G-Shock #22: No Need to Rush

Casio G-Shock has been popular in Poland for some time. Years ago I discovered the Polish watch portal Zekariclub, which has a quite active Polish Casio forum, a bit comparable with the Spanish Comando G on Hablemos de Relojes (HdR). It's a real pity I can't read or write Polish. The Rush x G-Shock is already the second Polish collaboration G-Shock, after the nice Turbokolor collaboration in 2010. Maybe I should regret blue is not my color as also the Turbokolor model came in a fantastic packaging. If there is going to be a next Polish G-Shock collaboration, I'm already curious what they will come up with this time...

Rush DNM is a skateboard fashion company located in Lodz, Poland founded by Rafal (Rav) Lejman. In 1992 Rav Lejman learned combined skateboarding and fine art on the School of Visual Arts.

Lodz is also the centre of the movie industry of Poland and some known directors (like Roman Polanski) studied here the Film School. It seems no coincidence that Rush advertises with with very cool skateboard movies, staring Rav Lejman himself.

Rush had collaborated with G-Shock in the past. First notice dates back to October 2009. Although a G-7800 with the text RUSH in the display was shown, no further detail about a G-Shock were given. I think this model never was released.

In March 2010 Rav Lejman designed a Rush x G-Shock graphic for a T-Shirt. This shirt was released just before a Shock The World party was given in Warsaw. I guess that this shirt was given away to visitors or VIP’s of that party. I had gotten a personal invitation by the Brand Manager of G-Shock Poland. Unfortunately it was impossible for me to come to Warsaw, but after the party the Casio G-Shock brand manager sent me this great T-Shirt. The graphic, featuring DW-6900 on a graveyard, symbolizes that nothing can kill a G-Shock. The gravestones at the graveyard are actually half buried skateboards. Rav Lejman and his artwork were also featured in the Polish fall G-Shock catalog in 2010.

On September 2010 a concept model of the new Rush x G-Shock collaboration was already shown in a pretty early stage. Already was the GA-110 shown with the print, the container box was an early stage concept made of cardboard. The 3D version of the Rush Logo (a ball, made of 12 pentagons). One of the pentagons show a special G-Shock x Rush logo, while the pentagon on the other side shows the company’s motto: “No Need To Rush”.

Well, that motto they took well. In February 2012, almost one and a half year later, you could pre-order this model on the Rush DNM website. The package looked very interesting. Placing an order was not easy, but after some modifications on the web shop it was possible to order this watch on-line. Not a cheap transaction though, because the cheapest way to ship the watch was still expensive.

To avoid any mix-up, this is the actual container, the box and watch shown further above were concept models as shown at STW Warsaw 2010)

The web shop mentioned the G-Shock, was expected to ship out on March 30, but the shipping notice was sent about two weeks later. A few days later (earlier than expected) the package arrived at my house. The G-Shock container was shipped very carefully in a box with polystyrene foam and a lot of foams that are normally used in the G-Shocks tins, to keep the straps nice round.

The container was carefully packed with foil. These containers seemed to be hand made. All parts were glued together and the two parts are hold together with strong magnets. On paper a very interesting concept. As this is all handwork, the container feels quite fragile. At the moment I write, three magnets already got loose from the box, but I have taken contact glue from the lab, so I can possibly glue it back on the plastic container. Smooth plastic and small metal cubes seem not a very good combination to glue together.

The watch is actually a customized standard GA-110C-AER. If you put the tag near a bright lamp, you can see the original text on it under the sticker. Normally I am not too enthusiast about a model that has two different straps on it, but the artwork on this model looks very nice.

At the top of the straps (near the attachments I mean) you see the company’s name RUSH on one side and the motto “No Time To Rush” on the other side. On the RUSH side, you see a peace pigeon drop a bomb and a scattering landscape beneath. On the other strap you see the 3D box with the RUSH logo and some graphic 3D design. Also the strap keeper has graphics on it, which is pretty unusual.

The back of this watch is a standard GA-110C cover with extra text engraved on the edge. It shows the URL of RUSH DNM and their motto “NO NEED TO RUSH”. A 100 piece run would become very expensive if a special engraved back cover would be produced. This is a nice alternative to make this watch a bit different at a minimum of costs.

I think this GA-110 design is very cool. I started realizing that when I had taken the first photo’s for this article. All photo’s I made are color photo’s, though they look very black an white. The resin of this watch is kind of hard to describe. It is somewhere between black and dark gray. It works great with all the different gray tones and white parts and prints of this watch.

It’s not the first GA-100 I reviewed here on 50 Gs. Like most newer models, the GA-110 (module 5146) is well equipped with functions for a basic model. The GA-110 is an Ana-Digi model, but in appearance it emphasis the analog time keeping. The digital time keeping is shown in the two displays, which are part of the dial. The functions you’ll find on the GA-110 are a 100 hours Stopwatch, a 24 hour Countdown Timer, a World Time function with 48 cities in 29 time zones and last, but no least, an Alarm function with 4 alarms, a snooze alarm and a hourly chime.

When the watch has experienced heavy shocks, it’s possible that the hands do not align perfectly with the digital time. I never had this with a GA-110, but my GW-3000 and the EQW-M1000BD Edfifice watch. If this ever happens to you on a GA-100, no need for panic, with a Hands Home Position Correction operation you can sync the hands manually back to the digital time.

An extra function is the Tachymeter. It’s part of the stopwatch function. You can input the distance of a track, where you want to measure a sped and then record the time it takes to pass this distance. The speed dial can display numbers between 0 and 100, Hundreds indicators in the upper display display the hundreds of the speed and a 1000 indicator shows speeds over 1000 units. As the speed dial only displays even numbers, the maximum speed that can be shown is 1998.

The GA-110 has a LED backlight. The LED backlight only light the analog dial. Wouldn’t it be great if the LED would not only light the dial, but also the digital time, like on the new GD-100. You can switch between a short backlight (1.5s) or a long backlight (3s) operation. The watch has an Auto-Illuminator function. When you hold your under arm parallel to the ground and turn your wrist about 40º towards you, the backlight lights up. To prevent to much battery draining, this function is turned off automatically after approximately 6 hours.

The only flaw on the GA-110 is the lack of button tone. I know some users complain about the button tone, but frankly, without the button tone, operation of the buttons os a bit strange. I constantly think that i didn’t push the button hard enough. I rather would have seen that the button tone is default on and with an additional Mute function.

The pre-sale price of this GA-110RU was 666 Zloty, about €167.- . The international shipping costs were 150 Zloty (€37.50), so the total costs were about €205.-. I actually had some contact with Rush. They told me they tried various type of international shipping (as they use UPS inside Poland), but the shipping prices would be even much higher, around €50.-. Recorded shipping from the Poland Postal service was the cheapest safe way to get the packages delivered internationally. With these prices you have to think twice, before pre-ordering. I actually slept a night over it. With the great graphics on the band and the cool (but a bit unstable) box and an emission of only 100 pieces, I think it was worth it. If you want one now, you are simply too late now. There are probably a few resellers, trying to make money over you, now, but an emission of 100 pieces will dry out pretty fast I think. With another shipping, it might also damage your box. I hope in the future there will be more collaborations between RUSH and G-Shock. If there is going to be one, they probably will again take their time. There is no need to RUSH.