G-Shock 43: Playset part 3: Come and play with us!

Today´s article is a delayed article. Originally the photo would be taken by Luis Manuel, a student from Puerto Rico, who has built up an amazing nice collection of G-Shocks. Unfortunately he had not managed to gt a camera in time. Well, it's his 23rd birthday today, so this article is for you Luis. A pity we can't enjoy Puerto Rican scenery. This article is about the GD-100PS-3ER model (in Japan released under the model number GD-100PS-3JR). This set of the “G-Shock Man Box” series comes with a vinyl G-Man figure, designed by Shiro Nakano.

Shiro Nakano is one of the three designers of “play set products”(note the absence of capitals), a group of designers that design both for their own brand as for other, mostly Japanese, brands. Shiro Nakano has also designed for Hobby:tech’s Quolomo brand (Hobby:tech is also the founder of Kiks TYO).

In 2008 the first G-Shock Man (G-Man) was presented. Giant G-Shock Men, inspired on the GW-5600 and DW-6900 model, showed up at the entrances of the “Shock The World” parties worldwide. These G-Shock Men always attract a lot of attention to the visitors of these parties.

Small versions of these G-Shock men, including an AW-500 and GW-5500 version showed up at Casio dealers. First in Japan, but later worldwide. Although these figures were wanted by G-Shock fans all over the world, they were not for sale.

My DW-6900 and GW-5600 G-Man figures. These are normally only used for display purposes at shops of official Casio Dealers.
Luckily in 2009 Casio released the first G-Shock Man Box, based on the purple “Crazy Colors” DW-6900CC-6JR. The DW-6900SW-6ER (SW stands for “Shock The World Limited”) was sold as a limited edition, but many were given away in the goodie bag for special guests (mainly press) on the “Shock The World” parties in 2009. It differs from the “Crazy Colors” model in its gold metallic light button and the special engraved numbered back.

In March 2010 a new G-Shock Man Box was released, this time a GA-110F model. Unfortunately I had no funds for this model, but this multicolored model looked great. The third G-Shock Man box was released in April 2011. This time Casio used the GD-100 (X-Large) model. In the LED backlight the logo of “play set products” becomes visible, while in the first two boxes the name of the designers are absent. I think that Shiro Nakano wanted to advertise his designer company too, which I can understand as the first two boxes were very popular, but there was no referral to “play set products”, while it could have been done on the DW-6900SW too.

The G-Man Boxes models come, as the name already suggests, in a clear presentation box. Although the watch and the box look very cool, I wished the show box had a skeleton of cardboard. In the past Casio releqased more special models, like the DW-8150 Techno models and the Lover Collection models in similar clear plastic boxes. Unfortunately these plastic damage easily when they are opened. Once they are a little damaged, it’s very good possible that the box or other plastic supporting parts of the box break or tear open. I had a 1997 Lovers Collection box that came n a great presentation box, but at the moment only the outer part is more or less showable. A cardboard skeleton presentation box, like is found on the 2004 I.C.E.R.C. Frogman, would probably sustain the life of the box drastically. On the other side, Casio makes watches to be worn and not to be collected, the way I do. Inside the presentation box, there is a little cardboard box to store the G-Man in.

The 2011 G-Shock Man box is again a great model. This time Shiro Nakano used different shapes of khaki, which makes the watch and the G-Man look a bit military. Also the greenish/amber display give the watch a kind of army look. When I saw the first photo of this model, I showed this to my 11 year old son. He’s very fond of army stuff. We have a very wild garden and all children in the neighborhood like to play war here, for some reason. No surprise that he was very enthusiastic when I showed this photo.

It was probably no surprise too that Casio and play set used this GD-100 model as base for their collaboration. With the GA-100 and GA-110 releases Casio showed the come-back of the big G-Shock models. With the GD-100 G-Shock heavily promotes these “X-Large models”.

The display of the GD-100 is divided in three parts. The upper part is a kind of info display. In Timekeeping Mode it shows day and date, in other modes it shows in which mode you are in. In the middle there are three Alarm indicators and 2 “graphic areas”, which animate elapsed time, like a seconds hand does on an analog watch. The bottom party is the time display.

The GD-100PS is uses the 3263 module. Besides time keeping, you’ll find 4 other modes on this model. The first mode is the World Time mode. The watch can show you time in 31 time zones of 48 cities around the world. A cool feature is that you can quickly switch between 4 preset time zones in Time Keeping mode. The base time keeping time zone and 3 “temporarily” time zones. Ideal for people who travel a lot around the world.

This watch has 5 alarms on board. The alarms works with the operating time zone the watch is in. All alarms can be set as a daily alarm or a onetime alarm. That last feature looks pretty handy to me. Also there is a hourly chime on board and also the button function can be muted (is done from Time Keeping Mode).

Like most new G-Shocks, the GD-100PS has also a 24 hour Stopwatch function and a 24 hour Countdown Timer on board. For most activities more than sufficient.

 

 

Like the other X-Large models, the display is lighted with two bright LEDs. The3 LEDs light up the complete display, which is very well readable in the dark. When you are in Setting screen of the Time Keeping Mode, you can choose the duration time of the illumination and you can toggle the Flash mode on and off. This function makes the watch illuminate when an alarm sounds (not at button tones). You can also set the watch to Auto-Illumination. In this mode an internal switch detect when you tilt the watch for about 40 degrees, which is the about the same position you hold your wrist and watch when you look what time it is. The Illumination time can be set between 1.5 seconds and 3 seconds. Personally I always find 1.5 seconds too short to read proper time. For me 2 seconds is about sufficient, so with 3 seconds you have plenty of time to read time.

I think the GD-100 in general is a great watch. The GD-100GD has been plenty available worldwide and if you look good you might even find one for a good price. It was released in Europe at the end of July, when this box was already available worldwide for several months. I bought mine in the Netherlands at a sneaker shop. I paid €150.- for it, which is about the same price as the original price in Japan, ¥16500. Actually I recently saw this watch is still available in the Netherlands. I do not know how limited this model is, but I think the emission was about the same as the first G-Shock Man box, which consisted of 5000 numbered pieces. Well, it’s limited, but not extreme limited. Like I often tell to Luis: If you like this model and an afford it, just buy it. Frankly, I like the watch, but it would for me not have been a disaster if I had not bought this model. I actually bought it, because my son Bram liked it most. If you like the special color scheme, it’s a great model with a lot of features.

 

EDIT by Alan from New York (a huge GD-100 fan): A few items worth mentioning about the playset and GD-100 in general. The buckle is an attractive anodized black, also shared with the "military" GD-100. Adding to the feel of the military look, the tricolor green maintains the childlike playfulness, as does the distinctive red "D" button. The "D" button also allows you to scroll between the four Local time presets, one at a time or continuously. The Local time can also be swapped by pushing the "B" and "C" buttons simultaneously.

G-Shock #28: GD-100-1BER, The X-Large recommended G-Shock

Image used with kind permission of Casio Benelux.

When I attended the Shock The World 2011 leg in Amsterdam June 16th there was a lot to see. One thing my eye fell on was a poster of X-Large clothing. The big Gorilla, that is featured in their logos, is holding a big G-Shock. It’s probably no coincidence he is holding a GD-100-1BER. This model is marketed by Casio as an X-Large model. 

Above: First poster X-Large x G-Shock Collaboration, probably from 2007or 2008 . Middle:Second poster: "XLarge Recomended!"  from 2011.  Below: Graphics of the 25th Anniversary of G-Shock T-Shirt by X-Large.
Funny thing is, I have visited two X-Large stores in Japan. The biggest sizes they sell there is L (and Size L is about European size M). A pity, because they make very cool shirts. I bought a Be@rbrick instead, kind out of frustration (^o^).

The GD-100 model was introduced in September 2010 in Japan. It houses in a similar case as the GA-100 and GA-110 models, but in contrary to these first mentioned models, this model is full digital.

As a VIP or Press representative on Shock the World, you get a goodie bag. The goodie bag contained this GD-100 model, which was cool. I noticed a lot of invited guest were wearing this model (artists were actually wearing a colored version of this model), so I think Casio provided a gift that was well received to their guests. As I was wearing my GW-203K-4JR, I choose not to wear this model, as my red jelly Frogman was drawing a lot attention.

 This does not mean I don’t like this watch. The GD-100-1BER has a nice negative display and I am fond of these kind of displays. As this is the first G-Shock of this model I have, I have finally the chance to see what is so special about the new 2 LED backlight. I must say it is pretty cool. I had expected a less readable display, but the display is good readable when the LED backlight is activated in the dark.

This watch uses the 3263 module. Sometimes people ask what is the module and the case are. The case is the “naked” housing of the watch. It is covered by the polyurethane bezel, that can have different color variations. The module is the engine of the watch. If it was a mechanical watch, it would have been its caliber. One type of housing can have different modules. The round basic model of G-Shock, the DW-6900, had several different modules in the past. Of course, it is well known for its 1289 module with the three eyes, but there were also models with three sub displays and G-Lide models with a total other look. I suspect that the GD-100 case is practically the same as the GA-100 and GA-110 case. The letters A and D stand obvious for Analog and Digital. This extra letter is added probably because the G-100 is a totally different much smaller model.

Left the GA-110B-4, right the GD-100-1B.

So what’s on board this X-Large watch. It is pretty much a basic G-Shock, but then bigger. For a basic G-Shock it has quite a lot of features on-board. It’s actually recognizable as a basic model on the G-Shock Perfect Search website, as basic models do not have a date of release mentioned (I wish they did actually).

The Timekeeping function looks regular (it is linked to the World Time function, so first set the your time zone and DST, before editing time. A cool thing is that you can program 4 time zones in regular Time Keeping. When you press “Forward” (lower right) you can scroll through the programmed cities. Note that you must apply DST for your programmed time zone if needed. Once programmed, this can be a powerful function for people who travel a lot to different time zones. Let’s see what modes (functions) there are on this watch.

The first mode you’ll find is the World Time mode. The GD-100 has 48 cities programmed in 31 time zones. The only thing I do not like in the World Time mode, is that you can only scroll Eastwards. When you try to scroll West (upper right button), you activate the LED backlight.

The second mode is the Alarm Mode. There is room for 5 daily alarms on this watch and it has of course also a hourly chime. T the watch also has a Flash function. When turned on, not only a sound will be heard, but the display LEDs also flashes. You can turn on and off the Flash function while adjusting in Timekeeping Mode.

The third mode you’ll find on the GD-100 is the 24 hour Countdown Timer Mode. I think 24 hour is pretty sufficient. Remarkable here is that you can set the timer to the second. Normally you can program a 24 hour Countdown Timer only in minutes. If you have to program small timer intervals this can be handy. I am used to time longer intervals, but I guess this will make a lot of people happy.

Last you’ll find the Stopwatch Mode. It is a 24 hour stopwatch. I think 24 hour is sufficient for most timing uses .

The display of the GD-100 is divided in an upper display and a lower display. The displays are divided by a set of three small eyes and two big eyes. Casio calls the two large eyes “Graphic Area’s. The upper display shows mainly information, as the day and date, the Timezone City Code or the mode you are in, while the lower display shows primarily time in the different modes.

The digits look big in these displays. As this is a version with a negative display, it is a little bit less readable than a general (positive) display, but, hey, you wanted a cool looking watch. What I miss on this display is the amber background. Casio choose for this model the standard gray/green background. Personally I like the amber digits on a negative display more. Amber digits give a negative display more or less a military look. As this model is pretty stealth (the lettering is gray and only the word ILLUMINATOR is in red), amber digits would have looked very good. Actually there are two Military Style models (GD-100MS), one with an amber positive display and one with a negative display with amber digits.

The three holes in the left part that divides the upper and lower display show if a certain function is activated or not. The these functions are the Hourly Chime, the Alarm and the Mute function. Indeed, you can toggle the Mute Mode on and off on this watch by press and hold the MODE (lower left) button for about 3 seconds.

The so called “Graphic Area’s” show elapsing time. In normal timekeeping mode, the small eye shows the 10 seconds, while the big one counts the seconds. In Countdown Timer mode and Stopwatch Mode the small eye shows the 1/10th seconds, while the big eye shows the seconds.

The LED backlight function is very sufficient. When activated in the dark, the negative display is very clear readable. Maybe it is the clearest negative display I have ever seen. I even think, when seeing this, I become more interested in other versions with other colored (amber) LED backlight.

With a X-Large G-Shock, you’ll need a tough strap. The strap of this model looks like the regular hard when out of the box, but actually feels pretty comfortable on the wrist. The strap easily adjusts to the forms of my wrist. The double closure buckle makes this strap look very tough.

The GD-100 does not have the high price as the GA-110 and GA-110. It can be found even in the Netherlands for just under €90.- at Kish, which is about the regular price of a basic G-Shock here in the shops.

I think for this price you’ll get a basic G-Shock that has about all the features you can wish on such a model. Changing between 4 time zones in the Timekeeping Mode is one of the best functions I have seen in a while. The GW-3000 Sky Cockpit has a function in which you can swap fast between regular Time Keeping and World Time (also a very good function, I used it on the plane to Japan this winter), but that are still only two time zones. I had to get used to the look of this watch, with his strange eyes, but the longer I am studying and wearing it, I must say, the better I think this watch looks. I think Casio Benelux choose a good watch to give it their VIP guests on Shock The World Amsterdam. Thank you very much Casio!

Special thanks goes out by Bas Boersma and Bastiaan de Leeuw for helping me with this article.