G-Shock #1: My new Silver Party G, DW-6900CB-8

First of all, before I forget: My best wishes for the 2012 to all of you and yours. All kind of festivities around Christmas and New Year kept me pretty occupied since I wrote the last articles for 50 Gs. I had so many things going on that I was every time surprised that people were giving me New Years wishes when I met them. The year started well for me. On the day of New Years Eve the postman brought me two G-Shocks (the #39 and #40 of 2011), together with my new cool illuminated keyboard. Last week two good friends, one is also a G-Shock Forum moderator on WatchUSeek, the other recently retired his moderator duties on the G-Shock Forum after many years. We spend a great time in Antwerp and Middelburg, of course talking about watches, but of course also about life in general, as there is of course more to life than only G-Shocks.

I want to do a short review about my 40th G-Shock, that I bought in 2011 and was the watch I wore on New Year’s Eve. It’s the DW-6900CB-8DS. It’s actually the second of this model in my collection, the first one had the complete model number DW-6900CB-8DR. On the outside the watch looks exactly the same, but it’s from a total other batch. I think it’s pretty recent produced in the China DH plant, instead of the Thailand Y plant.

The DW-6900CB models were part of the Crazy Colors series. These models were released in February, 2010. It looks like this model has been made for more than a year, as it was still very easy to get. I actually got it from a special sale from the Dutch watch on-line store Kish. The last two days of the year they had 5 G-Shock models on sale for their newsletter subscribers, and this was one of them. The sale was only for December 30 and 31, so I ordered this watch, together with a DW-6900CB-1CU, the black with gold version of the same series, just after midnight on December 30. I was very lucky it already arrived on the day of New Year’s Eve (here called “Old Year”).

 Also the blackmodel was made in the China DH plant. It’s a little strange that the letters in the suffixes differ. You might expect both DS or CU. A closer look at the tags shows that the black model was made for the US market (it refers to www.g-shock.com) , while my silver model was not. I think the silver version is a bit the forgotten model of the DW-6900CB series as I have seen many owners of the blue, red and black model, but can’t actually remember someone having this model. Probably most owners of this model are women as the color scheme look pretty feminine.

The color scheme on this watch sounds quite remarkable to me, but I think it works out great. It’s probably not really a good office watch for during a serious conference, but I think it has a kind of festive look. That was probably the reason I picked this watch to wear on New Year’s Eve.

We plum display before. It is a very nice color, though in dim light it’s not always good readable, but hey, you wanted a cool looking watch! The face plate is a silver mirror. This makes the watch look pretty interesting as the mirror adapt to the environmental light. In a dark room (I’m writing in a pretty dark room now, with only a small desk light here) this plate looks black. In bright sunlight it looks silver. If this is your only G-Shock, it is great that the looks change under different light conditions.

I very much like the pink ring at the edge of the crystal. I wish that a contrasting color was used more often on DW-6900 models. I’m not sure what to think of the white light button. Maybe a metal button or a silver plastic button would have been better, though, in general, I’m a fan of white light buttons. Secretly I am thinking about a mod with a DW-6900FS-4 bezel and strap (although they are probably very hard to get).

The resin strap and bezel differ a bit from the other models in the DW-6900CB series. While the other three models have a shiny finish, this model has a sparkling silver finish. The silver finish is a film, brought on a light gray resin. This film is pretty tough, but probably after very long wear, it might wear off at the place where the buckle meets the strap. I wouldn’t worry too much on this. A little bit wabi can’t damage a G-Shock look. The pink strap keeper is a nice plus on this model.

This model has the 1289 module, while the other DW-6900CB I got on Old Year has the new 3230 module. Probably Casio didn’t have the plum 3230 yet, or had plenty 1289s left from other models. This means that this watch keeps the day and date until the end of 2039 (if I’ll ever make it, with my ADHD lifestyle, I’ll be 73 then). The new 3230 model works well until 2099. Well, the chance is small that even Bram (July 21, 2000) might see that happen.

 Photos above and below are taken by Bram on the way to a Lego workshop last Saturday.

 

 As I have reviewed a DW-6900 model here many times, and probably will do many times, I think I don’t have to explain the functions on this watch. The DW-6900 has a daily alarm, a 24 hour Countdown Timer and a 24 hour Stopwatch on board. Casio considers this the round basic G-Shock, as the DW-5600 and derived models are considered the square basic model. This explains why there are so many different 5600 and 6900 models. No problem for me as I very much like the 6900 design.

Although this model was first released almost two years ago, it is still easy to find globally. A search on eBay learns me that you can find all the models of this series easy in the USA for around $80.- and in Europe for around €99.-. I was lucky that I could buy this one for €69.- including shipping in within The Netherlands.