G-Shock #21: Though Positive Yellow DW-6630B

Casio has something with the color yellow. In 1992 Casio introduced the first G-Shocks with colors, the yellow DW-5600C-9B and the blue marbled “winter Premium” DW-5600D-1. In 1994 Casio released the first “round basic model’, the DW-6600. I think it was around this time Casio became unstoppable in releasing nice colored G-Shock models.

Yellow is of course a great color. I can only think positive associations with this color. I live on a agricultural island. When riding on my bicycle in summer, I see the bright sun shine over the golden barley fields. My view of good times in summer. When I am on holidays in France, I very much enjoy driving along the huge sunflower fields. I think that yellow is particularly a color that makes you feel good. I once read an interview in an old G-Shock magazine, where one of the designers of G-Shock was interviewed. Although the text was in Japanese (and I don’t have a clue where that interview was published), it was pretty clear that the designer called this color “Positive Yellow”. In 1997 Casio released the Auréle collaboration model. The phrase “Positive Yellow” was even printed on the box.

This DW-6630B-9 was released in November 1994. It was released together with a purple and a blue version, but this yellow version was far popular than the other two. Casio released G-Shock in Europe in October 1994, so this was one of the first colorful G-Shocks available here, specially in Germany. It was sold in great numbers. You still can find many of them in used condition on eBay. In the past you could have them between €10 and €20 and I think that if you want to have one now, if you pay more than €30, it is over priced.

Sjors would not be Sjors, if he had not a few of these. About 10 years ago it was not an exception that 5 -10 of these were on eBay auctions simultaneously. I just did a quick search and I found one in pretty reasonable condition on the first result page with “G-Shock” as search phrase and another one in moderate condition.

The coolest part of this watch is also the most vulnerable. It’s the face protector. This piece of metal wire is coated black, but over time the black coating chips off. If you want to baby your watch, you might not like this, but as a beater, it only adds to the though look of the watch. It seems this watch was at first not intend to be distributed outside Japan. in the ring around the display you can clearly see the text “Fox Fire”. Fox Fire is the Japanese name for “Illuminator”. It means the watch has an EL backlight. It might not be very important to write such a text on the display, but the DW-6630B is a version of the DW-6600 and the DW-6600 was the first G-Shock with an Electro Luminescent backlight.

The backlight of the DW-6600 is well known. It is probably the brightest EL backlight on a G-Shock. You almost can use it as a flash light. It even got a Flash Alarm on board. If this feature is activated, the EL lights up when an Alarm sounds. As on many DW-660o, a big G is shown in the EL backlight, but unlike the usual red, this G is yellow.

So, what do we find on board. The DW-6630B comes with the 1199 module, the same module as found on the DW-6600. It’s pretty basic. An Alarm function, a 60 minute Countdown Timer and a 24 hour Stopwatch. In all modes the time is shown, which is something some people like. It is indeed handy when you are using your Stopwatch to time several events or are monitoring a longer countdown, though, with only a 60 minute capacity, what’s long.

The LCD is shown in one big display. The display is divided in three area. The upper part shows the date in Time Keeping function and the mode and current time in other modes. The bottom part shows all the time functions. The middle part shows the progression of time in two layers. The upper part counts the 10 seconds, the lower part the seconds, There are only 5 arrows, but they change up and down. Some people think these animations are a waste of space, but I think it is nice to see the time progression on the display. You can compare it with the progression of a seconds hand on an analog wristwatch. I never heard anybody complain about the presence of that. For a long time Casio used both DW-6600’s and DW-6900’s for their special releases, but in the past years the DW-6600 has not been used anymore. It seems even that the complete line has discontinued.

The DW-6630B-9 is a fun watch to wear. Not real a watch to pet. The face protector challenge you to use this watch during extreme conditions. The yellow color won’t stop you. I once saw an interview with artist Paul McArthy, known for his confronting art, including installations and live painting. That DW-6630B would probably have been beat up a lot, but it looked in still good condition of television. Finding a mint one, will be almost a mission impossible, but a nice used one, can still be found real cheap. After almost 19 year, you might even wonder how many of those were sold in the mid 90s. If it's wise to buy one? The resin of these watches will become victim of resin rot probably more sooner than later.  Actually, one of mine already has. Still, it's a fun model. The purple model was also sold in Europe. Although not real rare, they are not that easy to find anymore. I never have seen a blue model in Europe, so I guess this was a Japan Domestic model. Not a big problem for me. I much rather have a yellow G-Shock, then a blue one.

#34 Sunshine and Happiness

Today's subject is a pretty common G-Shock. It's the DW-6630B-9, released November 1994. It was one of the first G-Shock models released in Germany*. It seems it was an instand success. Even now you can find them easily on eBay Germany for an apple and an egg.
I think I have three of them and I probably haven't paid more than €20,- for each of them.
Besides this yellow version, also a purple version was available in Europe. That version is not really rare, but it's not often found for sale anymore. No wonder if you realize it's a 15 year old digital watch. I think the purple version is also pretty cool.
In fact yellow is a color used often by Casio G-Shock. I once learned from an interview with a G-Shock designer that the deep yellow color is called "Positive Yellow".
A visit to the wikipedia page for yellow learns there are a lot of very positive associations with this color. Amazingly, since yellow only covers a small band in the electromagnetic wave spectrum: 570 - 580 nm.
Commonly associations with yellow are: sunshine, warmth, summer, fun and happiness. This explains why this summer a yellow version of the basic GW-6900 and GW-M5600 were released.
In 1994 this must have been a very cool watch. Digital watches were around that time normally square and much smaller, while this model is pretty big. The bright yellow color and the face protector must have added a lot to the "Cool Factor".
As you can see my watch has some battle scars, though for a 14 year old watch I think it still looks great. If you have also a "bull bar" with pieces of paint chipped off, you can easily repaint them with enamel or spray paint. Also you can choose to remove the paint with sand paper for a metal look (works better on other, darker, colors I think).
Around the display there is a mirror ring. Besides some functions of the buttons (as far not present on the bezel) it shows the text FOXFIRE. For overseas models normally the term ILLUMINATOR is used. These terms are used to inform they have an EL-backlight.
Also the text WATER 20 BAR RESIST is printed above the display. Usually 20 BAR is only used for the Japanese domestic models, while overseas models show 200M. These two texts suggests that this model was originally targeted for the dominestic market only.
It's generally assumed that the term FOXFIRE comes from the movie Firefox (1982). A ultra modern jet fighter called Firefox (MIG-31) plays the center role. When the cockpit is opened, all instruments light up brightly (I actually haven't seen the movie yet).
The display of the 1199 module is not separated in sub-dials or eyes. Still you can divide the display into 3 parts.
The upper part shows day and date or the mode you are in. Also it shows time in Alarm and Countdown Mode.
The middle part shows animated time passing. A bit strange is they use the six blocks above for evey 5 seconds and it starts over every 30 seconds. The 5 triangles count away the seconds.
The lower part shows time or the important times in other modes. A pity that there is only one pitch alarm tone. Most G-Shocks give a different beep if the Timekeeping Mode is selected.
I discovered a funny surprise when setting the time correctly. Pretty unusual for basic G-Shocks, when setting times you can also use the upper right button to decrease the value. Pretty handy, since this module tends to be a bit fast and I haven't worn this watch for a long time.
The Countdown function can set maximal to only 60 minutes. If the time is set to 0'00" the countdown timer won't start, so effectively it's a 59'59" timer.
The Stopwatch function is quite luxurious equipped. You can use it as a normal stopwatch, but you can use a 5 seconds countdown. Pretty unique is that you can set a target time. 5 seconds before you pass the set target time, the alarm sounds for 5 seconds.
As I wrote before, the DW-6630B was one of the first G-Shocks with an EL-backlight. Already Casio used this model to show a cool figure when the ribbed black EL button is pushed. In the background a big yellow G appears. The use of a yellow backlight figure is pretty rare. Usually red or dark blue is used.
* According to Joakim Ågren G-Shocks were at least available from 1992 in Sweden. The introduction of G-Shock in Germany in 1994 seems not to comply for whole Western Europe.