[G-Shock Review] G-7900-1ER – When the Old Gives Odds to Young

The main charm of G-Shock-s lies in their ability not to lose relevance even many years after the release. Despite the emergence of more advanced and high-tech representatives of the line, there is a certain category of so-called “old men” who are not only still actively sold, but also acquire new color options. The recent material  encouraged me to think – why not adopt a model from the G-7900 series, because for all the years of its existence it has not acquired its own detailed review on the blog of amateurs Casio. The decision is made, the watch arrived, let’s watch.

The G-7900 first saw the light in 2009 [if I am not mistaken], so you can’t call it quite old, although it’s already an indicator for almost 10 years. One immediately recognizes the classic “G-Shock” style, which cannot be confused with any other watch brand – power and men’s features are clearly visible even in the smallest details of the case.

Personally, the 7900s didn’t somehow remind the Mudmaster line, where the Japanese relied on impressive dimensions, although here the dimensions are, of course, smaller than those of the bogs – 52.40 x 50.00 x 17.70 mm versus 59.5 × 56.1 × 18 mm for the same GWG-1000. But it’s not even about them [sizes]. I don’t know about you, but at first sight I had thoughts about harsh conditions in my head [contact sport, dust, dirt and strong blows] that the G-7900 will surely endure and will not fail at the crucial moment. The official description of the model also speaks of the uncompromising protection of the case from any gross effects – it means the intuition did not let down.

The very first four screws on the front of the case, which can be called a visual G-7900 chip, are the first to strike. By analogy with similar screws on GWG and GG, we can conclude that they perform a purely design role without practical value [although I may be mistaken]. In any case, in order to find out for sure, you need to “open” these screws, which I cannot do for obvious reasons.

Another obvious [already the third one] reference to Mudmasters is protectors for a strap over the back cover. These are inserts that not only contribute to a more accurate wrist grip, but also play an important role in strengthening the entire strap attachment design, acting as an additional stiffening rib. From myself I can add – thanks to these protectors, the strap does not bend inward beyond a certain level, and thus the wear of fasteners [in particular, pins] slows down.

The strap itself is made of ordinary polyurethane with good durability and smooth, pleasant to the touch surface. The “teeth” at the strap attachment to the case remind one more time that the case is designed for men engaged in rough work. The fastener, though single-toothed, does not suffer from the reliability of fixation on the arm.

Buttons deserve special attention – they are rather large and with a ribbed surface [for comfortable glove presses]. Button presses are felt very clearly, i.e. the question “pressed or not?” will not arise exactly – it feels tactile. A separate button for lighting, placed on the front of the case – a huge plus to the convenience of work. It seemed to me, but this button is clearly configured for a less hard move — it takes a little less effort to press it.

The frost-resistant case and display are a good addition to security. Lovers of winter sports and living in very cold regions will definitely come in handy. Let me remind you – the manufacturer claims stable operation of the module and the display down to -20 ℃, although in fact this temperature may be even lower [here it is necessary to take into account the body temperature, which warms the clock no matter how].

The digital display is divided into several separate sections, each of which is responsible for its specific display functions. The large lower zone is responsible for displaying the time and date in full format [hours, minutes, seconds, month, day] in the current time mode and for displaying the main information in other modes. I consider as a big plus the simultaneous display of the current time in the stopwatch and timer modes – very convenient due to the lack of an analog zone clock.

The upper part is attached to the phases of the moon and the tidal sensor. Under this case, a separate mode with switching tides / lunar phases is allocated. Indication occurs for the home zone and a specific date and time [i.e. All information is “embedded” in advance of the watch]. The only moment that I personally don’t understand is why when the day changes, the phases are jumped over immediately after 2 divisions [we end up with only 4 phases], although the window is designed for 8 divisions [write it in the comments if you know].

The G-7900 has two separate stopwatches with a capacity of 1000 hours each. Together with an accuracy of 1/100, such a stopwatch covers almost any task of measuring time – from professional sports competitions to simple everyday tasks. Each of them has its own mode, i.e. they can work in parallel and independently from each other. It’s time to say about the red button in the lower right part of the case – it is just responsible for the quick start of the stopwatch. The first stopwatch has an autostart function – it starts 5 seconds before the start of the countdown, with subsequent beeps every second.

The countdown timer is also not easy – the lovers of water races will probably need the yacht timer function with a beep every minute, and every second the last 10 seconds [until the end of the countdown].

The alarm clock is represented by five modes of operation – daily, daily for a specific month, monthly [on a specific day and time] and one-time on a specific date.

For the alarm, you can set the backlight to blink, as well as for the timer, hourly signal and progress of the stopwatch. In the right and left lower part there is a place for small indicators – alarms, sound signal, auto light and hourly signal.

The backlight is electroluminescent, which means that the entire digital area of ​​the display is evenly illuminated with a pleasant green glow. The duration of the backlight can be chosen from 3 to 5 seconds – pretty solid for the G-Shock [usually this figure varies from 1.5 to 3 seconds].

World time, auto calendar and time in 24-hour format and 200-meter water resistance is a must-have basis for high-impact areas.

Conclusion

G-7900-1ER as a representative of the old guard is not exactly inferior to new products in the strength and reliability of the design. No, this does not mean that the Japanese are working poorly on improving the protective properties of their watch products, there are simply certain standards in this matter that were observed 10 years ago, and they are observed in the same way now. There is nothing surprising here – the G-7900 series is designed for use in a particularly aggressive environment, which means it cannot be “weaker” than other counterparts in the workshop. In functional terms, this is the usual G-Shock-s with an informative digital display, a very accurate and capacious stopwatch, additional opportunities for marine activities in the form of phases of the moon and the tide sensor.

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Firstly published, but we carefully translated into English.

Some FAQ moments about G-Shock G-7900 Series