Ocean Diver Watch Blog

Here is my G-Shock blog feed rendered as a Wordle cloud. If you haven't used Wordle before you have to check it out!

I thought I'd share some of my lessons learned while attempting this project. Here are some of the steps that I took but deliberately omitted from the 'How To' because they were stupid, potentially damaging, and worst of all unnecessary. So to be very clear - DO NOT DO THIS, IT IS NOT NECESSARY AND COULD MOST LIKELY DAMAGE OR RUIN YOUR SCREEN! After removing the whole module, I proceeded to strip it down so that I could remove the glass display. At the time I thought I would have to do that. So I removed the outer rubber casing... Then I removed the inner metal casing... To be left with the raw module. It was easy to see how the screen was held in place. There are three small retainers at the bottom of the plastic module housing that the glass sits under, and at the top of the screen there is a spring loaded or tensioned clip that holds the top of the glass firmly in place. More firmly than I would have ever imagined. Once I figured it out I thought it would be easy to remo...

This project was a little more adventurous for me and as you will see quite a bit more complicated than some of the other projects I've done with my G-Shocks. It involves doing some pretty nasty things to the screen of a G-Shock, so if you’re faint hearted this is probably not the ideal DIY project for you. If you’re still reading this and, like me, desperately want to try reversing the display of one of your digital watches – read on. I’m going to be taking my plain DW-5600 and ‘hopefully’ converting the regular display into a negative one with the use of some self-adhesive polarizing film. There have been many questions about where to buy this posted in the various online forums. I bought mine from Polarization.com in Texas. The quality was very good, service excellent, and the shipping was pretty fast (3 days). I ordered the thinnest self-adhesive film they had in a relatively small size, part name was: “Linear Polarizer w/adhesive PFA”. Ok, on to the project. First let me...

Here is a very simple, stealthing project. I am planning to do a lot more to my little DW-5600 like reverse the display, stealth the faceplate (if possible), but for now I wanted to stealth the bezel (remove the white paint). The first step was to gather all the necessary equipment. For me that means Goof Off (not Goo Gone or any similar sounding products), a small ceramic bowl/dish (plastic ones may melt with the Goof Off inside it) this is one I made myself, a small pair of tweezers, and an old toothbrush or scrubbing brush. I removed the bezel from my DW-5600 and poured just enough of the Goof Off into the bottom of the bowl to cover the bottom. I place the bezel in the bowl face down so that the lettering was constantly submerged. Doing it this way saves using a lot of unnecessary Goof Off. I set my count down timer (CDT) for 20 minutes and stuck the bowl outside to avoid the nasty smell/fumes. Beep, beep! Ok 20 minutes is up and I lift out the bezel using the tweezers. I take the...

I continue to play with the idea of ways to improve on the 5600 module for the future. Based on feedback from you guys I've been playing with how the atomic sync results screen might look, when you press the button to see when the last time it synced up was. I've replaced "GET" with "SYNC!" and it shows the day, full date, and time it was last successfully synced with the atomic signal. I've also created the screen for setting the correct time zone "ZN" for your atomic signal. This is actually very close to the way the GW-5600 module provides the method of selecting the time zone in the watch setting mode. I saw some more feedback recently, so I'm going to read through it and give it some more thought. It would be very exciting to be able to incorporate these minor changes into a new 5600 module, bit can't ever see that happening - CASIO you listening?

I've made a few updates to the module design based on great feedback that I got. This is still a work in progress and if you have any more suggestions let me know.

Lately I've been racking my brain to determine what G-Shock would offer me the optimal functionality in order to be satisfied with just one watch, I know you're already thinking this guy is nuts but hear me out. My collection is very focused, mostly 5600s and a few Mudman models. The Mudmans were purchased on a whim mostly because of the great deal on Amazon and while I like them a lot and wear them extensively while outside, they are not my watch of choice - that lofty distinction is held by the 5600 range. I've been wearing my GW-5600BCJ and my G-5600RB-1JF almost exclusively for weeks now and find myself swapping between the two depending on how I feel about having the day of the week and date displayed. There are other obvious differences (atomic sync) between them, but for the most part these two watches are close to perfect for me anyway. I'm excited about getting one of the new GWM-5600BC models in order to have all of the functions of my GW-5600BCJ plus the da...

Here's an interesting update on my post about boiling my G-Shock Mudman . I was recently contacted by a very nice person in Thailand, who has a blog about watches, to inquire if I would let them translate my post showing how to disassemble a G-Shock Mudman and boil the resin components to soften the buttons and strap into Thai so they could post it to their web blog. Naturally I said that would be okay and simply asked that they add a link back to my original posting and leave the credits on my pictures intact. So here it is, my first (and possibly last) Thai language translation posting: " Boiling Your G-Shock Mudman "

The straps on several of my G-Shocks are just a bit too long, especially my GW-5600J, to the point where they stick out and catch on the cuff’s of my T-shirts and sleeves. I posted a question on a watch forum to ask if anyone ever trimmed their straps, partly because I was curious to know how many other pencil-wristed G-Shock wearers were having the same problem and partly to see how many people were willing to take a knife to their beloved Gs. To my surprise, the resounding response was “ yes ”, followed by “ just go ahead and cut it already ”. There were varying methods and tools recommended for doing it, ranging from razor blades to scissors. Enough talk, on with the cutting… The victim: My Atomic Solar Mudman. The strap is just a little too long and would be much better if I trimmed off about one inch (2.5cm). I’m going to use a straight edge safety razor. I’m using the rounded edge of my cutting surface for this in order to keep the cut open as I slice into it, it will help sto...

The buttons on the Casio G-Shock Mudman series are notoriously stiff to depress, mine appear to be no exception. Several people online have said that by boiling the bezel for 20-30 minutes you can soften them up. Well I have some spare time and a digital camera handy so I’m going to see if this crazy idea works. Note: If you do not have the correct tools for doing this I suggest you stop right here . The screws on the Mudman are very small (little buggers) and without the correct screwdrivers you stand the chance of badly stripping the heads. Also, I take *no* responsibility for you doing this at home and ruining your watch. Getting started: This is entirely optional. I am going to remove the straps on my Mudman to make things a little easier. I’m also going to throw them into the boiling water to see if the straps get softer after boiling. Once the straps have been removed it makes it a little easier to handle the main body of the watch. The next step is to remove the four scre...