Review of Casio G Shock GWM5630A-4 30th Anniversary

Casio released the Red Rising collection in the fall of 2012 to celebrate the 30 years of existence of the G Shock watch. The collection consists of a 5600, 6900, 2 versions of Frogman and the new model Mudman all packaged in a bold red glossy resin with gold accents. I’m a sucker for the squares, so I made the 5600 model mine.

First impressions of the GWM5630A-4 are very strong. The red is perfect. Think Ferrari red. The gloss does not seem to be popular with many people, but I love it. Just like the clear coat on a car it provides so much more depth to the color. Just check out the underside of the strap and you’ll see how flat the unglossed color really is.

The next feature that jumps out at you is the gold display. I’ve seen reverse displays, reverse colored displays, mirrored displays, mirrored digits, but I’ve never seen anything like this before. The field of the dial is gold, but it is somehow perforated with very small holes. Aside from showing the gold color, the perforations actually give an effect called sunburst which is commonly seen in vintage watches. The perforations must bounce the light on the dial just enough to show rays of dark and light shining from the center out to the edges. Difficult to explain so hopefully some pictures will help. The case back is the standard 4 screw construction but comes with a nice engraving celebrating the 30th anniversary.

There’s not much else to say about the case and strap. Standard shape of the modern 5600 which is nice because there’s some mod potential for this cool looking with some different colored resin. The buttons and buckle are gold which look very nice against the glossy red.

The module used in this one is 3159 and is solar charged and radio controlled. A nice step up for this special model. Unfortunately in my experiences, Casio radio controlled modules don’t work so well with syncing up to the atomic tower with regular success and this model is no different. In fact for some reason is it one of the worst syncers that I have had. Very disappointing and I think Casio needs to do something about improving this feature. At least they did not bake the requirement of a successful sync into the design of the watch like they did on the Atomic Rally Mudman GW9010 where a sync failure (which was most of the time) left a blank square in the dead center of the dial. The rest of the features of the module are the Casio standard fare...stopwatch, timer, 5 alarms, world timer, auto light.

This line comes in special packaging also celebrating the 30th anniversary. Its just the standard cardboard box and tin, but the designs are well done and special. Very nice and something worth having along with the watch.

All in all I have to say I am very happy to celebrate G Shock’s 30th anniversary with this 5600. Casio did a good job of making something special to commemorate. This line is a limited edition and at this time although there is still supply available, it won't last forever.