I was in town yesterday, and I thought ‘sod it’, and bought a replacement for the G-Shock, a GA-2100-1AER ‘CasiOak.
It’s the cheapest of the range, and nicely monochrome and clear to read, which many G-Shocks aren’t. Most importantly, it can be easily adjusted, and it can be set to different cities globally, so different time zones and daylight saving time is easy.
Something else as well, it can be modded, and the Seiko SKX crowd have got in on the act; it’s easy to take the back off, take the movement out, and there are different colour handsets available, and the ‘bezel’, or chapter ring will just drop out and can be replaced with all sorts of different colours, and even fully-lumed ones. I’m going to do my own, getting a plain black one, and I’m getting a proper Lumibrite touch-up kit and do the markings in white, as most are blue or green, and where the strap attaches the plastic mounting can be replaced with an alloy version that’ll take a range of 22mm straps, including ones that are replicas of the nylon ‘Alpine’ straps for the Apple Watch Ultra, which don’t use Velcro, instead alloy hooks that slide through nylon loops, so nice and secure. Because those straps attach at each end, there isn’t the double-thickness that you get with NATO straps and the added bulkiness. It’s nice wearing a watch that’s a fraction of the weight of the SPORK, for a change, but that’s about the same size and legibility. And won’t attract unwanted attention.