White knight with noble intent or tragic irony?

I.C.E.R.C. GW-206K Frogman



Ever since re-kindling my love for Casio watches, the G-Shocks have been the focus of my collection and they encompass about 98% of all my watches. The grail for me has always been the mighty G-Shock Frogman (any vintage) but especially the magnificent white I.C.E.R.C. GW-206K.

I.C.E.R.C. stands for "International Cetacean Education & Research Centre". Casio's G-Shock collaboration with I.C.E.R.C. stretches as far back as 1994 with the DW-6100DW-9 model. The philosophy behind such collaboration between Casio and I.C.E.R.C. is simple; to promote awareness that humans must live in harmony with all of nature. "All As One"

This particular model, the GW206K I.C.E.R.C. Frogman is the most recent of the I.C.E.R.C. collaboration frogmen. Released in 2006 following a long and distinguished line of highly collectable and prized models, it is without doubt the most difficult to keep CLEAN!

Even with nearly 15 years of Casio and I.C.E.R.C. collaboration, here in 2008, unfortunately and somewhat ironically, the Japanese tradition of hunting whale for their meat as a delicacy is still being practiced. So is this magnificent GW-206K Frogman a white knight with noble intent or is it all a tragic irony?

I hope with I.C.E.R.C.'s continued education of the impressionable newer generation of Japanese youth and the support of Casio to promote the philosophy with products that will be worn by predominantly the younger generation, that maybe one day Japanese whaling fleets will be a thing of the past. Hopefully, it will not be too late for these graceful giants of the ocean.

Here is to wishing for another model of I.C.E.R.C. Frogman! :-)

#25 Black Hole Sun

I seem to have reached half way my goal. My 25th post! There were times I thought I couldn't make it through here. I never was good in reviewing watches and I was always fascinated how other people could tell the most wonderful things about their watch.
Greg (a.k.a. Hummu) posted his Dawn Black Frogman on 50 Gs last week as the first post of July. I think it would be a nice challenge to keep the Frogman Theme for the month July. I start off today with the Black Helios Frogman. A very nice model of the 4th generation.
In March 1998 Casio presented the Raysman. It was a revolutionary model. No longer a Solar watch was a watch that went blanc when you wanted to know time in your bedroom at night or when you are hanging out with friends in a dark café. A rechargeable battery and the newest solar panel technology kept this watch, when full charged, running for many months.
Since 2000 the G-2300 was released, more and more Tough Solar models were released. It's Casio's goal to reduce environmental pollution. Under normal circumstances a rechargeable battery lasts at least 10 years, while a conventional Lithium battery lasts about 3 -4 years on a normal model. Nowadays most Tough Solar models even sync to Atomic Clocks.
In July 2002 Casio released the Black Helios series. The Greek God Helios was the personification of the sun. He is riding in his chariot through the sky, colored metallic black by the flames of the Sun, providing us light. The eternal source for warmth and energy.
The Black Helios series contains 5 models. Of course they are all Tough Solar and all black, like Helios his chariot. The models are: G-2310BC-1JF, G-2301BC-1JF, G-2800BC-1JF, G-2801BC-1JF and of course the series Flagship, the GW-200BC-1JF. A nice detail is that the G-2300's and the Frogman have a pinkish red eye.
I bought my first Black Helios Frog from a friend who lived in Japan. I believe I paid about $250.- for this model. In that time that would have been around €225.-.
A few months later another friend of me offered another one. I was amazed by the nice looks of this watch. We negotiated and came to a price of $280 shipped. It was then the highest price I ever paid for a G-Shock. With the low dollar rate, it now is a very good price for this Frogman, but in that time it was quite a lot of money. At the moment a new Frogman costs around €190.- in the US ($300.-).
Since Helios is the Greek word for sun, which you can also interpret it as Black Sun. Tough Solar technology does even absorb lowest light levels. Like these suns in space, with an enormous mass and very small diameter, resulting in an enormous escape velocity. No light can escape. Appearing as black spots in Universe. Like in the Soundgarden song.

"Black Hole Sun, Won’t you come

And wash away the rain
Black hole sun, Won’t you come

Won’t you come."

GW225A-1

Here' s what Casio has to say about the Frogman, my G-Shock for July:

The Frogman has resurfaced as one of G-Shock’s 25 Anniversary Limited Edition releases. With its Solar Power and Dive Function, the Frogman remains an aquatic masterpiece. Engraved with a commemorative 25th Anniversary logo.



Big, chunky, inexpensive, it's everything a G-Shock is meant to be and more.

#24 Triple eyed Brazilian G-Shock

Football is probably the most popular sport in the world. Tonight the final of the European Championship 2008 will be played between Spain and Germany. A nice reason to promote a football related G-Shock.
In 2006 Germany hosted the FIFA World Cup. Because the size of this even, there are a lot of big international sponsors. One of them was Casio. In 2005 Casio made these big G-Shock count down clocks, which were found in every participating city. Specially for this event Casio also developed Referee Timers like the DW-56RT.Actually I don't watch football much, although I have seen several games that the Orange played. Unfortunately we were wiped in the quarter finals. Funny enough I discovered that Bram's football is also a World Cup 2006 model, in the team colors of Germany.
In 2006 special FIFA G-Shock's were released. The GW-1400WCE-9AVER and GW-1201WC-9AV were two Waveceptor models (EU reception only), G-300BWC-1AV a Cockpit model and also a white and a black DW-56RTWC's were released.
The most known series are the "World Cup 2006 Soccer team uniform colors series". This was a triplet of Gs in the team colors of the last three winning countries Brazil, France and Germany. Of the three, the French model, G-300WC-2AJR, is not easy to find. I think it was only released in Japan. The DW-5600WC-1ER and DW-6900WCJ-9ER were sold outside Japan in large quantities.
Recently a load these watches were sold as NOS in Germany for unbelievable prices. I bought my first Brazilian model from Seiya-San for a good price of around $100.- in May 2006. I bought the same model with a German model for only €30.- together about a month ago.
For the DW-5600WC (Germany) have a look at Jason's weblog here. I will highlight today my favorite of this series. It's the Brazilian team model. I like bright colors and I even think the colors of the Brazilian team are world wide very popular. As you can see this watch is basically bright yellow with green accents. Specially the green ring around the display is very eye catching.
A illustration of the World Cup is shown on the long strap, while the strap retainer shows the logo of the FIFA.
On the back of the watch there is a special engravement. It shows the official "World Cup Germany 2006" logo. It has the 1289 module. The functions are very basic, but sufficient. The watch has an alarm function (with the possibility to program it to one or certain dates), an hourly chime, a Countdown Timer an a Stopwatch. A great plus of this module is that the time is shown in both the CDT as the STW mode.

In the EL backlight a lion figure shows up. This is the official mascot of the World Cup 2006. He's called Goleo VI, the lovable lion.
He's accompanied by his sidekick, Pille the talking football. Goleo VI was created by The Jim Henson Company, known for the puppet of the Muppet Show and Sesame Street.
And how did the FIFA World Cup 2006 end. Italy met formerer Champion Du Monde (1998) France in the final. The final is best remembered by an incident in the end of the the extra time while millions viewers worldwide saw how Zinedine Zidane rammed down Marco Materazzi with his head.
Zidane was sent out of the field and the extra time ended in a 1-1 score. The game ended with penalties, which the Italian team did much better then France. The final score Italy - France is 5 - 3, leaving Italy as the new (and present) World Champion.
If you are finished, can I get some attention too?

#23 The White Clubber.

As a collector of G-Shocks you always find some models more attractive than other. The variety of models is very big. The DW-003TL models is one of my favorites. I have quiet a lot of them and this will probably not be the last one on 50Gs.
Finding info about the DW-003TL models is not easy. They are not released in Japan under this model number, so they are not mentioned in the G-Shock Bibles of 2007 and 2008. It took me a while, but the correct model number for this watch is DW-003TL-7VQT. It was released in July 1997.
The DW-003TL came in several various color variations. Orange, blue, yellow, black and white with negative displays, the black, white and orange versions also have a normal display version too. Most of these watches I have seen come with the negative display, indicating that the normal display models are made in much smaller numbers.

The letters TL stands for Tough Label. Tough Label is the series of G-Shock made for the serious "clubber". Let's put in a nice CD of Mirwais to get into the right atmosphere.
Tough Label has a wide variety in models, which often they have a BPM counter. This model does not have this feature, but it has about all functions you can wish for on a basic model anno 1997. Nowadays it's passed by mobile phones, but this watch can store up to 30 telephone numbers, an alarm and hourly chime, complete independent programmable dual time, a 24h countdown timer with auto repeat function and a stopwatch.
A funny extra, completely worthless, but funny function, is the Equalizer function. If you push the upper right button for about 2 seconds, the upper display shows a graphic frequency analyzer animation.
In Japan the Tough Label series is mostly called the G'Mix series, but it does not apply to these models. A pretty similar model has been released in Japan too, under number DW-003C-7T, with exact the same strap. The only difference is that there is a big "lighting G" in the EL backlight of hte Japanese version.
Probably the most eye catching on this watch is the double Velcro watchband. The bottom band is a kind of thick stretch towel fabric. The upper part is woven nylon. The buckle holds the band in place. The case is attached to the upper band with two strap adapters. This way you can't loose the watch, not even when under strong force one of the push pins might fail. In that case the case will bestill attached with the other strap adapter.
When people see this kind of watchband for the first time, they think it's warm and looking too big. Once you have tried it on, it's great. This strap is unbelievable comfortable. You actually hardly notice the watch is there.
The fact that the case is attached to the upper strap with strap adapters make it possible for the case to migrate a little up and down. Also here is sounds like something you don't want, but actually it makes the watch adapt to the shape and size of your wrist.

This white model looks pretty sharp when worn. One can hardly look over it. It makes it a great summer watch for flashing along the beach. Now hoping for the sun to shine, so I can take it out for a ride on my bike....

Transformer DW-6900: Megatron model

After a lot of fighting and shooting, Prime and Megatron are tired.

Time to relax....

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...and some chat 'bout the weather

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Some friendly gestures...

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And they found a black box to sit on.

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Both metal boys are getting curious after done talking, so time to investigate it....

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One of them is happy, but Prime isn't so sure about it.

Let's have a closer look....

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Megatron is tired of waiting: time for some action, uhhh, posing....

The 'thing' reflects some of his evil powers....

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Megatron defenitily knows the time...

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Prime is getting jealous: he's always fighting for peace (;)) and now Megatron gets the award...

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Some words....

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And even good guys do have a bad temper.... 'Can I kick it, yes you can' *KICK*

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Megatron can't let it happen. His reaction..... a vicious high kick *KICK*

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And Prime draws his hidden gun:

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This is getting out of hand...

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...and some more

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But like always in good stories: the bad guy has to win, otherwise there will be no sequel...

Prime lost his head on this one....

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Megatron gets his beloved logo:

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For now the holy grail is displayed on the universal sign for tyranny

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Megatron celebrating his victory, losing some attention.... Prime refound himself

To be continued.... ;)

Thanks for watching, if funds allow it there will be a sequel to this story....

The review: -click-

And some pics of the actual watch, a Casio G-Shock DW-6900 Megatron model, module 1289

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Front:

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Back:

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Strap logo:

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EL: