Elsewhere in watches, Hublot celebrates recreating gold crystal in the lab with limited edition Spirit of Big Bang pair. Three new Mudmaster models have become the first ever G-SHOCKs to feature forged carbon case components. The face of the watch is marked with large Arabian numerals at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock for easy reading. The face is illuminated by a Super Illuminator, high-brightness auto LED light to ensure high visibility under virtually any conditions imaginable. In addition, Twin Sensor capabilities provide instant access to direction and temperature information when needed under tough conditions.
I used to hide in bed in the dark and gleefully turn the light on and off to see the time. Unlike my father I had a black plastic watch that looked like it was from the future. The GGB100 is the latest evolution of G-SHOCK’s commitment to ultra-durable timepieces. The G-Shock land series are built to prevent intrusion by sand, mud, or dust.
I’ve known my friend, Nathan, for the better part of ten years, and for about the last six, he’s been an avid mountain biker, pillar of the biking community in our area, and all-around good dude. We met while working at a Sears Auto Center back in the days when that existed. I was still sporting Invictas back then and thinking I was the Boss Hogg of the local watch community. We bonded over our love of motorsport, our hatred of Sears, existentialism, and, of course, watches. Personally, I like stories about watches that are worn, sometimes for years, and have the wear and tear to prove it.
It’s a muddy and somewhat swampy part of the trail and it hadn’t been made any better by the rain. Nathan sat on a rock while waiting for Rocky to finish up and spotted something nearby. To his delighted surprise, it was the Mudmaster, up to its eyeballs in crud and still ticking away. For most normal watches this story would have ended with a trip to the watchmaker or even to a retailer for a new purchase.
It easily survived the bumpy ride, being totally submerged in mud, an encounter with a hostile local, and an ATV that seemed to catch fire briefly. Of course, that’s a fraction of what the Mudmaster is built to withstand and just a small piece of the performance it promises, and the GGB100 packs new durability features and tech at a characteristically approachable price. For 2019, the new flagship Casio G-Shock watch in the $300-$400 USD range is the Mudmaster GG-B100 model family. It consists of a few color variations, with this mostly black-toned reference GGB100-1A being the version I reviewed.
Built for use on land, they’re specialised for use in especially sandy, dusty or rubble-strewn environments. The GWG-2000 is the first to use this special type of carbon fiber-reinforced resin, which Casio says has a greater tensile strength than stainless steel, while being lighter. In fact it’s so strong yet light so as to typically be found in famously strong yet lightweight contraptions such as aircraft and racing cars. Mud Resist construction helps to ensure that nothing gets into the watch when down and dirty work takes you deep into the dirt and sludge. The step tracker is simple — it shows steps and calorie burn — and can be viewed either on the app, or by pressing a button on the watch.
This means a chronograph function, alarms, countdown timer, stopwatch. The top right button is used for the compass and the bottom right is used for the altimeter. The case features 5 different buttons in order to operate the different functions. To operate this, you unscrew the protection cap and pull it outwards. This will allow you to adjust the standard functions such as the time.
Stainless steel has been used in the upper part and a shock absorbing resin is employed in the lower part to ameliorate on every impact or shock. Speaking of the barometer, it does more than just warn about the weather. The digital pressure sensor registers differences in air pressure and using the barometer position, you can see the pressure trend and the air pressure presented on the screen. The altimeter function works by the simple concept of measuring the air pressure and this calculating the height you are at. This makes it possible to use the air pressure to calculate altitude. When it comes to the altimeter, you do this by entering a reference altitude.
For this reason, the watch is now called “Quad Sensor.” This adds to the existing compass, temperature, and barometer/altimeter sensors the watch also has. Other useful functions include sunrise/sunset times and the normal host of useful G-Shock features. Casio has put more focus on entirely analog or analog-digital watch dials for its fancier watches over the last few years. There are a number of reasons for it, but when it comes down to it, I think Casio is just particularly g shock protection interested in how it can combine the functionality and durability of a G-Shock with the aesthetic appeal of “real” analog dial . Hybrid dials, such as on the GG-B100 which have both analog and digital elements, are a great compromise that Japanese watchmakers have been making since the 1970s and that really hit their stride in the 1980s. The Mudmaster comes with a double LED illuminated dial, which will come in handy for those early mornings and late nights afield.