View the Casio G-Shock Gulfman GW-9100 photo gallery.

The new Casio G-Shock Gulfman is an interesting new addition to Casio's G-Shock line. It has the same set of features as all the G-Shocks I review:

• Atomic calibration.
• Solar powered.
• 200 meter water resistant (about 650 feet).
• Automatic calendar.
• Electroluminescent backlight.
• 48-city world time.
• 5 daily alarms, 1 snooze.
• 60 minute countdown timer.
• Stopwatch.

However, it also has a couple of new tricks:

• Multi-band atomic. That means it can calibrate in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan (most previous G-Shock models only calibrate in the US and Japan).
• Titanium case and caseback. Most G-Shocks use stainless steel, so the GW-9100 is slightly lighter, and slightly more corrosion resistant.

I like the new features of the GW-9100, and I also just really like the look. I like the texture of the titanium case, and the nice large LCD. It also has extra large buttons which makes it easier to operate than most G-Shocks.

If you're already happy with your solar atomic G-Shock, I don't think the new Gulfman represents such a big improvement that you need to rush out and buy it right away. But if you're thinking of getting into the G-Shock game, the GW-9100 is a very good place to start. It certainly makes a fine addition to my G-Shock collection.

View the Casio G-Shock Gulfman GW-9100 photo gallery.

View the Seiko SKA367 photo gallery.

One of the things I enjoy about wearing Seikos is that there's so much to discover post-purchase. Often, a watch will have a coherent style that you find you enjoy long after it originally caught your eye. Let's take a closer look at a mid-line Seiko Diver to see what I mean.

Meet the Seiko SKA367, a yellow-faced Kinetic quartz dive watch with a typical complement of features:

• Waterproof to 200m (660ft).
• Stainless steel case with Hardlex mineral crystal.
• Quick-set and quick-change date window at 3 o'clock.
• Power reserve button to check battery level.
• Six month power reserve if not worn, with low-battery warning.
• Screwdown crown and caseback.
• 48mm wide by 15mm high.
• Stainless steel bracelet with dive extension (also available with a rubber strap).
• Lumibrite (Seiko's very bright luminescent paint) on the hands, bezel dot, and indices for nighttime readability.
• List price of $475, with street price of around $360.

When you first see the Seiko SKA367, the yellow face and high-contrast black hands leap out at you. The dial is eminently readable, and a very cheerful yellow color. The crown also has a yellow highlight band that matches the dial and lends the watch a nice stylistic coherence.

Today I'd like to introduce you to another maker of fine aviation watches that we think you'll like: Fortis. Meaning "strong" in Latin, Fortis was founded in 1912 by Walter Vogt in Switzerland, and has made a strong resurgence since 1987. Specializing in flight and space watches, Fortis is the official supplier to the Russian space program and the International Space Station. They have a strong design aesthetic of clear faces, instrument-themed hands, and high-contrast dials. Very functional, and with their ETA/Valjoux movements, quite reliable as well. I'd like to pick a few out of their lineup to go over in detail.

The Fortis Flieger

Probably the most iconic Fortis is their classic Flieger watch. Built around the well-known ETA 2824-2 automatic movement, it's 40mm wide (also available in a 34mm wide case) and features a screw-down crown and caseback that combine for an unusual (for an aviation watch) 200m (660ft) water resistance. The super-hard sapphire crystal is anti-reflective coated on both sides, and the hands and indices are superluminova-coated for legibility under any conditions. I've actually opened one of these and regulated it; it's well-made and quite sturdy. I was impressed, and enjoyed wearing it for a day. The orange second hand is wonderful, and I really like the uncluttered face and dramatic hour & minute hands. With a street price of around $600, it's a good price for a solid Swiss watch of high function and durability.

View the Citizen Skyhawk A-T photo gallery.

Most pilots and aviation enthusiasts tend to be gadget lovers. Whether it's an entirely new digital avionics package in the cockpit, or one of the most advanced aviation watches on the market, we lust after it. So when the Citizen Skyhawk A-T was announced last year, my interest was piqued. While the Skyhawk line of aviation watches has almost 15 years of history and refinement, the combination of Citizen's Eco-Drive movement with atomic timekeeping technology (as denoted by the A-T moniker in the name), and a new design, this watch not only makes a great companion while in flight, but looks great and gives you something to brag about back on the ground.

Features

The Citizen Skyhawk A-T is the third generation in the Skyhawk line, and represents a major step forward in features. While you do lose one alarm (from three alarms to two), you gain functionality such as atomic timekeeping, perpetual calendar, LCD backlight, and world time pre-programming for 43 cities and time-zones. Additionally, the watch is now rated to be water resistant up to 200 meters (about 650 feet), versus the 100 meters of the previous generation.

Features of the Citizen Skyhawk A-T include:

Casio seems to be gradually bringing the G-Shock and Pathfinder lines closer together. The first Casio Riseman was introduced back in 1997, but has been discontinued for some time. About three years ago, Casio introduced the G-Shock GW-400J which borrows from the Pathfinder line by integrating a thermometer. More recently, Casio announced the Ultimate Pathfinder (PAW1500) which, like the G-Shock line, is now water resistant to 200 meters (650 feet) rather than the previous 100 meters. And now Casio is reviving the Riseman line with the very strong Casio Riseman GW-9200.

Features include:

• New multi-band atomic timekeeping. Most of Casio's atomic watches are multi-band now, meaning they calibrate with atomic clocks in Mainflingen (Germany), Rugby (England), Fort Collins (Colorado), Fukushima (Japan), and Fukuoka (also Japan). But the Riseman GW-9200 goes a step further by also calibrating with the 77.5 kHz atomic signal in China, making it the first 6-band atomic watch I've ever seen.
• Solar powered.
• Water-resistant to 200 meters, or about 650 feet.
• Barometer pressure indicator and differential pointer (graph) with a range of 260 to 1,100 hectoPascals (millibars).
• Altimeter with a range of -700 to 10,000 meters, altitude data storage, and altitude differential pointer (ascent/descent graph).
• Thermometer with a range of -10°C to 60°C.
• Stopwatch with a resolution of 1/100th of a second, and a maximum capacity of 24 hours.
• World time with support for 33 cities.
• Countdown timer with a maximum of 24 hours (a nice improvement over the Pathfinders).
• 5 daily alarms and one snooze alarm.
• Time transfer function which allows you to swap the primary time zone with a secondary time zone (simplifying frequent travel between two zones).
• Electroluminescent backlight with automatic illumination feature (the ability to automatically illuminate the LCD by tilting the watch toward you).
• Dimensions: 51mm x 48.8mm x 15.9mm, and 60.9g.

All that is keeping the new Riseman from being a true triple sensor Pathfinder is the digital compass which, unfortunately, is one of my favorite features of the Pathfinder line. However, the GW-9200 is clearly one of the most sophisticated digital watches on the planet. It looks fantastic, and has some additional small improvements like the ability to view the date and day of week simultaneously. I just hope that, unlike the GW-400J, we will be able to toggle between metric and imperial units for things like temperature and barometric pressure, however I'm guessing not, and I'm guessing it will not be released in the US (though I will be very happy to be proven wrong).

The Casio G-Shock Riseman GW-9200 will be available on June 28th, 2008 and will retail for ¥27,000 which, as of today, is about $260.

View the Orbita Tourbillon photo gallery.

The Orbita Tourbillon is the Porsche of watch winders. It's modern, sleek, sexy, and it ain't cheap. But for the enthusiast who wants the best for his watches, the Orbita will keep them running with both style and precision.

The Orbita Tourbillon looks a little like a bomb from a Die Hard movie with its exposed circuitry and extremely bright LEDs. The chassis is made from four 10mm thick pieces of glass joined together by clear epoxy. Inside, three circuit boards are screwed in place and support two fantastically bright LEDs, and two stainless steel rollers. On top of the rollers rests the barrels inside of which your well wound and precisely rotated automatic watches are tucked, wrapped snuggly around self-conforming foam cushions. Although the barrels are stainless steel, they are lined with soft and gentle plastic which won't scratch your steel, gold, or platinum bracelets, and the rollers have rubber gaskets for securely and quietly gripping and turning the barrels.

Each circuit board contains two LED readouts. The one on the left tells you how many times the watch has been turned, and resets itself automatically at midnight. The LED on the right is actually a highly accurate quartz clock which makes perfect sense as it allows you to calibrate your less accurate automatic watch as you're putting it on in the morning. Bright blue LEDs are soldered below the circuit boards and flash in configurable patterns to draw even more attention to this modern piece of functional industrial art.