G-Shock #31: Cool Gray, from Street Fashion to All Time Classic.

Today not a lengthy article. Simply, because it’s a basic model. For the US probably the most basic not black G-Shock. The DW-6900FS-8. I write this article at my holiday address in the East Cantons in Belgium. The photo's (except the photo's of Bram) were taken at our holiday in Belgium too. The day I feature this article is also a special day. It’s Bram his 13th birthday, reminding me that my G-Shock collecting craze started just over 13 years ago.

When is my staff coming home?

This model was introduced in December 1995 in Japan. In the US a special model was introduced with the US Open of Surfing logo on the strap. This probably means the DW-6900FS-8 was introduced just before the event, which was held from July 21 to July 30. The DW-6900FS-8 is (highly probable) a still produced model and it is know to the best selling G-Shock in the US.

Like I love real watches, I also like real beer. If you drink a lambik based fruit beer, you take the beer that has been lagered on real fruit and not a wheat beer with fruit syrup added. Perfect beers to enjoy on a very hot day (low alcohol and very refreshing!)

Besides this gray white model, which Casio describes as “Cool Gray”, there also was a pretty nice pink version. The colors used by these models were described to match the street fashion colors at that time. I think the pink version was also sold in limited numbers in the US in the summer of 2006, but it is much harder to find this model. I am not sure if these models were sold elsewhere in the world. I have bought a pink DW-6900FS-4 in Hong Kong once though. If these models were sold in East Asia, it was probably only for one season.

The description of the color of this watch has always been difficult. The best description I know is that of chalk white, referring to the chalk used on back boards. There might even be a very small hint of light blue in it. The matte finish does actually make the resin look like chalk. A cool think on this and the pink model is the white light button with the big G.

Casio uses the DW-6900FS model also for special collaboration models. Although different color resin (mostly black) are used, typical is the red big eye and the more greenish small eyes. Nowadays it doesn’t apply that much anymore, but you can see this model was probably intentionally made for sale in Japan only. Where the overseas models have WATER 200M RESIST written on them , the domestic models show the more appropriate WATER 20BAR RESIST. In the past recent years however you see that both Overseas as Domestic models have the 20 BAR text. Although a static column of 200M water indeed is equal to about 20 Bar, this doesn’t apply to moving water Masses. On the other hand, most of us do probably not com deeper than 10 to 30 meters under water. That’s far below the maximum pressure a G-Shock can bear.

If you look around eBay, you’ll notice you can buy this model in large numbers for friendly prices. I have been wanting one of these for a long time, but buying cheap G-Shocks in the US is not pretty attractive if you live in Europe. First of all it means the shipping costs are relative high. If you pay $20 shipping for a $200 watch, 10% might be reasonable, but if you pay $20 for a $60 watch, the shipping is with over 30% suddenly relative expensive. And then there is the Dutch Customs service of our national Dutch Post. They add €10 or €17 above the 21% VAT for providing their service. It would be not a surprise the total costs for a cheap DW-6900FS-8 will add up to $110 or more. As a bonus your package will be delayed, sometimes for more than a week…

I was lucky I found this model at a Dutch on-line shop. Kish.nl has an interesting stock. Besides usual European releases, you can find also models that are sold only in other regions. It might even be one of the few places in Europe where you can buy a GWF-1000 Frogman. The price is pretty budget friendly. Most recent DW-6900 models are sold for €109.-, but this one is priced €99, including free shipping (in one day!) to my home. A pretty good and fast alternative for buying a “cheap” G-from the US.

White and light colored G-Shocks, specially matte models, can easily become victim to bleeding. Bleeding is the “leaking” from strong colored clothes or other fabrics (once I noticed bleeding of red sheets).Therefore I will take the pics of this watch before I am going to wear it. G-Shock Modders by the way, take an advantage of the ability to take up colors easily. The DW-6900FS-8 is a popular model for custom painting the resin parts.

Birthday boy!

The module on this watch is the new 3230 module. It’s also possible to find an older model equipped with the older 1289 module. The only difference is the calendar. The 1289 has a calendar programmed until the end of 2039, the 3230 module is programmed until 2099. The functions are basic but good. A 24 hour Stopwatch, a 24 hour Countdown Timer with Auto Repeat and a single Alarm function, which can also be set to a date (or one month or only 1 day in every month when one of the digits is kept blank).

I plan to wear this watch during the nice summer days. We have been rather unlucky in the past months with the weather, but finally the summer has arrived. I’m curious how this watch will hold in a few years. Maybe an idea to do a recap in a few years, if I still continue to write 50 Gs articles (after almost 400 articles there are not many G-Shocks to write about in my collection). Until then, I have a great watch. White always works good in summer. Street fashion, or not.