Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #696 in Watches
• Brand: Casio
• Model: GW810D-1A
• Band material: stainless-steel
• Bezel material: stainless-steel
• Case material: Resin
• Clasp type: fold-over-clasp-with-double-push-button-safety
• Dial color: digital
• Dial window material: Mineral
• Movement type: japanese-quartz
• Water-resistant to 660 feet

Features

• Multi-Band 5 - Atomic Timekeeping (US, UK, Germany, Japan (2)); Receives time calibration radio signals which keep the displayed time accurate in each of these countries
• Tough Solar Power; Shock Resistant; Auto EL Backlight with Afterglow
• World Time - 29 times zones (30 cities), city code display, daylight saving on/off
• 5 Daily Alarms (1 with snooze); Countdown Timer; Measuring unit: 1/10 second; Countdown range: 1 minute to 60 minutes; 1/100 second stopwatch
• Water-resistant to 660 feet (200 M)

Amazon.com Product Description
The shock-resistant design of the Casio Men's G-Shock Multi-Band Atomic Solar Watch makes it a unique, rough-and-tumble timepiece. This steady watch is constructed with a durable resin case, a stainless steel bezel, and a stainless steel link band with a double-push-button-fold-over safety clasp for a secure fit. A durable mineral window shields the digital-gray dial face, which displays the time, as well as the day, date, and month. The solar-powered watch includes a battery life display, as well as adjust, mode, reverse, and forward function buttons to fit your active life. It is water resistant to 660 feet and is backed by a one-year limited manufacturer's warranty.

The G-Shock Story

G-Shock - Absolute Toughness

With the launch of its first watch in 1974, Casio entered the wristwatch market at a time when the watch industry had just discovered digital technology. Armed with cutting-edge technology developed for pocket calculators, Casio entered the field confident it could develop timepieces that would push watch technology forward.

Casio’s G-Shock line was created on just such a directive: to build a watch that never breaks. And in 1983, this product was developed to shatter the notion that a watch is simply a fragile piece of jewelry that needs to be handled with care.

G-Shock is renowned as the world’s toughest watch and is in the midst of a huge renaissance since its 25th anniversary celebration last year. It is the best trending watch brand in the industry right now and thanks to its toughness and durability as well as it’s cutting-edge technology, it is among the best values in not only timekeeping but all personal accessories.

In addition to toughness, 200 meter resistance and fantastic cutting edge and hip styling some G-shocks also have such technology as Tough Solar Power for battery life of 20-30 years (great for our planet), Atomic timekeeping for the more precise time available on earth as well as unique features like moon phase and tide graphs.

G-Shocks come in a variety of styles including Rubber/Resin bands, Solid Stainless Steel and even Titanium.

Since it’s launch, Casio’s G-Shock continues to evolve and push the envelope. The non-stop, self-adjusting (solar-powered atomic-timekeeping) G-Shocks featured in the Amazon.com assortment are the latest, greatest example of this evolution!

The Casio Story

In developing its own wristwatches Casio began with the basic question, "What is a wristwatch?" Rather than simply making a digital version of the conventional mechanical watch, we thought that the ideal wristwatch should be something that shows all facets of time in a consistent way. Based on this, Casio was able to create a watch that displayed the precise time including the second, minute, hour, day, and month — not to mention a.m. or p.m., and the day of the week. It was the first watch in the world with a digital automatic calendar function that eliminated the need to reset the calendar due the variation in month length. Rather than using a conventional watch face and hands, a digital liquid crystal display was adopted to better show all the information. This culminated in the 1974 launch of the CASIOTRON, the world’s first digital watch with automatic calendar. The CASIOTRON won acclaim as a groundbreaking product that represented a complete departure from the conventional wristwatch.

Casio transformed the concept of the watch — from a mere timepiece to an information device for the wrist — and undertook product planning based on this innovative idea. We developed not only time functions such as global time zone watches, but also other radical new functions using Casio’s own digital technology, including calculator and dictionary functions, as well as a phonebook feature based on memory technology, and even a thermometer function using a built-in sensor. The memory-function watches became our DATA BANK product series, while the sensor watches developed into two unique Casio product lines of today: the Pathfinder series displaying altitude, atmospheric pressure, and compass readings.

In 1983, Casio launched the shock-resistant G-Shock watch. This product shattered the notion that a watch is a fragile piece of jewelry that needs to be handled with care, and was the result of Casio engineers taking on the challenge of creating the world’s toughest watch. Using a triple-protection design for the parts, module, and case, the G-Shock offered a radical new type of watch that was unaffected by strong impacts or shaking. Its practicality was immediately recognized, and its unique look, which embodied its functionality, became wildly popular, resulting in explosive sales in the early 1990s. The G-Shock soon adopted various new sensors, solar-powered radio-controlled technology (described below), and new materials for even better durability. By always employing the latest technology, and continuing to transcend conventional thinking about the watch, the G-Shock brand has become Casio’s flagship timepiece product.

Today, Casio is focusing its efforts on solar-powered radio-controlled watches: the built-in solar battery eliminates the nuisance of replacing batteries, and the radio-controlled function means users never have to reset the time. In particular, the radio-controlled function represents a revolution in time-keeping technology similar to the impact created when mechanical watches gave way to quartz technology. Through the further development of high radio-wave sensitivity, miniaturization, and improved energy efficiency, Casio continues to produce a whole range of radio-controlled models.

Customer Reviews

A Portable, Perpetual Atomic Timekeeping Instrument
I chose a Casio solar atomic watch because I had prior favorable experience with Casio's Databank (calculator) quartz watches.

The Casio G-Shock wristwatch GW810D-1AV (Module 3050) is more than a watch, and more than a chronometer. This timekeeping instrument is rated to gain or lose no more than 15 seconds per month. So if the wearer is in a part of the world where there is no detectable time signal, the watch can be expected to gain or lose 1/2 second or less per day.

At midnight local time, the watch's radio receiver automatically turns on and attempts to synchronize with the atomic time signal broadcast from the nearest official transmitter (two beacons in Japan, WWV in Fort Collins USA, one beacon in UK, and one beacon in Germany -- 5 total). If it successfully receives the time signal, it synchronizes the watch. If reception is not successful, the receiver tries again at 1 a.m. local, 2 a.m. local, ... up to six attempts, total, per day.

I took a flight to the San Francisco Bay area and found that I could not receive the time signal during the nights that I was there. This could have been due to the fact that my motel room in Redwood City was surrounded by other buildings and walls. During the week that I was away, the watch gained only two seconds. I took a motor trip to IL, WI, IN, OH, and KY, and the watch did update on time every night during my travels.

The watch has a photovoltaic cell under the crystal that charges an internal rechargeable battery, hence it never needs to be wound. It is big (not necessarily a plus), beautiful, rugged, portable, reliable, and accurate. I use mine to set all my other clocks, clock radios, etc. at multiple locations. And I use it to track artificial Earth satellites visually, for which purpose I do need a watch accurate to the nearest second.

Addendum of June 2009: I've had the watch for more than a year now and it continues to perform flawlessly. I have received no compensation of any kind for writing this review.

Stylish and Rugged
Great watch for the money! You get the superb Casio functions and options (Atomic, Solar, Stop Watch, 5 Alarms, Timer, & World Time) combined with stylish looks with the all metal band and mostly metal case. Should last for years if any of my previous Casio watches are an indication of durability.

An excellent watch and an excellent value!
Pros: It always has the correct time (to the second), it's great looking and there is virtually no maintenance required.
Cons: None for the watch, however, the font size in the on-line owner's manual needs to be enlarged a bunch.

I love these watches. This is my second Casio "WAVE CEPTOR" watch; I had my first one for about two years and it performed flawlessly. I purchased this watch primarily because it receives time signals in other countries as well as in North America. We are planning a vacation to the UK in 2010 so it seemed like a good idea to replace my Mens Casio MTG900DA-8V with a multi-band radio signal version. When you consider how well this watch is made, its durability, and the lack of maintenance required, its price is a bargain, even at full retail.