[Baby-G Review] BAX-100-3A — in mint color for surfer girls

The long-awaited summer has come – vacation, sea, sun, beaches and much more awaits us in the next three months. For many, the summer season will be marked by the start of water activities, in particular surfing – even if this sport is not particularly developed in our area, but vacations can easily be spent on the azure coast of any ocean. Why am I … Ah, yes, today I have a BAX-100-3A review – a watch that, in any case, will become not only an adornment of an elegant female hand [a watch, if anything, female], but also a reliable assistant for fans of surfing like amateur and professional level.

The G-Lide line, which, by the way, represents the BAX-100 series, the Japanese conceived as watches that can and should be used in sports [winter and summer]. So, if winter options most often have increased resistance to low temperatures [guaranteed stable operation at -20 ° C], then summer models are focused on water activities – surfing, swimming on the board and just swimming. With the male G-Shock, everything is clear – impact resistance is always and everywhere in the first place, and then the functionality and the external component come next. In the case of the Baby-G women’s line, designers put design in the first place, because most girls choose any things in appearance.

Without a doubt, the BAX-100 is a smaller analogue of its older brother GAX-100. But BAX immediately feels an elegant highlight – lightness, dimensions [46.1 × 42.4 × 11 mm] and the style of the dial as a whole. It would never occur to anyone to confuse them with a man’s watch – everything here is painfully minimalistic and elegant. With all its external attractiveness, the watch case has the same proprietary Japanese impact resistance, which means it is not afraid of bumps, falls and other “unexpected”.

The retro-design of the dial in the spirit of the 90s is what the Casio say in their official description for the BAX-100 series. Probably, they mean the style of hour markers with triangular and rectangular elements, although this is also similar to the style of diving watches, where there is a rotary bezel that measures the time spent under water. “Transparent” arrows came from the same place, which do not cover usable space on the display and look fashionable.

I got a model with a case and a mint-colored strap – I liked the “purity” and color saturation, and the color is calm and does not hurt my eyes. Someone will recall the color performance of the sea wave – the subjective moment.

The substrate of the analog zone of the dial is not just painted in a mint color, as it might seem – the surface is covered with a fine, barely noticeable texture of the “hair” and all this under a metallic-style shine sauce. In daylight, this combination shimmers in the sun, creating a glare pleasing to the eye.

The strap with the ability to quickly replace, as in the latest ProTrek and GA-2000 models, is pleasing – with the help of a special lever, you can literally remove and hit another one in just a couple of seconds [if there is, of course]. This option has good prospects in terms of sales of additional straps for all occasions, although the Japanese are not in a hurry with this. In a horizontal position, the watch completely lies on the surface without any excesses of the strap – also an interesting feature, albeit without practical use.

Both parts of the strap “walk” freely in both directions – there is no problem with flexibility, the watch fits the wrist well and does not hamper its movement.

The back cover is reinforced with white polyurethane inserts, which in addition also “hold” the belt fastening mechanism in tone. Due to this, the watch case slightly thickens [literally by 1 mm], but even so, the BAX-100 remains one of the thinnest Baby-G cases.

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The readability of the analog zone is at a high level, plus there are digital windows that are responsible for indicating the main and auxiliary functionality. In the upper right corner, the window of the Tide Graph function or tide height – information about the current wave level is displayed in any clock mode. The window consists of 6 columns, each of which is responsible for the wave level in increments of one hour – it is believed that 6 hours pass between the ebb and flow. In Tide / Moon Data mode, you can switch between tides and moon phases. The step of checking the tide level is one hour, switching is very simple – by pressing the lower right button.

A separate window for the phases of the moon shows the current phase depending on the specific date [year, month, day]. All information is tied to the so-called Home Site or current location. This parameter includes the UTC differential [GMT deviation], geographic longitude [measured in degrees from 0 to 180], and the lunar interval [time that has passed since the moon passed a certain meridian before the next high tide]. To see the correct information on the tides and phases of the moon, you first need to configure these three parameters – in the current time mode, press and hold the upper left button for 2 seconds until the setup screen is activated.

The top left digital window in the current time mode shows the date, day of the week, and in other modes – their name and additional parameters. Basic information is displayed in the bottom wide window.

“Specifications of BAX-100”]

• Case / bezel material: Resin
• Resin Band
• Neobrite
• Shock Resistant
• Mineral Glass
• 100-meter water resistance

• LED light (Super illuminator)
  Auto LED light, selectable illumination duration (1.5 seconds or 3 seconds), afterglow
• Dual time
• Moon data (moon age of the specific date, moon phase graph)
• Tide graph (tide level for specific date and time)
• 1/100-second stopwatch
  Measuring capacity: 23:59’59.99”
  Measuring modes: Elapsed time, split time, 1st-2nd place times
• Countdown timer
  Measuring unit: 1 second
  Countdown range: 24 hours
  Countdown start time setting range: 1 minute to 24 hours (1-minute increments and 1-hour increments)
  Other: Auto-repeat
• 3 multi-function alarms (with 1 snooze alarm)
• Hourly time signal
• Full auto-calendar (to year 2099)
• 12/24-hour format
• Button operation tone on/off
• Regular timekeeping
  Analog: 2 hands (hour, minute (hand moves every 20 seconds))
  Digital: Hour, minute, second, pm, month, date, day
• Accuracy: ±30 seconds per month
• Approx. battery life: 3 years on CR1220 Size of case : 46.1×42.4×11mm
• Total weight : 37g

The stopwatch is not much different from a standard digital watch – a capacity of 24 hours, measures the elapsed time, split time and time of 1.2 places.

A timer with auto-repeat is a small bonus for interval training.

The BAX-100 has three separate alarms, one with a snooze function, an automatic calendar, a 24-hour clock and an hourly beep. There is no world time in our usual sense, but there is double time on the dial [there is a separate DT mode for it].

The backlight illuminates only the analog area, digital windows are difficult to discern. When turning the wrist, it works automatically.

Water resistant at 100 meters – it could have been better, but this is quite enough for diving. The average battery life is 3 years. Given the low cost [ 120$], all of the above looks more or less worthy.

Conclusion

BAX-100-3A is a good inexpensive option for women’s watches for the summer season. Calm, restrained design with a slight touch of retro, and marine functionality in the form of an ebb and flow sensor and moon phases – a successful combination of a stylish case with useful opportunities for surfing.

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Firstly published, but we carefully translated into English.