April 12th is the birthday of G-Shock (41 years now!), so it’s not a surprise that they’d launch a watch to mark the occasion. With April 22nd also being Earth Day, they’ve done something that we’re seeing more of, incorporating recycled materials. Here’s what’s going on with the G-Shock G5600BG-1.
The eco-friendly touches
There are two major ones involved here. The most obvious one is the recycled material that they used for the bezel and strap. Here, they took the resin scraps from other runs (in red, yellow, and matte black), chopped them up, and then blended those into a fresh matte black urethane to inject the new bezels and straps. This of course uses up material that would have otherwise been waste, and it also gives each watch a unique pattern.
To me, it looks like watch that has been used by a painter for a long time. Or perhaps got hit with a bit too much birthday cake at the party. Whatever your take, it’s a bit of whimsy on an otherwise monochromatic watch.
The other bit of eco-friendly that I am absolutely a fan of is the tough solar. In other words, the G-Shock G5600BG-1 is powered by light, so you’re not worrying about running out of battery. Even if it’s shoved in a dark drawer, it can run for almost two years once the power-saver mode kicks in.
Wrapping things up
Then again, the G-Shock G5600BG-1 is a watch that offers a whole lot of functionality (you can see the full list below). This means that, whatever you’re doing – short of busting out the tuxedo – this is a watch that can keep you on time. And like any other G-Shock, it will be more than capable of handling what you throw at it. It’s available now (until it sells out, as it’s a limited edition) for $150 directly from casio.com
G-Shock G5600BG-1 Tech Specs
- Case size (L× W× H): 46.7 × 43.2 × 12.7 mm
- Weight: 47 g
- Case and bezel material: Resin
- Band: Resin Band
- Construction: Shock Resistant
- Water resistance: 200-meter water resistance
- Power supply and battery life: Tough Solar (Solar powered)
- Glass: Mineral Glass
- Compatible band size: 145 to 205 mm
- World time: 5 World time 31 time zones (48 cities +coordinated universal time), daylight saving on/off, Home city/World time city swapping
- Stopwatch
- 1/100-second stopwatch
- Measuring capacity: 00’00”00~59’59”99 (for the first 60 minutes) 1:00’00~23:59’59 (after 60 minutes)
- Measuring unit: 1/100 second (for the first 60 minutes) 1 second (after 60 minutes)
- Measuring modes: Elapsed time, lap/split time
- Timer
- Countdown timer
- Measuring unit: 1 second
- Countdown range: 24 hours
- Countdown start time setting range: 1 second to 24 hours (1-second increments, 1-minute increments and 1-hour increments)
- Alarm/hourly time signal
- 5 daily alarms (with 1 snooze alarm)
- Hourly time signal
- Light
- LED backlight (Super Illuminator) Full auto LED light, selectable illumination duration (1.5 seconds or 3 seconds), afterglow
- Light color: LED:White
- Calendar: Full auto-calendar (to year 2099)
- Mute feature
- Button operation tone on/off
- Energy saving feature
- Power Saving (display goes blank to save power when the watch is left in the dark)
- Battery display/alert
- Battery level indicator
- Run time
- 12 months on rechargeable battery (operation period with normal use without exposure to light after charge) 22 months on rechargeable battery (operation period when stored in total darkness with the power save function on after full charge)
- Accuracy: ±15 seconds per month
- Other features
- 12/24-hour format
- Date/month display swapping
- Day display (days of the week selectable in six languages)
- Regular timekeeping: Hour, minute, second, pm, month, date, day
