(2024-12-16) Two more digital Casios flying under the radar
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As much as I like my Casio GMW-B5000D, I find it almost unwearable in my 24/7
mode. That's because of its full-steel construction and corresponding weight 
of about 150 grams. This is the same reason I'm never going to buy the 
Casiotron reissue (TRN-50) which, by the way, contains virtually the same 
module inside. And the MRG-B5000D doesn't cost the amount of money that I'd 
be ready to give for merely a watch anytime soon. But an idea of a 
metal-core G-Shock with a proper screwback case that's not as heavy still 
couldn't escape me... until I found the GW-5000U.

Compared to the GMW-B5000D, the GW-5000U loses Bluetooth connectivity while
retaining its solar charging and the longwave time signal receiver, but 
there's a reason for that. You see, a long time ago I also owned a GW-M5610, 
one of my first longwave-enabled G-Shocks and the first fully digital one 
with that feature. It appeared on the market in 2011. Even before that, in 
2009, Casio released the GW-5000 model that mimicked the original DW-5000C 
design and had a steel core and a proper screwback case, but other than 
that, was identical to the GW-M5610 and housed the same module 3159. So, 
essentially, GW-M5610 was a pleb variant of the fully Japanese-made GW-5000. 
Well, when Casio "upgraded" the GW-M5610 to GW-M5610U in 2021, guess what 
they released in pair with that? GW-5000U on the same module 3495. By the 
way, I don't really get what the "upgrade" consists of besides changing the 
backlight from EL to LED (don't have a lot of complaint though), but the 
original GW-5000 is extremely hard to find nowadays, so I'm fine with this 
one. It looks classy, the strap is much softer than the usual (and even the 
strap here is made in Japan) and it's overall more pleasant to wear than the 
M5610, both versions of which, by the way, have been getting a lot of praise 
by 'murican reviewers because, you know, WWVB station.  

Speaking of stations, I have also written (and specifically tested on this
watch) another time signal emulation and transmission utility, this time for 
Chinese BPC. Hence, I called it Beepy ([1]). Well... it beeps indeed! Its 
code is mainly based on my jjy-py ([2]) code, but the amount of differences 
proved to be enough to shape it into a separate program. Just like with 
JJY40, you can just enter the receiver test mode (by the way, you could do 
this on the original M5610/GW5000, AWG-M100B and all other multiband-6 
G-Shocks) by pressing and holding first Light, then Receive/Set and then 
Mode button. Scrolling with the Receive button, you can get to the "B 01" 
screen and then press Light to start the reception. And that's it. The 
transmitter must fully emulate the original BPC station, i.e. transmit the 
time in UTC+8. Once the signal has been received, the watch will 
automatically translate it into your current time zone. For JJY40 ("J 40" in 
the test menu), the transmitted time must be in UTC+9 respectively. And my 
jjy-py and Beepy programs do take care of that.

Other than the outer look and full-steel inner case, the GW-5000U is almost
too mundane: auto-backlight, ability to switch date and month position, 
multi-language day of the week, non-reprogrammable world time, 5 alarms and 
an hourly signal, 24-hour stopwatch and a 24-hour countdown timer. No other 
bells and whistles present, not that anyone needs them, but for that 
price... Here, I'm going to present another Casio watch which is much 
cheaper and comes with a much stiffer polyurethane strap, has a usual 
four-screw backplate, a "normal" lithium battery instead of solar charging, 
has a much more subtle history and is not even a G-Shock, being only 
classified by Casio as belonging to the "Sports Gear" series. Yet, despite 
having no solar charging or longwave or Bluetooth sync, it has no shortage 
of bells and whistles to my taste. I'm calling it "a poor man's Protrek" 
because that's what it essentially is. Lo and behold... Casio SGW-100.

Now, that's a watch I definitely wouldn't wear 24/7, at least not on the
stock strap. Besides, in order to properly use the thermometer function, you 
need to take it off your wrist for up to 20 or even 30 minutes, so yeah. The 
thermometer and the digital compass (based on the built-in magnetometer) are 
the two features Casio calls "twin sensor" in this watch. However, it's not 
as large as I thought it would be, and definitely looks larger than it 
really is. In fact, it even is 0.3mm thinner than the GW-5600U! I was also 
really pleased to see this model have a real alumunium bezel, as well as 
aluminium strap hinges. On the other hand, this means that not every strap 
is going to fit this model. There surely are some aftermarket adapters but 
this is something I'm only going to worry about if I decide this watch stays 
with me for a long time of day-to-day usage.

Another notable thing of the "poor man's Protrek" is its backlight. It's
non-adjustable (1.5s only) but electroluminescent (and yes, I can hear some 
high-pitched noise if the watch is close to my ear when activating it) and, 
unlike e.g. DW-5600E and other "traditional" EL-equipped Casios, this one 
has a twist: only the active segments light up here. Yes, even on a positive 
display. I don't know how they achieved it but now I feel like this is the 
only way EL should be implemented anywhere. Otherwise you really can get 
away with LEDs, no problem. Of course, there is no auto-backlight in this 
model because it would eat the battery too fast. G-2900F, for instance, did 
have it but it also did have a 10-year battery life claim. SGW-100 only 
claims 3 years on a CR2025, so who knows? What's no less interesting is that 
the test screen shows the 3157-07 firmware version. The 3157 is indeed the 
module number, but 07? Where did the other 6 revisions go? Well, on the 
GW-5000U, the test screen also shows the 3495 module with the 003 revision 
number. It also has some submenus similar to what was seen in ABL-100, 
although not as much: ROM (01) and FILE (F001). This hints at a bigger 
platform lying underneath the surface that we surely don't know a lot about 
yet.

With the SGW-100 representing an older generation, some things are not so
obvious. For example, button operation tone can be toggled with a really 
long press of the Mode button. And the temperature unit setting (C/F) is 
inside the time/date adjust menu. The compass calibration procedure also 
seems a bit counterintuitive at first, but one can get used to it. Anyway, 
the "golden standard" feature set of world time, 5 alarms and an hourly 
signal, a stopwatch and a countdown timer (for 24 hours too) is present here 
as well, which, combined with a true EL, makes it a decent competitor to the 
AE-2000, AE-1500 and other similar Illuminators that don't have anything 
else besides this or an even more modest feature set (the only thing they 
really can bet on is their battery life). On the other hand, if you don't 
need a built-in barometer/altimeter, why would you choose a (non-solar) 
Protrek over the SGW anyway? I think this is one of the models where Casio 
deliberately blurs the line between Protreks and Illuminators, naming it 
neither of them. Oh yeah, did I mention that SGW-100 claims 20 bar of water 
resistance? That makes it closer to the AE-2000 even more. And the overall 
construction puts it somewhere in between the Illuminator, G-Shock and 
Protrek series too. As someone told, it could have been a G-Shock but then 
they would sell it for twice the price just because of the branding.

So, what is the target audience of both of these timepieces, who are they
intended for? Well, I think the GW-5000U is intended for two categories of 
people: avid Casio collectors and those who, on the contrary, want to only 
purchase one watch in the category (or even a single watch at all) and 
expect it to serve them for the rest of their lives. Either way, this is not 
a casual type of people. In contrast with this, the SGW-100 is as casual and 
utilitarian as it can get: it doesn't promote longevity, heritage or 
materials, it's pure function over form. There is, however, something common 
between these two watches besides being all-digital and made by Casio. While 
there is an increasing number of Casio watches made as companions to other 
gadgets (the aforementioned GMW-B5600D and ABL-100, the GM-B2100, the GBD 
series and so on), these two definitely are aimed at fully autonomous usage. 
Their functionality is fully available even to those who don't have anything 
to connect them to, or just don't want their watches to be connected to 
anything. In fact, I can imagine a scenario where either of these watches is 
the only portable digital gadget one has around. Of course, the GW-5000U 
with its solar charging would be preferable in this case. Moreover, as the 
world delves into a dystopia faster and faster, not having a single 
transmitting device on you becomes quite essential for escaping global 
surveillance.

--- Luxferre ---

[1]: https://git.luxferre.top/beepy/file/README.html
[2]: https://git.luxferre.top/jjy-py/file/README.html