I think of the Casio G-Shock GW056A as the G-Shock for people who don’t like G-Shocks. It’s certainly the most subtle and unrecognizable G-Shock currently in the lineup, and most importantly, the slimmest.
It has the same octagonal case as many of the older G-Shocks (and the new retro tribute G-Shocks), but the brushed stainless steel bezel makes the shape much more pronounced. In fact, the shape is the first thing you notice about the GW056A. My wife calls it my Battlestar Galactica watch because the unconventional shape is similar to the shape paper will apparently assume if the world is ever destroyed by Cylons (of course, I’m talking about the new Battlestar Galactica).
The extremely slim and lightweight design is really what sets the GW056A apart. In terms of features, you’ll notice that it’s on par with all my favorite G-Shocks:
- Atomic calibration (US and Japan).
- Solar powered.
- Shock resistant (naturally).
- Water resistant to 200 meters, or about 650 feet.
- Automatic calendar.
- Electroluminescent backlight with auto EL function (meaning it can automatically illuminate when tilted to about 40° in the dark).
- World time (48 cities, 29 time zones, and automatic daylight savings adjustment).
- Four daily alarms and one snooze alarm (which keeps sounding until explicitly disabled).
- Countdown timer (up to 60 minutes).
- Stopwatch with split time (resolution of 1/100th of a second, and a maximum time of 59:59.99).
I’ve owned my GW056A since they were first introduced in Japan about two years ago (which means mine is actually a GW056J — the identical Japanese version), and it still gets regular wrist time. I like to wear it in the winter because it fits nicely under my coat sleeve, and when I ride my motorcycle since it slips easily beneath a glove. Although I love each and every one of my Casios, sometimes its nice having all the G-Shock functionality without all the G-Shock bulk.
By Christian Cantrell