If we found ourselves in a nuclear winter and you were lucky enough to have survived with a watch on your wrist, there’s only one timepiece you’d want it to be and that’s a G-Shock. Almost literally bulletproof, hyper-functional now arriving with a built-in heart rate monitor, the classic G-Shock is only getting better.
The G-Shock DW-H5600 maintains the same iconic square(ish) case shape we all know and love and has been released within the G-SQUAD collection as a part of the brand’s 40th-anniversary celebrations. The big news is the additional fitness features including, an optical heart rate monitor and step counter, as well as the features we’ve seen in previous G-Shock models such as solar charging, Bluetooth connectivity, an accelerometer, cardio load status, blood oxygen levels and sleep tracking.
The new references within the new line-up feature resin cases with your choice of either a resin or stainless steel bezel and are slightly larger than your classic DW-5600 model. However, the new DW-H5600 remains wearable at 51.1mm from side to side, 17.4mm thick and weighing just 59g for the full resin model, while the steel bezel model is slightly thinner at 16.6mm, but a touch heavier at 64g.
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All this extra functionality means it uses more battery than you’re regular G-Shock, but if you just use the time functions you won’t need any additional charging beyond what the solar cell provides. If you use the fitness functionality for around one hour per day, you’ll need to cable recharge your watch once a week with it taking around three hours to fully recharge the battery. With the heart rate monitor running all the time, your G-Shock will last around 35 hours before it needs to be plugged in.
All considered, it’s an exciting new release from G-Shock that only further serves to emphasise its robust and sporty qualities. And for those who struggle to swap between their regular watch and smartwatch for fitness tracking, G-Shock has just made that a little easier by making its instantly recognisable icon just that little bit smarter.
