only about 30000 Arawak indians still live in Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana. The Arawak indians are known for their extreme politeness, respect and hospitality.

Unlike the other Reggae or Rastafarian inspired models, you won’t find the famous red, yellow and green colors back on the Xaymaca models (except for the first model in 1996). Most models have brown or green tones, some silver. A returning theme in this series are native patterns on the strap. This model has light brown diamond line patterns on the chocolate brown upper strap.

Although the native theme, the watch is aimed for DJs, people who want to be one or musicians. It’s main feature is the BPM counter. The second G-Shock I bought back in 2000 also had a such a BPM counter. It became a nice instrument while on a Techno festival in Belgium. As I was an active producer of electronic music at that time, I was curious about the tempi played in different rooms and by different DJ’s (I remember Richie Hawtin, Speedy J and Jeff Mills were playing there). The BPM counter. It’s not a very precise BPM counter, as it shows the BPM in increments of 5, but it gives you an idea. At the moment I am writing this, I’m listening to Aphex Twin with a tempo of 175 BPM. It works pretty simple. When in BPM mode, tap the beat on the G-button, which normally is used as light button, for 5 times on the beat and it shows the BPM. Actually I would rather have seen it 4 times, as most modern pop music is 4/4 (four quarter). The lower right button functions as light button. The upper right button can be used to start and stop the metronome. The metronome sounds at the last measured BPM (shown in the display).

For the BPM counter the Countdown Timer function has been sacrificed. Besides the PBM counter you find an simple daily Alarm function and a 24 h Stopwatch. It’s a little pity there is no Countdown Timer.

Extra functions on this watch are the Auto Illuminator and the Flash Alarm. Pretty unusual to find both these functions on one G-Shock. You activate the Auto Illuminator function in Time Keeping Mode by press and hold the lower right button for about 2 seconds (AUTO and a star like icon appers above the seconds). When you tilt your wrist towards you for about 40º, the display lights up. The Flash Alarm is activated by press and hold the upper right button for about 2 seconds (Flash will appear in the display). A funny thing is that if both functiosn are toggled on, the display will not only light up for about 2 seconds, the display also flashes up 2 times, like the Flash Alarm on alarm sounds.

I got this watch from my friend Neil in Chicago a few years ago. It has been worn probably quite a lot by a previous owner. As Neil get most his watches from Japan, I guess, that previous owner was also Japanese. The watch looks from a small distance actually in good condition. Probably because the strap is still clean. Unfortunately the XAYMACA label on the strap shows quit some wear. Actually you can’t read the series name anymore. Also the pain of the bezel has been worn of at the corners. I also recently notice a scratch in the display, which will probably blow up gigantically in my macro photo’s. Not a real problem to me. It is a nice watch for wearing and I don’t have to mind a little bumping into something. A have no real idea what I paid for this watch. I probably bought it in a small batch of heavy used watches. In this state this watch is probably only worth about $30 - $40. For a good to mint you probably pay around $100. In a second hand shop in Japan you probably pay ¥5000 - ¥7500 for such a model. These watches are not really very sought at, but with such a background, I think it’s still a nice looking watch. The strap is pretty comfortable. I am pretty happy with this nice wearer.