View the Casio G-Shock GW-5600 photo gallery.

The GW-5600 is a remake of the very first Casio G-Shock: the 1983 DW-5000C. I fell in love with the GW-5600 series the first time I saw it both for its boxy, retro styling, and for its plain but essential feature set. In fact, the GW-5600 has the exact set of features that I believe makes up a complete and functional modern digital watch:

• Atomic time keeping. Calibrates in both Japan and in the US.
• Solar powered. With the power-saving function enabled, the watch will remain powered for up to 25 months with no light.
• Countdown timer with a maximum time of 60 minutes, and a resolution of 1/10th of a second.
• 4 standard daily alarms, 1 daily snooze alarm, and an hourly time signal.
• Stopwatch with a resolution of 1/100th of a second, and split time.
• World time for 30 different cities (29 time zones).
• Automatic calendar.
• Water resistant to 20 bar, 200 meters, or 660 feet.
• Battery power indicator.
• Signal reception indicator.
• Electroluminescent backlight.

The GW-5600 is available in a few different models. I chose the one with the inverted LCD (the GW-5600BJ) simply to have something a little different, however the contrast isn't as high in real life as Casio's depictions would have you believe, which means it's a little difficult to read (I would probably recommend going with the standard LCD of the GW-5600J). Other than that, the GW-5600 is a simple but functional digital watch which manages to be both retro and modern.

• Casio G-Shock GW-5600 photo gallery.
• The Casio G-Shock GW-5600 product line.
• Casio G-Shock timeline.

Remember the Seiko Sportura SLQ017? It's one of the new limited edition Kinetic Sporturas. Apparently there were only 1,500 made, and only 400 of those were shipped to the US.

Well, if you missed out on the SLQ017, Seiko just announced the new SLQ019. As far as I can tell, it's identical to the SLQ017, but in carbonized titanium, and with orange subdials. In my opinion, the SLQ019 is one tough looking watch. I've seen the SLQ017 in person, and thought at the time that it was probably the coolest of Seiko's Kinetic line, however I think the SLQ019 is even more compelling. It's sort of the Darth Vader of Seiko's Kinetic lineup. It seems to retail for just under $4,000, however Seiko's are typically discounted 20-25%, so I would expect to pay about $3,000. It looks like it comes with a tool for resizing the bracelet, and an interchangeable leather strap, as well. Nice touch.

• The Seiko Sportura SLQ0019 product page.
• The Seiko Sportura SLQ0017.
• Other watches in the Seiko Sportura line.

When I think atomic, I usually think Japanese. Traditionally Casio, and increasingly Seiko. I'm happy to report, however, that it's time to start thinking German, as well.

Not only is the new Junghans Mega 1000 atomic, but it's a worldwide atomic watch, as well, which means it is capable of receiving time signals transmitted by almost all the atomic clocks in the world. The Junghans Mega 1000 can calibrate with atomic clocks in Mainflingen, Germany, Fort Collins, Colorado, and the two atomic clocks in Japan (the only one missing is the one in Rugby, England, but I think the theory is that the one in Mainflingen has Europe pretty well covered). Multi-time signal functionality definitely the new trend in atomic watches as evidenced by the new Seiko Brightz worldwide atomic watch, and the new Casio Triple-region Waveceptor.

Features of the Junghans Mega 1000 include:

• World-wide atomic functionality.
• Manual synchronization (meaning that instead of waiting for the watch to synchronize in the middle of the night, you can force it to synchronize at any time -- pretty standard feature for atomic watches).
• Automatic DST adjustment.
• Easy time zone adjustment when traveling.
• Dual time (monitor the time in a second time zone).
• Automatic date.
• Reception indicator (lets you know whether the watch has been synchronized recently).
• Stopwatch with split time memory and a resolution of 1/100th of a second.
• Countdown timer.
• Daily alarm.
• Electro-luminescent backlight.
• Low battery indicator (expect about 2 years out of the Mega 1000's battery).
• Multiple display languages (English, French, and German).
• Mineral glass crystal.
• Water-resistant to 5 bar, 50 meters, or 165 feet.

If you can read German, check out Junghans' site for more information, or you can download the Mega 1000 instruction manual (PDF, multilingual).