Saturday, March 15, 2008

#10 Stormtroopers in the Dutch Mountains

The G-Shock of this week is one of my favourites. The new Mudman was quite a big fuzz June 2006. Everyone wanted to see the birth of the new Master of G.
The new G-9000 Mudman has a s the name says a Mud Resist bezel. The 2 compound bezel has a softer kind on resin covering the buttons, which allows the owner to press the buttons through the bezel. The buttons are pretty hard to press, but that’s the price to pay for this structure. Actually the bezel loosen up a bit after frequent use, but the process can be fastened by boiling the bezel in water for a few minutes.
The Mudman came in 4 versions. One version received the Atomic Clock signals in Europe, Japan and the US. This is the GW-9000. The version I present today is the G-9000 in light grey/beige. The colour is actually hard to describe. It’s nit white, but it’s also not hard grey. I think there is a slight hint of yellow in it, making it appear warmer than plain white or grey.
It is said that this model is pretty popular under soldiers serving in Iraq. The beige/grey colour does fit right with the dessert camouflage uniforms and vehicles. Therefore this model is nicknamed “Stormtrooper”.
As a Star Wars fan I have other a associations with Stormtroopers as you can see in the pictures.
For me the military use of watches is not a high priority to love a watch. The reason why I like this watch is the way it appears. The colour of the resin parts seem to adopt the ambient lighting. Therefore it looks like the watch changes colour in different ambiences. The most striking detail is the beautiful amber display.
In the early era of home computers you had monochrome amber monitors. I loved those displays. Green displays always seemed a bit hard for my eyes. This Mudman also has an amber display. It’s very clear with very sharp digits.A nice plus on this watch are the two independent 1000 hour stopwatches. Casio had for this model a functional watch in their minds for long distance more days rally’s.


As you can see the Mud Resist cover now also covers partly the back plate, to prevent mud and sand to come near vulnerable places like the edge of the back plate. An image of a racing mole (reference to the rally contests) is engraved in the back. Six “shock absorbers” are sticking out the back protector, preventing the watch to move on the wrist and also allow ventilation under hot circumstances (like a Lisbon - Dakar Rally).And I did not even mention the Dual Illuminator. For the first time Casio used this feature on this model.
It means that if you push the light button not only the display lights up, but also the plastic ring around the LCD display. Therefore you can read the functions of the buttons also at night. A very clever feature I think. It also looks very nice, specially on this model.
Well, these were the pictures I took for 50 Gs, but I also made a series of the stroll on the beach. You can find it here (English text at the bottom of the article). So you might been thinking about the title. The Dutch Mountains? The Netherlands are as lat as a pancake? Well, indeed, except for a very thin line an the coast. The dunes and dikes hold the sea from the land that is actually below sea level. Although the highest dunes reach around 75m above sea level, they are sometimes called “The Dutch Mountains” after a song by The NITS.

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