Another rarely seen or discussed watch.

[Mitch]

Well, continuing my campaign to post about and discuss some more unusual watches.

http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...tely-Different!



http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...Yellow-Snapper


here is another. I will have to do it in two parts due to the number of photographs.



I have been buying a number of the less common vintage models recently as I quite like some of the quirky features they have compared to the modern day 'G's. Plus it makes a change to have something more unusual on the wrist.

Here is a recent arrival, the DM-100VJ-1J,. I got this NOS and it is in great condition.


























It is a classic old style five button G shock. The case is made of quite hard dark grey resin, which has a kind of sparkle to it. The buttons are of a fair size and are easy to push. The top display has animated characters which perform a constant disco dance along with the timekeeping.




















































The strap is very substantial fabric affair and is quite stiff at the moment as it is new. I would imagine this would soften up considerably over time when worn.






























































The theme of this watch is music and it has some nice features around this theme.

It has five songs inbuilt which it can play in a variety of ways. Just pressing button B in timekeeping mode will cause it to play a randomly selected song. You can switch the display from the 'dancers' to the scrolling title of the song. The five songs are different on the various models of the GM-100 series and tend to be classic rock and pop songs of the last century.

The back case is nicely designed and has 'wings' which help mould the watch to your wrist. Also as you can see it has 'holes' in the back which let the sound waves out and increase the sound volume.

Ahh..... but how does the watch maintain its 200m WR you may ask? The Omega X33 has a similar caseback but is reduced to a splash proof 3 atm only WR.

































Well lets see as I replace the battery.

Take the back off and you see this.



































This is another closely fitting metal back and is also the loudspeaker. The caseback is pushing this metal plate against the gasket to make a full seal

[Mitch]

Take that off and you see this.


























This is another very thick and heavy metal plate with holes for the two 'sound' springs to come through. This must be creating a sturdy resonance chamber to increase the quality and volume of the sound.


























Take that off and you see this. Still not at the module yet and this rubber back is helping out the shock resistance of the watch.



























Finally the module with the battery hidden under another metal plate rather than just a clasp.



























The GM-100s have some unusual features not often found on other 'G's.

You can adjust the contrast of the display to one of seven levels.

You can set the sounds off or set it to play a beeper or to play a song as you move through the modes or for the alarms and hourly signal.

You can adjust the sound volume to one of two levels even the 'soft' level is loud though.

You can assign a particular song to the five alarms and hourly signal or just a random song or just a bleeper. It has five alarms and they are very loud. This must be the loudest 'G' shock ever made. There is no missing the alarm, as there is with a lot of the modern 'G's, particularly the solar models. This baby will get you awake or get you to jump to attention during the day.

It has an Auto EL with a star graphic.

It has a 24 hour stopwatch with the usual features and also a memo mode, where you can title a memo and input relevant data. I suppose you could enter stuff like a passport number, blood group etc.

It does not have a countdown timer but a rarely seen Day Counter Mode. This allows you to input any date and it will display the number of days remaining until that event. When that date is reached 'DAYS' starts flashing on both the main display and in Day Counter Mode all during that day.





























This is more useful than it would appear at first sight. You can set up to 5 separate records so you can set it for anniversaries, birthdays etc well in advance. Of course it would probably be better to set it for at least the day before, otherwise it will just remind you have forgotten your wedding anniversary etc and not gotten the missus a card or present! You can give the record a title and recall it at anytime

You could have set your own London Olympic countdown just like official one that popped up everywhere. If you had a work or student assignment you could set it and constantly be reminded of the date and how many days left to the deadline. If your membership of something or insurance etc etc is due for renewal you can keep your eye on the expiry date and how many days you have got left to renew.

I know some older G shocks have a date alarm but this only goes off once and we know how easy it is to miss alarms on normal 'G's. On this you have a constant visual flashing reminder throughout the day.

It also has a day countback ability. You can input any date since 1940 and it will display the number of days that have passed. Want to constantly know the number of days you have been alive? Just input your birth date and the watch will tell you and keep it updated. It would be more useful to know how many days you have left but the technology for that has not been invented yet!

You could use this function to check how many days you have been working on a job or project or as a mission timer. It is quite a fun function actually and I am sure members could come up with lots of ideas for its use.

So this is another quirky vintage G shock. I quite like it.

I am sure the Disco Dancing and songs could be considered a bit naff but you can turn the music off at least and just rely on the bleeper and anyway G shock owners are supposed to be a bit geeky aren't they?






















































































Mitch

[Oskaroskar]

Never really liked G's, but this might change my mind.

[Mitch]

Never really liked G's, but this might change my mind.

It certainly is quirky and the Day Counter Mode with its constant reminder is a useful feature.








Mitch

[Spendor]

Not to my taste, but functions galore! Thanks for the post.

[joe1978]

So.....what songs does this one play?? :)
Joe

[Mitch]

Never really liked G's, but this might change my mind.

Yes, some of these old time G shocks are surprisingly good.

I like the way they put a lot of thought into the design and aesthetics on these older models. I see less of this on some of the modern 'G's.

Look at the design of this. There is an almost Art Deco look to case.




























The angular theme is repeated in various parts of the watch, the upper display, the button guards with a grey metal insert copying the metal case. Look at the stylish light button guard. They even repeat the shape at the 3 and 9 o'clock part of the bezel. How easy it would have been to just have the usual bezel shape as at the 12 o'clock position. Shows a fine attention to design detail.

Even the leather part of the strap has a large XX woven into it to indicate the 20th century music theme of the watch.

Overall it gives the impression that Casio have a real pride in their G shock concept and are prepared to go that little bit further and are not just content to bang them out to maximise profit.






Mitch