When Tutima calls the DI 300 "the sports watch for active yachtsmen," they are apparently willing to put their money where their mouth is. Last year, during the Nord/LB Baltic Spirit Cup, the Tutima racing yacht (appropriately named "TUTIMA") pulled an orange-dial Tutima DI 300 behind it for 2,000 nautical miles (or about 2,300 regular miles for us landlubbers). I think they made their point that the Tutima DI 300 is water-tight, corrosion-resistant, and has an extremely robust bracelet and clasp.
The specs on the Tutima DI 300 go something like this:
- Titanium case.
- Solid titanium bracelet.
- Screw-down titanium crown.
- Unidirectional rotating bezel.
- Sapphire crystal.
- Automatic movement with day and date.
- Water resistant to 30 bar, 300 meters, or almost 1,000 feet.
- Available with an orange or black dial.
I don't know much about Tutima watches, however I am suddenly compelled to learn more. Hopefully I'll be posting a hands-on review in the not-too-distant future.
It looks like Casio just repackaged the Oceanus 5 Motor's insides in a dark and bold G-Shock GIEZ case. Currently only available to the Japanese (and to resourceful and fanatical foreign watch geeks), the Casio G-Shock GIEZ 1000BJ appears to be identical to the Oceanus 5 Motor that I just reviewed, but with a much tougher, "special ops" look to it.
Rather than titanium, the case is stainless steel with some sort of black, abrasion-resistant coating, and in place of the titanium bracelet is a pretty standard G-Shock rubber strap. The sapphire crystal of the Oceanus 5 Motor has also been replaced with whatever type of scratch-resistant plastic or acrylic that is used in G-Shocks. I'm not going to bother listing this watch's features since the Oceanus 5 Motor review covers them in detail (including a video), but I will say that aesthetically, this reinterpretation of the Oceanus really creates an entirely new watch.
In fact, there might even be some advantage in owning both since your titanium, around-the-office, out-for-drinks timepiece could work identically to your weekend, change-the-oil, help-a-friend-move "beater". I think there could be a marketing opportunity here.
The Casio G-Shock GIEZ 1000BJ goes for about $227.
Update: Read the Casio Giez 1000BJ review.
View the Oceanus 5 Motor photo gallery.
Oceanus seems to represent Casio's desire to creep upmarket in the US. In Japan, you can actually drop over $1,000 on a high-end Casio G-Shock, but to most Americans, the brand Casio usually means geeky at best, and cheap at worst. Frequent readers of Watch Report know better, however. In my opinion, Casio makes some of the most technologically advanced, rugged, and interesting digital watches available. But since Casio doesn't have time to wait for Watch Report to enlighten the entire American watch-buying public, they have repackaged their ingenuity into a shiny new brand: Oceanus.
I do think Oceanus watches are deserving of a brand all their own. With features that go beyond even my favorite US G-Shocks (titanium construction, handsome, low-profile cases, sapphire crystals), they deserve a chance to make their own way in the market.
The Oceanus 5 Motor is a further refinement of the Oceanus line. It boasts most of the features of the Oceanus Chronograph, but without the LCD in the 3 o'clock position. Why was Casio motivated to completely remove the LCD and figure out how to cram five individual motors into a single case? The point of the Oceanus 5 Motor is that it's a geeky watch that doesn't look like a geeky watch, so the fewer LCDs and LEDs, the better.
The downside of removing the LCD is that the watch gets slightly more complicated. The unit I received didn't come with an instruction manual, and after about 10 minutes of playing with buttons and watching the seven hands (seven!) spin and reel, I headed online to hunt down a PDF version of the booklet. Fortunately, with a little guidance, I found the 5 Motor fairly easy to use, however if you're the type who refuses to read manuals, you probably won't get the most out of this watch.
The SBHL003 is an interesting new addition to Seiko's Ignition line. There are two things which differentiate it from other Seiko Ignitions. First, while the watch uses a classic analog display to present the time, the inner dial is an LCD used for timing and alarm features. Second, the stopwatch has a very precise resolution of 1/1,000th of a second (like the Seiko Sportura SNJ005 and the TAG Heuer Microtimer).
Since the watch is not available in the US, I've had some trouble determining a definitive list of features, but here's what I've been able to gather so far:
- Synthetic sapphire crystal.
- Titanium case and bracelet.
- Stopwatch with a resolution of 1/1,000th of a second.
- Daily alarm.
- Countdown timer.
- 40mm in diameter, and 12mm thick.
- Water resistant to 100 meters, or about 330 feet.
- Battery life of approximately 3 years.
The Seiko Ignition line is a tribute to the world of auto racing, and each watch tries to visually capture the essence of a race car's cockpit. The outer portion of this particular model's bracelet and portions of the case are coated using some sort of process which seems to translate into "diamond sealed" and both protects the watch from casual scratches, and gives the titanium a unique and very interesting look. The Seiko Ignition SBHL003 is only available in Japan for now, and seems to go for about $520. I'm a big fan of Seiko watches in general, but as you can probably tell, I'm a much bigger fan of the Asian models.
While I'm on the topic of GPS watches (I wrote about the new Casio GPR-100 GPS watch last week), Suunto just released software that allows you to plot your hikes on Google Earth. From what I can tell, it looks pretty straightforward to use.
The Suunto X9i has an "activity mode" which records data to what it calls a log file (aka, the watch's memory). The frequency with which it records location information is configurable, and, more than anything else, determines battery life (4-5 hours with a 10 second track log interval, and 12 hours with a 1 minute track log interval). You can then transfer your track log to your PC using a USB cable and an application called the Suunto Trek Manager (PC only, naturally). And now, using a new application called the Suunto Track Exporter, you can export data from your watch directly into Google Earth, which allows you to visualize your route with actual satellite imagery. Very cool.
You can find out more information on Suunto X9i and Google Earth integration, as well as download the free Suunto Track Exporter software, on Suunto's new Google Earth page.
I have a brand new Suunto X9i sitting on my desk right now waiting to be reviewed. I think this announcement just bumped it up in priority. As part of my review, I'll do some trekking through the wilderness of San Francisco and let you know how it all works.
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Casio has decided to try their luck at another GPS watch. While their first GPS watch was more of a smallish hand-held GPS strapped to your wrist, the GPR-100 is actually the smallest GPS watch available (63.1mm x 49.5mm x 17.1mm). And it actually looks like a watch, so it won't get you pulled out of an airport security line and escorted into a mysterious back room.
This time, Casio has decided to focus on runners. It's going to be a while before you can strap a really functional general purpose GPS to your wrist (why bother when there are so many amazing and compact hand-held GPS devices out there), so I think it's smart of Casio to narrow down their focus.
Why is GPS such important technology for runners? As long as a GPS device can receive a signal from at least three different satellites, it can can tell you where you are, how fast you're moving, how far you've gone, how much further you have to go, and it can calculate information on your pace. That means no more measuring your route with your car's odometer. The obvious advantage to packing all this functionality into a watch is to make it comfortable to run with, and easy to glance at.
The Casio GPR-100 isn't available in the US yet, so I'm having to glean details from Casio's Japanese site. As far as I can tell, here are the big features:
- Automatic time zone adjustment. The watch gets its time and location from the GPS signal, so it can automatically adjust to your location. It also automatically adjust for daylight savings.
- Points of Interest (POI). Record where you are on the globe, and what time you were there. Up to 100 POIs can be stored. The watch will also calculate the distance between where you are, and one other point.
- Automatic electro-luminescent backlight. Lift up your wrist and tilt it toward your face to automatically illuminate the LCD. (Useful while training in the early morning.)
- Water-resistant to 5ATM, 50 meters, or about 165 feet.
- Stopwatch with 1/100th of a second resolution. You can also record data (lap/split times, total time, average pace, total distance and more) on up to 50 workouts.
- Pace verification. Since the watch knows how fast and how far you're going, it can give you feedback on your pace and let you know whether you need to speed up or slow down.
- Countdown timer.
- Rechargeable battery (recharging cradle is included). Unfortunately, the battery only lasts about 2 hours in "normal" mode, and 4.3 hours in "low power" mode (if you are in good enough shape to run longer than that, you'll have to stick to more conventional training methods). The Casio GPR-100 takes about 3 hours to fully recharge.
- Standard alarm.
The Casio GPR-100 isn't cheap. It goes for 54,000 yen, or about $467.00, as of today. I can see paying that much for a high-end training watch, but frankly, they're going to have to extend the battery life significantly. In case you can't wait for Casio to get around to shipping this watch to the US, check out the Garmin Forerunner 205 (they claim a battery life of 10 hours). I've used its predecessor, the Forerunner 101, pretty extensively, and it's a pretty decent training watch, so I'm anxious to get my hands on the 205.
