Casio Men's GW-M5610-1BJF G-Shock Solar Digital Multi Band 6 Black Watch

This is a great watch to wear every day, and you never have to worry about it failing on you. There's a reason Navy SEALS trust this brand. G Shock durability is unmatched, and the solar charging means this watch is more reliable than any other. It never loses the time because it syncs up via radio signals. Sure, the negative display can be hard to read at times (specifically in low light environments), but it has an auto-lightup feature that makes this a non-issue. You can enable this by holding the lightup button for a few seconds, and it will activate when you go to check the time and the watch senses darkness. While it lacks in visibility, it more than makes up for this with style. The negative display gives it a fantastic black-on-black look.

Excellent watch and exactly the quality you’d expect from a G-Shock. You can always depend on its durability, features, ease of use. I know a lot of people don’t like the negative display, but I’m personally a fan. This being a tough solar watch, I’m not afraid to use the light more often than I would on a regular battery operated G-Shock. Having multi band 6 is great, never have to worry about setting the time or it being off as it updates every night. All around excellent watch for the money and love having it in my collection. Highly recommended!

This is infamous Casio square, the very first G-Shock that started it all back in 1983. The 5610 continues that lineage, keeping the same classic square shape and offers one of the slimmest profiles of any G-Shock models today. Because of its classic timeless shape, its perfect for work or recreation, and doesn't look out of place in any occasion, even with a suit. This watch is perfect for anyone looking for a timepiece that's simple and unobtrusive. I would recommend this model as the first for anyone looking to start dipping their toes in the G-Shock world. This particular model is the 5610U (at least, the one I received from Amazon). The "U" is the updated model, I believe released in 2022, offering an upgraded LED light amongst other enhancements. What's great about this watch is that you essentially don't really need to do anything to it once you set it up. The Multi-Band 6 automatic radio time syncing syncs with the atomic clock signal put out in Fort Collins (in US) so you'll get the most accurate reading as long as you set up your home city. The watch syncs up nightly as long as you place it near a window. Other functions the watch has includes stopwatch, countdown timers, alarms, and world time (48 cities with 5 customizable city settings). This model also features power saving function where the watch turns off if left in the dark for a while, making it last even longer. Oh yeah, did I mention that its solar powered? As long as the watch gets to see some sun here and there, it will never run out of batteries. It doesn't even need to be directly in the sun, it works with any light source. Its essentially a set it and forget it watch. Never need to set the time and never need to swap or charge the battery. This is a watch that's designed and made to withstand any type of destruction or disaster. Who needs a smart watch? NOTE: Even though Amazon lists this watch as the "Japan" model (1BJF), it is NOT. This is actually the international model (1BJF) which may deter some purists looking for the "Made in Japan" printed on the underside. As far as I can tell, there are no noticeable differences in style or functionality except for where its made (international models are made in Thailand). Just something to keep in mind.

If your only concern is legibility of the negative display, skip to the bottom half. Otherwise, read on. For me, three considerations stand out as the most important for a timepiece, aside from looks (subjective) and durability (a given for G-Shocks). ACCURACY What good is a watch if it doesn’t tell accurate time? Digital watches already have significant advantage over analogue, but this one goes one step further by connecting to atomic time (which syncs with one of six signal towers across the globe). For the first time I didn’t have to bother with manually setting the minute, hour, or even date out of the box. Just choose your time zone, toggle daylight savings if applicable, and you’re all set knowing your time actually cannot be more accurate. The downside? ‘Sorry didn’t realize my watch time was behind’ is no longer a valid excuse for being late. Yup. Used that one before. COMFORT And what good is a watch if you constantly want to take it off? On that note, the durable Polyurethane strap is surprisingly soft, comfortable, and easy to wear. The watch itself is also light and small enough for me to forget I’m wearing it sometimes. This bodes well for sports / workouts, and I ain’t taking this one off before a fistfight. Bring it bruv. USABILITY Now about that negative display: Probably the biggest compromise for choosing this particular model, yet also the most visually pleasing element if an all-black look is what you really want. Otherwise you’d have gone straight for the model that functions exactly the same yet costs nearly half price no? So the $150 question: Is the compromise in legibility worth it? With decent eyesight, yes. In sunlight or a well-lit room there’s absolutely no problem, save for a little glare at certain angles. But in limited light, it’s harder to make out the contents of the watch at a glance without straining your eyes, and the aforementioned glare becomes a bigger issue. Thankfully it features an auto-illumination function that lights up when you tilt the watch from flat to a 40-45 degree angle towards you, and it works remarkably consistently (more than 9/10 times). The only issue is the duration of the illumination, lasting barely a second. This is true even if you hold the illumination button down. A full 2 seconds would have been nice. It is worth noting that illumination also stops the moment you press any other button. The only conceivable problem that poses is if you need to use the stopwatch function in near or complete darkness (not impossible, just a major hassle), but I cannot imagine ever needing to do that, other than attempting to time the duration of the illumination function for the purpose of this review, which was a royal pain. Other than the negative display, the only other usability issue would be the tiny buttons that would pose a challenge if you intend to use it while wearing gloves. To summarize, who is this watch not for? Anyone with poor eyesight such as some older users, anyone who needs full visibility and access to functions despite limited light, and anyone who intends to fiddle with its various functions while wearing gloves (winter sports?) But if like me, you’re younger / have decent eyesight, really really want the all-black tactical look, and don’t mind paying an extra $70 for it, this watch should survive an apocalypse in style. It’s durable, comfortable, accurate, freakin handsome, and won’t run out of power as long as you give its some sunlight once or twice a week. Just pray we don’t ever face a nuclear winter Inshallah.

The Casio 5600 series my other favorite series of Casio watches. I have two of these. The 5610U-1 included. The negative display on this watch isn’t bad but it’s not the best. But I expect negative displays to be complicate to read. It’s the look for me. Once again durable and solar powered are the winning deal for this watch. I love Casio watches because of the flexibility they provide. And the variety of styles. This is no different! Once again can’t go wrong with a Casio!

Love this watch as a go-anywhere, fashionable, tough, and functional timepiece. I wear it in hot tubs without concern, and it's always perfectly accurate thanks to the atomic setting. I have 10+ year old solar G-Shock watches still going strong, so don't worry about the battery.

This is it. THE watch. Multiband, Solar, G-Shock. If you (or anyone else, ever) is looking for a watch, this is it. Casio has created the perfect watch and nobody realistically needs anything more than this. That said, this square has a negative display that is at times maybe 15% more difficult to see on average but can be a lot worse is very dim conditions, but thats why we have a light. As solid and as reliable as any square, everyone needs one of these in their lives.

I had my eye on this G-Shock for a while now, really liked the all black look, minimal colors on the text, atomic clock, and the negative display. The fact that it was a Japanese market item made it a bit more unique, and the price reflected this. They all came from Japanese sellers for close to $200. I kept coming back trying to decide if I really wanted to spend that much on this watch. Well, one cay, I happened to notice in the "other sellers" section, it was listed at $105 from Amazon directly. Unsure how this could possibly be, I decided to pull the trigger anyway and return it if anything looked suspicious. It was not scheduled to be in-stock until April, but was happy to see an update that it was arriving this week. Got it today and am happy to report that the watch is ALMOST everything as advertised. I'm not going to comment on its features, durability, or day-to day usage as that has already been covered elsewhere. I have no doubt that it will meet all expectations in that regard, and if you are a G-shock fan, you will probably be satisfied. It's clearly a genuine G-Shock, it came with all the Casio packaging materials, manuals, warranty card, and metal hexagon tin. Made in Thailand, not China. The watch itself looks and feels great. The only thing that might give some buyers pause is that it's not the GW-M5610-1BJF (indicating Japanese market), rather it's GW-M5610-1BCR (indicating worldwide market). My suspicion is that Casio recently released this model to be available in the US, which is how Amazon got the ability to sell it directly. It now retails for $140, which is less than you would have paid for a JDM model, but is still more than many similar 5610s. So all in all, I'm happy with the watch. The negative LCD is not that difficult for me to read, in fact, when held at the correct angle, it's extremely legible. The size is perfect, it feels great - light but substantial (if that makes sense). Sure it's not the Japanese version of the watch, but that doesn't matter to me nearly as much to me as it being about half the cost. However, if you really want the BJF model, you probably still need to get it from a 3rd party seller.