Wednesday, October 1, 2008

#39: American Dragonz

This weekend I have to company the last runner of the Coastal Marathon. Therefore I will not have time to write an article for 50 Gs. Also I caught a great G-Shock reviewer to write an article about a special G-Shock around Sunday. I am also trying an other guest review soon on another G-Shock I would like to have, but don't have.

I decided to do a short review on the watch that has been on my wrist for the past few days and which you probably already would have noticed in my former article, the DW-9550HB-4T. Lets end this intro, before it gets longer than the actual article. Enjoy!

Sometimes it is a bit difficult to describe a series as a series has no name. When I started G-Peopleland I called these "Black Models", because of the dark appearance and the reversed display. Maybe I should change it into the "American Dragons". Even G-Shock Perfect Search does not help me here. All models are described as Nexax Foxfire, a name used for many more models.
These series came in three models, the DW-002US, DW-056US and DW-069US. All models have three color variations. They were released in July 1999. The Double velcro models have USV behind the model number, the versions with a lether belt have USB. The model featured here is the DW-069USV-3T. I also have a DW-069USV-1T. That one is called "Street Arts". It might be that this is the unofficial name for this series.
Besides the reversed display (black background, green or blue digits), they also have in common that a G shaped dragon is near the case on the watchband or strap adapter.
I did probably not pay very much for it. It is pretty much used. I found this watch in Germany, the country where I found several watches of this series. There are some scratches on the dragon strap adapter. Actually I noticed it when I was taking pictures outside with flash, which might have emphasized it.
The versions with a double Vlecro strap, like this one, have an unique type of straps. The upper band is ribbed and relative thick. It goves the watch a strong and sturdy look.
Casio let them inspire by the American street culture of that time. The dark tones marks the individuality and simplicity, things that were probably part of the late 90's street fashion.
To me I would rather think this watch is inspired by the army look. The olive drab color and the grey lettering makes this watch pretty camouflaged. The EL backlight is pretty cool, because the digits light up, instead of the display.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

i have that watch too.

Unknown said...

Hi Job,

Looking at your name, I think we come from the same region, which makes it pretty plausible that it was easy to get this G-Shock where you live about 10 years ago.

It's a nice looking watch, isn't it?

Cheers,

Sjors