Me - Diary - Projects - Resume

Rating My Watch Collection

This article is a transcript of a video that you can watch by clicking the thumbnail below. Hence, certain statements may not make sense in this text form, and watching the video instead is recommended.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9NsQXl9g8gM/hq720.jpg

Intro

I used to love talking about my ThinkPads for hours, but I never imagined I’d be doing this for wristwatches. Thanks to G-Shocks and Casio, here I am. If you’ve been watching my videos lately, you’re aware of my recent watch collection speedrun. If you don’t, let me summarize it by saying that I acquired more wristwatches in the last couple of weeks than I can handle. Now that some are on their way to their new homes, and then a selected few staying back, I thought I’d rate my collection at this given instant.

What I’m Not Including

Before I start, let me quickly mention the ones I won’t be talking about:

  1. The Fossil Chronograph dress watch, as it’s been dead for years, and neither do I want to pay to get the battery replaced, nor do I have the courage to do it myself without scratching the case back, more than it has been by the last person who worked on it
  2. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 for obvious reasons, though it’s the only watch where I’ve been able to run a Fallout watch face effectively turning it into a cheap Pip-Boy, since day 1
  3. The Meister Anker solar atomic watch, if that's the name I can use for it, as I plan to find a new home for it as well soon

The Contenders

So that leaves us with the eight contenders for today’s battle. I’ll start with some introduction for each one of those and then discuss ten areas, picking the best and worst watch in each.

  1. Casio Forester, my first analog Casio is still by far my most comfortable watch. I use it for my visits to the mosque as it just stays out of the way during prayers.
  2. Casio DW-290, the “Mission Impossible watch”, is so ugly that it’s attractive. This 90’s Casio kept getting more and more redundant with every single watch I added to my collection.
  3. G-Shock GW-6900 was supposed to be an upgrade over the DW-290 and has more than what I’d need from a watch. With my current selection, there are several watches that cover that need.
  4. G-Shock GA-2110 “CasiOak” is almost as comfortable as the Forester, and is also a pretty simplistic G-Shock that I wear when comfort is the priority but I need more than just time-keeping.
  5. G-Shock AWG-M100A is like a premium ana-digi with almost useless digital dials, but a very compact case and a comfortable fit.
  6. G-Shock GW-2310FB is probably my most stealthy looking, fully blackend out G-Shock, and is the only one with a negative display, if you don’t count the mini-displays on the AWG-M100A.
  7. G-Shock GW-M850 “Rally G-Shock” is a unique watch, pretty compact, and great looking, though I won’t need its unique feature, the Rally mode, probably ever.
  8. G-Shock GD-350 is arguably my best-looking G-Shock and is one of those that looks even better in-person than in those pictures you see on the web.

So that’s pretty much what we have at this point, and now comes the exciting part.

Ratings

I’ll talk through ten categories (or areas) and point out the best and worst performers in those. I’ve also arranged these categories in a descending order of what matters to me the most.

  1. Looks: For looks, I’d say the GW-6900 and the GD-350 have a tie as these are the kind of watches you’d like staring every now and then when you have them on you. The AWG-M100A would be on the exact opposite end of the spectrum, and though it doesn’t look bad, I don’t find it attractive either.
  2. Legibility: For legibility, which technically would be the thing that would matter the most on a watch, I’d say the Casio Forester and the GD-350 are the easiest to check time or other information, both covering an analog and digital display respectively. The GW-2310FB is obviously one with the most difficult-to-read negative display, so I’d probably only wear it for the stealthy looks.
  3. Fit/Comfort: For comfort, it would be again the Casio Forester with its velcro straps or probably the light-weight CasioOak (GA-2110). I never imagined, but the GW-6900 is the most uncomfortable with the straps sticking away from my wrist.
  4. Ease of use: In terms of being easy to use, the Casio DW-290 had the most comfortable buttons (or pushers, as they call them) until I got the the GD-350 which is even better. On the other hand, the GA-2110 would be the most difficult given how the buttons are tiny and well-protected between these bumps.
  5. Features: Feature-wise, the GW-M850 has the most number of features, especially with that Rally mode. I’ve done a detailed feature comparison of these that we’ll see in the next video. The Casio Forester ends up being on the exact opposite end with nothing more than just time-keeping and a date indicator that needs adjustments every other month.
  6. Maintenance: Maintenance-wise I don’t find any issues with any of the watches, except the Forester which not only does not have Solar charging and may need a battery replacement in a few years, but also needs adjusting the date every other month, and then too you need to make sure the date changes at midnight and not noon.
  7. Historical Significance: In terms of historical significance, there are a lot of these that are at the top, be it the Mission Impossible DW-290, or the overly praised GW-6900, or the legendary CasiOak. On the other hand, the AWG-M100A and the GW-2310FB could be the least significant watches in my collection as they do not do anything that another Casio watch doesn’t do well.
  8. Versatility: For versatility of being able to wear in the most occasions possible, the CasiOak would be the one at the top, while the monstrous GD-350 may grab a little too much attention on my slender wrist, so I’d probably not wear it everywhere.
  9. Wow-Factor: For Wow-Factor, I love all of them, but I’d probably give it to the DW-290 and the GD-350. On the exact opposite end of the spectrum would be the AWG-M100A or the GW-2310FB.
  10. Nerdyness: Being an all-time nerd, I wanted to include nerdyness as the final category, where the DW-290 or the GW-6900 would be the highest, and maybe the GD-350, and the CasiOak would be the least nerdy with its relaxed looks and earth-tone colors that even non G-Shock enthusiasts like my wife would find interesting.

Conclusion

So we saw how this seemingly uni-dimensional collection still holds a reasonably wide variety of watches, each with unique characteristics and different use. The collection will most likely shrink, and I hope to level up into the Master of G collection some day soon.