We somehow missed this Basel announcement for a line of new aviator-targeted G-Shocks: the 'Gravity Defier' series. (Pictured at right is the GW-2500.) Designed to be easy to use by pilots even under extreme G-loads, they have several attributes that work in a cockpit:

• Non-reflective surfaces and flat black face.
• Big, well-lumed hands.
• 6/12 hour markers for rapid orientation.
• Large buttons.

As you'd expect from a G-shock, it's loaded with features:

• Six-band radio receiver.
• Tough solar power.
• Waterproof to 200m (660ft).
• Auto-backlight (not clear if this is just for the LED displays or not).
• Simultaneous display of three times at once -- nice for flying where you need local, destination, and UTC.
• Stopwatch, countdown timer, five alarms, and world time.

Seems to be reasonable in size at 47mmx15.8mm, and 66g.

On April 1 2009, Casio will start selling the newest Protrek model: the PRX-2000T. It's an evolution of the ABC watch (Altimeter/Barometer/Compass) reduced in size and upgraded in terms of build materials. Here are the specs from the translated press release:

• List price is 99,750 JPY, or about $1,030 US as of Feb 2009. Yes, it's expensive.
• "World's thinnest" ABC watch at 11.3mm by 47.7mm by 57mm.
• Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating - excellent, I have been looking forward to this.
• Titanium case and band, carbide hardened.
• Waterproof to 100m (330ft).
• Low-temperature resistant down to -10C (14F).
• Six-band atomic set up to six times per day.
• 24-hour stopwatch.
• 24-hour countdown timer.
• Dual-layer LCD: one layer for compass and another for the rest. LCD segments are fixed in shape, so this makes sense.
• Five alarms.
• World time with 31 time zones and 48 cities. Not clear if this includes fractional hour offsets.
• Automatic EL backlight.
• Tough solar power, 23 month power reserve.
• The compass claims "16 azimuth angle of orientation" and "orientation correction function," which I would guess means it's more accurate when not held perfectly level.
• Lots and lots of measurements and modes for the altimeter/barometer, graphing and so on.
• Basic temperature measurement, but unless they've invented something new it mostly measures the temperature of your wrist and is therefore almost useless while worn. (This is a problem with all ABC watches.)

Overall, it looks like a really nice watch. The reduced size, streamlined case and improved materials are something I look forward to reviewing. I do wonder why they priced it so high, though: The Ultimate Pathfinder has a similar feature list, and is only $400USD. It's not clear to me why this one is worth over twice as much.

By Paul Hubbard

View the Casio G-Shock MTG-1500-1AJF photo gallery.

I'm a big fan of Casio's MRG line of watches (as evidenced by my recent review of the MRG-7500BJ), but there's no question that they are expensive. Fortunately, Casio created the MTG line of watches for those of us who want all the features of the MRG line (and even a few more), and are willing to compromise on the quality of the materials in order to get them.

Although lacking the highly scratch resistant DLC (Diamond-like Carbon) coating of the high-end MRGs, and the nearly scratch-proof sapphire crystal, Casio's MTG series sacrifices absolutely nothing in terms of features. In fact, the MTG-1500 even comes away with significantly more functionality than anything in the MRG line, as well as a very unique style all its own.

Features of the Casio MTG-1500-1AJF include:

View the Casio MRG-7500BJ-1AJF photo gallery.

The MRG line of Casio G-Shocks is as high-end as G-Shocks come. They are the most sophisticated, most refined, toughest, and, of course, most expensive watches Casio makes. Watches in the MRG line range from around $700 to over $3,000 with the MRG-7500 falling in the middle at around $1,500. Why so expensive? Check out these features:

• Titanium case and bracelet with highly scratch resistant DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) coating.
• Push-button and lockable clasp. There's a switch on the clasp that allows you to lock the clasp which disables the push-button release mechanism. This is one of my favorite features of the MRG line, and something I've never seen on any other watch.
• Nearly scratchproof sapphire crystal.
• Extremely shock-resistant construction.
• Atomic calibration (Japan, US, and Europe).
• Solar powered with about a two-year power reserve, two power saving modes, and a low-battery alert (the second hand starts jumping in two-second intervals).
• Stopwatch with a resolution of 1/20th of a second and a max time of 59 minutes and 59.95 seconds.
• Daily alarm.
• Automatic calendar with day and date (no month).
• World time with 27 cities covering 29 time zones. You can also swap your home city and the world time city by holding down the top right button for about three seconds while in world time mode.
• Very bright luminescent paint on the hands and hour indices.
• Water resistant to 200 meters, or about 650 feet.
• 46.8mm wide and 14.6mm high, 113g.

View the Casio G-Shock GW-M5600BC photo gallery.

Sometimes the only way to really know how much you like a particular watch is to simply see how much you wear it. I've had plenty of watches which I thought I was going to love -- watches with all the right features and materials -- but that ended up getting almost no wrist time whatsoever for one reason or another. And then I've had watches which I didn't really expect to care for all that much, but that I found myself reaching for over and over. The Casio G-Shock GW-M5600BC turned out to be the latter.

The features of the G-Shock GW-M5600BC are pretty consistent with almost every G-Shock I review:

• Solar powered (with battery indicator and power-saving function).
• 5-band atomic (calibrates with all atomic clocks in the world except the new one in China)
• World time (48 cities).
• Stopwatch with a resolution of 1/100th of a second.
• Countdown timer (max 60 minutes).
• Five daily alarms (one with snooze option).
• Electroluminescent backlight.
• Perpetual calendar (day and date are visible simultaneously, which I really like).
• Waterproof to 200 meters, or about 650 feet.

The Casio G-Shock GW-M5600BC certainly isn't all that much to look at which is why I never expected to become so attached to it. The case is the standard retro G-Shock square with the corners cut off and the traditional four small stainless steel buttons. It has an inverted LCD (white on black) which, on the one hand, sets it apart from most of its G-Shock siblings, but on the other, makes it more difficult to read than modules with regular LCDs. The overall look is so much that of a standard and anachronistic G-Shock that the only comment I've ever gotten on it was from a Rolex-wearing doctor who said something along the lines of "Wow, they still make those things?"

Reviewed today is the Casio G-Shock GS-1200-1AJF. We've done a fair number of G-Shock reviews here on WatchReport, but this one might be the most unusual to date. To give you an idea why, here's the specifications for the GS-1200:

• New tough movement calibre 5046 assembled on a new factory line just for this line. (More on this below.)
• Solar powered with six-month power reserve.
• Radio-set, six bands (US, UK, Germany, Japan x2, China).
• Hour, minute, second, date (with a neat matching red date wheel as shown).
• Settable timezone in 1-hour increments (if you need fractional you have to disable automatic time setting).
• Stainless steel case with screwed caseback.
• Resin strap.
• 200m (660ft) water resistant.
• Luminous material applied to hands and hour markers.
• 46mm by 14.1mm, 87g weight.

...and that's pretty much it. No backlight, alarm, stopwatch, countdown timer, depth gauge, compass, etc, etc. Just time.  But it does time really well.  Keep reading to find out why.

View the Casio Edifice photo gallery.

A few months ago, I received an interesting and rather surprising watch in the mail: a Casio Edifice EFX700D-1A1V. I like some Casio models, but as a whole, they usually don't register as one of my favorite brands, primarily due to the styling of their most popular lines. I could never get behind the G-Shocks (unlike Christian), and despite the amazing functionality of the Pathfinder family, I always found them too big for my wrist. In retrospect, it was probably because of this bias of mine that Christian passed the Edifice on to me. I think he wanted to challenge my preconceptions.

I must admit, the watch I received changed my view of Casio in a profound way. The Casio Edifice EFX700D-1A1V (hereby referred to as the “Edifice 700”) is a great looking watch — probably the first analogue/digital combination watch I've seen that actually looks better then the analogue-only version. It's just a flat-out good looking watch by almost any standard, mixing styles and influences, sporting a high-contrast dual display and a very respectable feature list:

• Sapphire crystal.
• 100 meter water resistant (about 330 feet).
• Electroluminescent backlight.
• Dual time.
• Stopwatch with a 60 lap memory.
• 3 alarms.
• Countdown timer.
• Solid stainless steel bracelet.
• $210 retail (which we consider to be very aggressive).

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.

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.