G-Shock #49: Crazy Colors: Metallic Stars.

I have lost count of the Crazy Colors series models. Since August 2008, Casio released one or twice a year a new series Crazy Colors models. Although these models are listed as a limited edition, a term as limited time produced would be better in place. These models are produced as “the basic models” for a season. Todays model is from the 2013 series Crazy Colors released in August. So these models were meant for Fall/Winter 2013/2014. This means they were produced in quite big quantities and are available world wide.

Unlike the monster released of the first few series, this series seems to be made in a little moderate amount, although, you still can get them every where. This release came in 4 variants. The bezel has another color or shade than the straps, with the strap colors coming back in the stars of the “face plate”. The color variants are: Gray/Black, Black/White, Orange/Blue, and this White/Red. What I didn't know at first is that the strap keepers on these Metallic Stars models are semi translucent. On this particular model even nice white. Most striking is of course the metallic mirror face plate with the stars etched out of it. Quite an unique 3D design and finally an affordable DW-6900 with this technique used. Priced €109 in Europe makes it only €10 extra from plain designed DW-6900’s at the moment. but about a year ago this was even the normal price for every basic DW-6900. While the gray/black model is barely worth the name Crazy Colors and the Black/White model is only crazy because of the pink display and purple lettering, the Orange/Blue and White/Red models are very bright and vivid colored. Since I am not a fan of blue (but Orange is great), I didn’t mind the Orange version either. But the White/Red. That one is awesome. The metallic part of the face plate is gold. Form the Rising Red series, we already have seen that the combination red and gold is very beautiful. With the white bezel, it pretty much stands out in this year’s Crazy Colors collection.

I ordered this watch actually as soon as I knew it was available in The Netherlands. While looking around where to purchase I ended up with a phone call to Maarten of the Etnies Store Amsterdam. I met Maarten at the Ace x Acht G-Shock Pop Store party a year ago. He’s originally from Goes, a city not far from Middelburg, where he first had worked in a popular street fashion/skate/surf shop (The Tube). While I was chasing a GD-350 “Vibrator”earlier this year, I had called him if he had it in his store, but he only had the “Vibe Alarm”. As this model was at that time not yet, or just released, I ordered one. A few days later he called me in an ecstatic mood that my watch arrived at the shop and next day it was dropped at my school. I could have written an article in September about this model, but if you look close enough, you can maybe see what I see if I see this watch. The perfect watch for Christmas Time. The colors white, red, gold and also the stars match perfectly with the December mood.

While the Geometric DW-6900DS and the Crocodile Skin models have the 3D print on the bezel and straps (the DW-6900DS also on the face plate), this Metallic Stars model have only a 3D faceplate. It’s like the gold layer has been cut out, so only golden stars are left out and the second red layer becomes visible. Very nice. I have to admit here, I have a deep love for red and yellow G-Shocks, so I might be a little pre-judged.

According Casio, the colors are adopted from Hip Hop street fashion and the stars refer to the entire American culture, probably seen as the origin of Hip Hop. I can’t remember the Crazy Colors series were related to music culture before, but nowadays G-Shocks seem to be a part of Hip Hop life style somehow and the design style of the DW-6900 seems to be the most popular. Also in the Netherlands G-Shocks are very popular in hip hop and street culture. Here are mostly the analog X-Large Case models, like the GA-100 and GA-110 most popular. The GD-X6900 model, the “New King” is too short on the market now, but might also become pretty popular in near future street fashion. Still, I think I should remark it somewhere, I deeply miss the GXW-56 and GX-56 “King”.

The display is a gold metallic version. This means that normally the digits are positive, but when the EL is activated at night, the digits light up, so it looks like a negative display. The DW-6900SC is equipped with the 3230 module, the most usual module for the DW-6900 nowadays. The DW-6900 is a basic G-Shock, so you expect basic functions (modes), but the few modes on this watch work pretty well in every day life and work.

Of course, the most important mode is Time Keeping mode. Why in the first place would you buy a wristwatch. The three circles (“eyes”)above the main display function as a seconds hand on an analog watch. The small circles count the seconds, the big eye counts the 10 seconds. The time is displayed with nice big and bold digits for a digital watch and above the time you find the day of the week and the date.

The first mode when leaving the Timekeeping mode is the Alarm mode. It doesn’t look spectacular. Only one Alarm can be set, while modern G-Shocks often have 5 Alarms. Of course the Hourly signal isn’t forgotten. There is however an extra feature. It is possible to program a date. When you program a date, the watch will only sound an alarm tone on the programmed date at the programmed time. It gets even smarter. You can choose to leave one of the digits blank. If the day is left blank, the watch will sound on the programmed time for the whole programmed month, but not on other months. When the month is left blank, the watch will only sound an alarm on the programmed day of the month. For example, if you fill in 2 for the day, but leave the moth blank, the watch sounds an alarm only on the programmed time on January 2, February 2, etc. Pretty handy when you have an activity planned only once a month. Remember this watch dates back to the early 90’s, where the use of agendas in smartphones was not quite as usual as nowadays. Further you find on this watch a 24 hour Countdown Timer mode and a 24 hour Stopwatch. Again, this is more than sufficient in most cases you need these two last functions.

An extra function on this watch is the Flash alarm. It seems that the Flash Alarm is on the 3230 module default switched off, as all DW-6900 models with this module seem not to have the Flash Alarm toggled on. On the older 1289 module this extra function was toggled on when the watch is reset after a battery change. The Flash Alarm lights the EL backlight up briefly when an Alarm sounds. This can be the Alarm, but also the end of the Countdown Timer or the Hourly Signal.

In my opinion this model is the best looking model of the whole series. I can imagine other people like the Orange/Blue version more, but that one does have a bloo tone, I pretty much personally don’t like. The Black/White looks nice, but not as good as this one. The gray/black is quit dull for a “Crazy Colors” model, but if you are looking for a more stealthier model with still something special for a friendly price, this model might be for you. This model is still available in selected shops in Europe and probably worldwide for a while. I prefer the white red model of this series, but there is probably a model for almost everyone in this series. As I wrote above, I got mine from the Etnie Store Amsterdam. A link to the web shop can also be found in the main menu on the right of my blog. Guess what I will be wearing these holidays. I conclude to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas. Cheers!