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I’ve long held that you can tell an awful lot about a person by their taste in G-SHOCKs. By now, there are so many types of these watches out there, it’s not hard to get a sense of what kind of message a watch collector is trying to send out into the world about themselves through their choice in G-SHOCK. The hardcore collector types will naturally want to flex the limited or hard to find collabs. Your Rick and Morty and Budweiser editions, for example. I get the sense that people who are most likely to actually use their G-SHOCKs for their intended purpose are drawn toward simple, blacked out, “tacti-cool” watches that don’t draw too much attention. These are the simple, traditional G-SHOCKs being worn as nature intended, by the professionals who put themselves in dangerous situations for a living, or klutzes who know for a fact that their watch is going to become intimately familiar with every door jamb it approaches. And then there are people like me. We’re dabblers, interested in G-SHOCK but not obsessive, who are mostly drawn to aggressively colorful designs like the new GWFA1000APF1 seen here, made for the 30th anniversary of the Frogman.
The Frogman watches, if you need a quick refresher, are G-SHOCKs made with diving and water adventures in mind. While all G-SHOCK watches have ample water resistance, the Frogman series features analog time telling via large, dive watch style hands, and a dual coil motor system designed to quickly move those hands as you quickly cycle between dive, time, and tide indicator modes.
For this edition, the aesthetic is inspired by a rare poison dart frog found in the South American Amazon. The bezel is made from layered carbon, and features bright orange and blue striping against a black base, recalling the unique patterns found on the frog itself. According to G-SHOCK, the bezel is constructed from laminated carbon and glass fibers, and because of the way they’re made, no two examples will be exactly alike. The bezel is accented with similar colors on the dial, and clear resin has been applied to the bezel near the screws.
The strap, made from stain-resistant fluoroelastomer, has been given a special treatment with polarized paint that is designed to change colors in different lighting conditions. This inspiration comes directly from the poison dart frog’s anatomy, which allows it to camouflage itself. As with every Frogman watch, the caseback features an engraving of a frog character, but it’s been redesigned for this edition to look like the poison dart frog.
The GWFA1000APF1 also features G-SHOCK Tough Solar technology, which allows for solar charging of the watch’s battery, effectively giving the Frogman a near limitless power reserve. It also includes Bluetooth connectivity for easy synching to the G-SHOCK app, which makes setting up and cycling through the various timing modes that much more convenient. And, of course, like all G-SHOCKS the GWFA1000APF1 includes a stopwatch, countdown timer, a daily alarm, and other simple features that help users get the most out of these watches.
