Hitting the scene back in 1983, the original G-shock boasted a ten year battery life, could survive a fall of 10 meters, and depths of up to a hundred meters. Given some of the watches I’ve owned that actually sounds pretty good. Frankly it feels like some of them were undone by a wet sneeze.
So cool, even imaginary people wear them
Since then things haven’t gotten less technically advanced. Quality time pieces with toughness in their DNA, the Casio G-Shock is like some kind of ‘hero watch’. The ‘go to’ for the professional variety of heroes, cops, firefighters, folks we send to space, special forces and the like. Heck, because of the latter, these beastly watches have shown up popular fiction, in such books as Blackhawk Down and the Nick Stone line of novels. Not limited to people for who being awesome is a professional line of work, (be it real or fiction) The G-Shock is also the go to for those with heroic pastimes too, like the crazy cats that get their kicks submerging their bodies in water for long periods of time while diving in the depths, or those who defy gravity, strapped the side of a mountain. The point? I suppose it’s that these things are just darned tough, and trusted by those who take them to tough places. Not that the everyday hero doesn’t need toughness in a time piece, as any parent can tell you, water and impact resistance isn’t only useful if you’re climbing mountains and splashing about in deep water.
You can keep your Smarts
Though they run counter to the smart watch trend of today (remember that wet sneeze I mentioned?) they aren’t without some boast worthy features, in fact, compared 1 to 1, the G-shocks might make the everyday smart watch look like something off those toy tables in the mall. With features like Atomic Timekeeping, Casio’s G-Shock watches calibrate and corrects time automatically (and if you’ve ever needed to set an alarm across a time zone, or after daylight savings, you should appreciate this). Good up to depths of 200 meters, and so tough it can take a repeated beating from a piston at high RPM. More though (and in this day and age, it’s a featureI really appreciate) is the solar recharge. For those models with the technology, solar panels in the face of these badboys can convert even the weakest light from a fluorescent light into a battery recharge, making it both efficient, less wasteful, and more long lasting than your average (or even more than average) time piece. Not to mention the more standard features, like multi-alarms, full automatic calendar, stopwatch, and back light for easy read display, even in the dark.
Frankly, given their popularity and the durability and quality of the line, it’s somewhat shocking how easy it is to get into one of these bad boys. A quick visit to the items available online at Bestbuy.ca, and you can see for yourself, but for the price of a lesser watch you can sport one of these bad boys on your wrist. Though not necessarily as ‘bling’ as some ‘fashionable’ watches of today (though there are these) if you’re like me, practicality and usefulness have a less obvious visual appeal. As anyone whose head has been turned at a boss jeep or utility vehicle over that of a flashy red sports car convertible can attest, flashy is nice enough, but where can it go? And what can it do when it gets there?
Get your Casio G-Shock, available now at Bestbuy.ca
