#30 The basic “Triple Eyed Devil’

Is it Sunday again already? @%#$$*&^(#! 

Now, put that crossword puzzle aside, let's get writing. 

In the past weeks I have written seven articles about special Football G-Shocks for the FIFA Word Cup 2010, which was quite an operation for me. Frankly I do not watch football often. My favorite sport event is happening at the moment, the Tour de France. Of course the tactics of different teams and riders are interesting, but I also like to watch the views of France landscapes.

It is a pity I am pretty bad with languages, though I think French is one of the most beautiful languages in the world, though Italian girls talking English is also a golden combination (I still hear her say in the garden of Casa Loma, Toronto: “Oh George-eh, it’seh so nice-eh”). I think there are not many G-Shocks that have a special French theme. The FIFA World Cup 1998 is, but I have written enough about football probably for the coming next 4 years, and that Collette x aLife collab that was released some time ago. I must put Collette on my “to visit” list, in case I might end up in Paris some day.

So no French and no cycling (these seem to be rare too) G-Shock for today. Let’s look at one of the most basic G-Shocks around. The DW-6900-1V. The fun of this classic from around 1995 is that it was released worldwide, except in Japan. In Japan a “gold version” was released as DW-6900B-9, probably in March 1995, together with the “Totenkopf” models and a desert camo model.

Frankly I have not seen that desert camo model much around, but the red and yellow DW-6900H “Totenkopf” models were released in enormous numbers. You can still find the, 15 years later, on the 2nd hand market in all kind of conditions.

This DW-6900H-4 (the 6900's with the skull) was found on a flea market 2 weeks ago in Florida. It has been abused for many years, resulting in a broken bezel. This G is used as it was meant to be. Photo by Steve B, published with permission.

In Japan you still often see the “gold version” DW-6900 and DW-6600 (with orange light button). I think it is a matter of local preference. European and US people probably like the “silver version” over the “gold version”. Personally I have not a preference of one of the versions, but I am also half European, half Asian.

The "gold version" DW-6900B-9

Don´t expect extreme differences between a “gold version” and a “silver version”. For this DW-6900 it means the silver version has a normal greenish LCD display and white lettering. Above the eyes the text WATER 200M RESIST is blue. The gold version has a yellow (gold) display and yellow lettering on the bezel. The text WATER 20BAR RESIST is also yellow. On both versions the text G-SHOCK is red and the buttons are silver. On some “gold versions” the buttons and buckle are in gold tone.

 

Both the silver and gold versions can come with the plastic buckle. The strap that comes with the plastic buckle is quite rubberish, which makes the strap feel as a second skin around your arm. Although the plastic buckle might look cheap, the buckle is in fact pretty tough. There is only one thing that these buckles can’t have. Postage stamp machines. I once bought a 6900 with a plastic buckle. It was sent from Germany in a simple envelope. The watch was received intact, but the buckle was smashed to small pieces. I believe this model also is sold with a standard metal buckle.

I still remember seeing my first DW-6900 in real life. It must have been in the fall of 2000. II went with the family to Antwerp for shopping. We stopped at “Het Elfde Gebod” (The Eleventh Commandment” = “Thou shall enjoy”) for a meal and a good beer. “Het Elfde Gebod” is quite a well known café-restaurant. Besides a good choice of beers, they have a very nice choice of Flemish food. When I wanted to order a second beer, I walked to the bar and noticed the watch of the bartender. For those days, it looked huge.

The bartender appeared to be an US student and had this watch already for years. While I had a nice talk with this student, probably about his study, I could not take my eyes off from his watch. Those three eyes are almost hypnotizing.

DW-6900S with a 1557 module.

It are these eyes which I think make this watch look so special, though not all DW-6900’s have a 1289 module. There are also DW-6900 models with a 1449 and 1557 module. Still if you mention the DW-6900 model, every G-Shocker immediately thinks about the versions with three eyes.

DW-6900's (Left European, right Japanese version) with 1449 module.

About 7 years ago, when I was starting the G-Peopleland website, I often read Japanese bulletin boards. Once I read a message on such board, regarding the DW-6900. The poster of the message called this version (translated) a “Triple Eyed Devil”. I don’t know who posted this message, but I think it was on the BBS of Yachtrays a.k.a. Sailboat Bat. While this (private) bulletin board is hardly active anymore, one of the members, FUMI, is still an active G-Shocker. Since I have read this message, I started referring the DW-6900 as “Triple Eyed Devil” as I think this is a matching name for this model.

In Japan some models are also referred to movies where they are used in. Probably best known is the DW-5600C which Keanu Reeves wore in the movie “Speed”. For this reason the classic DW-5600C model is often called “Speed”. The DW-6900 was featured in the movie “Mission Impossible 2”, so this model is sometimes also called MI:2. While this name was pretty common several years ago, I noticed this name is not used much anymore. It might be because it’s already some years ago this movie was released.

Actually the DW-6900 used in MI:2 was a mocked up watch. The texts “CASIO” and “G-SHOCK” were removed and the watch module seems to be digital altered with an “transponder tracking device”, whatever that might be.

The DW-6900 is probably the most used model for special editions. It is probably harder to find a (still produced) basic DW-6900-1V than a special edition. You aren’t hearing me complain about that. I love the look of this model. It is somehow classic, but it looks fresh in many new releases, like the recent Crazy Color designs and the countless collaboration designs. Many of these models have passed the revue here and this one will for sure not be the last.

 

Like the basic DW-5600E the DW-6900-1V can be found for very friendly prices. In Europe you can’t find this model. The basic DW-6900 here is the DW-6900E-1ER “Rough Rowdy” here. It costs around €80.- in the shops. It’s better to look in the US or South East Asia for a DW-6900-1V. On eBay you can find them for prices starting already from $35.-. It is a pretty good daily beater. I think every G-Shocker should at least have this basic model in his or her collection.

#29 FIFA Weltmeisterschaft Fussball 2006 Volunteers G-Shock.

Today  is the last day of the World Championship football of 2010.  It is a pretty exciting happening for our small country. Since our team have beaten the potential World Cup winner Brazil, the country has lived up and is supporting the Orange team. Tonight the final, The Netherlands - Spain. Spain is favorite in this duel, but maybe the Netherlands can fight back from their underdog position. If Spain wins, I will congratulate Adan and all my Comando-G friends, if the Netherlands win, the celebrations in our country will be unbelievable big.

The end of the World Cup also marks the last G-Shock model in this series articles about football G-Shocks. I hope you enjoyed this series. I pretty much have looked forward in writing an article about the Toyota Cup model and this model, my recently acquired FIFA Weltmeisterschaft 2006 Volunteers model.

I think you would be lucky with Casio sponsoring the World Championship 2006 if you were a volunteer. In 2010 one of the main sponsors of the event is Hublot. I can’t imagine this Swiss Watch manufacturer made a watch for every volunteer.

The number of volunteers in 2006 was 15000. I don’t think they all got this World Cup 2006 Volunteers model, but there must have been a large number of these watches given away. You can still find them on eBay Germany quite easily, though they were given away 4 years ago.

The G-300BWC volunteers model (I don’t know the full model number) is a little different from the G-300BWC-1AV, which has a yellow dial.

 This model comes in a quite big black box. The lid of the box has the logo of the Weltmeisterschaft 2006 Germany on it. When you pull of the lid, the real box is revealed. G-Shocks quite rarely com in wooden boxes. The lid of the wooden box is plastic, but that doesn’t disturb the look.

A nice surprise shows when the wooden box is opened. On the inside of the lid there is a small message from Franz Beckenbauer. It reads translated: “Thank you for your help, yours truly, Franz Beckenbauer”, the chairman of the organizational committee of the World Cup 2006 after he successfully got the World Cup to Germany.

The box has two compartments. In the big open compartment there is the watch, strapped around a small leather covered cushion. The small closed compartment holds the watch manual. For a special edition of a “basic model”, it is a very luxurious package.

I got this model in at the beginning of the World Cup 2010. I successfully tried to obtain this watch specially as final of this series of Football G-Shocks. It actually is my first G-300 model. The looks are to me mix between a basic case with a cockpit series dial. The 2738 was also used on Cockpit models, which explains.

The white dial is very clear. With the deep black hands it’s easy to read analog time. The hands have illuminating paint on them. They light up the first minutes in the dark, but it is the usual paint used by Casio. Luckily the watch has an EL backlight, so you can almost always read the time in the dark. Also the digits on the small digital displays are very clear. Besides the normal details on the dial, a picture of the FIFA World Cup is displayed in the bottom right part of the dial.

The G-300WC has not such a distinct look as the cockpit series, which pretty much stand out, but it has still has a good look. The case is made of polyurethane, but the bezel has a big metal ring, surrounded by resin bumpers.

Like the G-300BWC-1A, this model also has a special single piece strap. It is the strap you also find on the M-Spec series. It is a one piece cloth strap (it looks like Kevlar to me). On the M-Spec series the inside of the strap was bright orange colored, but the strap on this model is black on the inside. It has a pretty tough looking buckle and the holes in the strap are made stronger by metal rings.

Because the case is attached above the band, instead of between the straps, the watch is placed a little higher than it would have been on normal straps.

On the strap, just under the case, there is a white patch with again the logo of the FIFA World Cup 2006 (this time it’s not the FIFA WM 2006). It is a nice detail, which as far as I can see is not present on the G-300BWC. A funny detail on the location of the patch. Normally Casio places these patches above the case, so the patch is seen on the outside of the wrist, viewable for other people that see the watch and not for the wearer. This patch is viewable for the wearer. The strap keeper seems to be made of leather and has the FIFA logo printed on it. This type of strap is very comfortable and also looks a bit sturdier than standard resin straps.

Of course the World Cup 2006 logo is also etched on the back of the watch, but this detail normally is kept hidden. It is not easy to remove the straps, but with a good springbar tool you can take the strap off, for instance for a battery change.

According the manual the 2738 module uses 2 SR927W silver –oxide batteries. It is not unusual that Casio uses different batteries for analog and ana-digi models. Since this model is at the moment at least 4 years running, I think the batteries hold out pretty well, though the manual says the batteries last approximately 3 years.

 

So, what functions do we get on this watch. Besides timekeeping the watch has a 30 time zone Worldtime function, a 60 minute Countdown Timer a 60 minutes Stopwatch and an Alarm function with 5 alarms (1 snooze alarm) and a hourly signal.

The analog time and digital time are not synced. You can set the time in Hand Setting mode to the correct time, or to the time in your current time zone if you are traveling. You have bad luck if you live in Venezuela. Since the time there shifted thirty minutes in December 2007, the -4.30 timezone is not taken up in the World Time Table.

 If you like this watch, it will probably not easy to get one unless you can write a little German. Of course most volunteers probably like this gift they got from the FIFA, but most of these available were on auction on eBay Germany. Even if you manage to get in contact with a seller in Germany, there is a next problem. Paypal is not widely used. Germany has quite a big populations and members of eBay Germany are used to sell nationally. Luckily bank transactions within the Euro countries are often free of costs as payments are done from and to IBAN bank accounts (International bank account numbers). Since many German sellers have no experience with international payments, I calculate German IBAN bank number myself (with pretty handy on-line calculation tools).

I have a feeling this model is becoming rare now. Until about a year ago there were always a few of these on auction in Germany. The watches changed owners for prices around €60 - €80. I was pretty lucky with this one. Well, you can leave “pretty” out actually. Though I wanted this model for this series, I actually couldn’t afford it. Some other G-Shocks I purchased in May and June have blown a big hole in my finances (what’s new). I had placed a maximum bid from I was not sure I would get it. At the last moment someone bid less than €1.- under my maximum bid. I managed to get this watch for just below €60.- (ex. Shipping).

I like to thank Joerdis from Leipzig , who made it possible for me to get this model in time. This watch is quite a beautiful piece in my G-Shock collection. Thank you for the patience and answering all my questions. Liebe Gruβen aus Middelburg.

"Are you finally finished on that table? Nice, now I can claim that spot".