G-Shock #26: Desert Beige

In May 2013 Casio released the Desert Beige series. This series were inspired by army camouflage used in desert missions. The color of the straps and bezel were inspired of the beige color of desert sand. The Desert Beige series consist of three models, this DW-6900SD-8, the GW-M5610SD-8 and the GA-100SD-8. The complete code for these models differ per region. For Japan the code ends -8JF, for Europe -8ER. Not all models are available worldwide. I think the GW-M5610SD-8 is only available in Japan. In Europe we can only get the DW-6900SD and the GA-100SD. Frankly this GA-100SD is the first GA-100 model that I think looks nice. I might pick up one in the future.

I was quite surprised when I unpacked my DW-6900SD. I had expected the beige to to be little more intense. To me, the color of the resin is a very light tone of orange brown. When I compare the watch with the screen image of the official photo of this series by Casio, it seems the color intensity is even a bit stronger. It might be that this watch appears less colored under bright light conditions. The finish is matte. Not only the resin, but even the buckle is matte. It actually reminds me to the good old DW-6900FS-8, the classic light gray G-Shock which is about the best selling model in the US.

For taking photo's of this model it was most appropriate to look for a location with sand. Since we don't have a desert on this island (Walcheren), I went to the beach of Zoutelande. 

The display seems to change color between the usual gray and light amber orange. It depends strongly from the viewing angle, but from the wrist it looks amber. The amber color makes the contrast of the LCD quite high and clear. I pretty would like to see this color, or even a tint more saturated as the “Storm Trooper” Mudman.

So, what’s beige? I think beige is somewhat the vaguest color around. Technically beige is a very light tint of brown. Per definition, brown is a mixture of the three primary colors, but with yellow and red in the majority. In the past, beige and ecru were synonyms. Ecru is the color of unbleached cotton. Nowadays ecru is considered a color shade on it’s own. Beige is often also named Sand Color (at least in Dutch).

The color beige is not a color mentioned a lot. The first time I heard about this color was when I was about 7 years old. My father’s Ford Taunus was totally worn out, so my dad decided to buy a beige Opel Kadett. I always thought it was a strange color for a car, but even now, 40 years later, these cars seem pretty popular under Opel collectors. Luckily my dad got a bright yellow and a bright orange car after this car. Much more the colors I like…

While the Desert Beige series were inspired by Army Desert Camouflage, the colors of the camouflage is quite intenser. Still I think the watch will match nice though. Compared with the classic DW-6900FS-8 the Desert Beige DW-6900SD looks much warmer.

The DW-6900SD comes with the familiar 3230 module, which I have quite often described here a s a good basic module. Besides Time Keeping, you’ll find an Alarm Function, a 24 hour Countdown Timer and a 24 hour Stopwatch on board. Basically all you need in your busy and/or sporty life.

The Desert Beige DW-6900SD and GA-100SD are available since about 3 weeks in Europe. The retail price for both models (usually in The Netherlands, this is also the price you pay) is €99.-, which is a very nice price. Casio decided to make the “basic” models about €10.- cheaper. It might be to make them sell more, but also the Yen dropped a bit compared to the Euro, to a more acceptable level. I think that the prices of these tow models will be around $99 in the US too. In Japan the retail prices are ¥11000 for the DW-6900SD, ¥13500 fro the GA-100SD and ¥20000 for the GW-M5610SD.

I got this watch via Ace Jewelers. As I knew this model was coming I already pre-ordered it, so I could lay my hands on it as soon as it was available. I think this watch is a very nice watch for this summer. The light colored matte strap will be easily become victim to bleeding (colors transferring from strong colored objects like clothing), but as I probably wear almost only short sleeves or non-bleeding Hoodies (Kiks TYO), that might not be a big problem for me. The pricing in Europe indicates this might become a basic model for a while. I won’t complain, as it is a very nice watch. The DW-6900FS-8 was good, this model is even better. I love the warmer feel. And if you don’t want to stick out, wear it on the beach, as this is also perfect sand camouflage.