Joined
·
2,999 Posts
Well, following a request from my good buddy Gabe (Isthmus), I've transplanted this post of mine from the Casioctoberfest one and started a thread of its own - hope you don't mind!
)
Well, as I'm in a huge debit with Gabe (Isthmus) in this Casio special month, I'll try my best to somewhat compensate my fault.
I'll explain...
Gabe and I had agreed on setting a Buyer's guide for the awesome AMW-3XX series watch, and would help him in getting it done.
Due to some personal issues that happened to me over the past week or so and demanded to be addressed asap, I left him nihil for the task.
So now that things are going better, I'll try to do my best with the little I know of these great watches, and then some.
CASIO AMW-3XX SERIES (also refered to as Casio Marine Gear)
Specs: 46mm, 100m W.R., non-screw down crown, screw down caseback, rubber bracelet, bi-directional bezel, sits very flat and comfortable on the wrist.
I'll cover here the 320 and 330 series, since I don't think the 340 one belongs to the same family, since it has an entire different module, a very modern one, BTW.
AQ-600W - The first installment of the AMW-3XX series wasn't an AMW per se, but it had the same case, same module, same strap, but different dial and hands. There were 2 versions of this model: black dial and white dial. A pic of the white dial can be seen on this post, whereas the black dial one can be seen on this link -
http://www.google.com.br/imgres?imgurl=http://imagenes.lapapa.com/%3Fi%3D856819&imgrefurl=http://brasil.abatata.com.br/lista_historicas/365334&usg=__IYHV2ZfhcG1eV0CoH8UJzk8QU2U=&h=90&w=90&sz=4&hl=pt-br&start=6&zoom=0&tbnid=BJUwAndAnO_eOM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=78&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcasio%2Baq-600%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dpt-br%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1
The AQ-600 is the proverbial hen's teeth, and it's probably impossible to find one these days. Personally I have never seen one on ebay.
It's interesting to find its dial indices - especially the 12 o'clock mark - holds a close resemblence with the 6309-704x seiko diver.
Casio ran this model during the 1980 decade until around 1990/92, where the first installment of the AMW series took place.
AMW-320 - Casio discontinued the AQ600 and started production of this model in 1992. The first installment had 2 pushers on opposite sides of the case, with exactly the same module that equipped the AQ600.
Dial color options were black and champagne, being the later the most famous one, especially due to a strong plugging campaign made by Casio (a paid one, perhaps?) on some major Hollywood action flicks. Arnold Schwarzenneger made this Casio famous due to sporting the champagne dial on Kindegarten Cop, Last Action Hero. The black dial he sported on True Lies, and on Jinggle All The Way he worn the rare AQ-600W black dial.
As an horourable mention, there was a spin off version of the champagne dial called AMW-320D, which was a tad smaller than the traditional one, and with a curious digi window that had the shape of a smile, which entails the nickname of CASIO AMW-320 'SMILE' to this installment. Still, module functions were the same, although somewhat of a modification to it was necessary due to the configuration of the LCD to conform with the smile shape of its window.
Fast forward Y2K, Casio has retired the AMW-320 original w/ pushers on the opposite side and brought to us the nowadays case configuration, with both pushers on the left side and the crown on the right side. The rest was kept identical to the AMW original, which includes the module with a slight different complication (and it translates to its new nomination to "320R", instead of just 320). Upon adjusting the digital window and the analogue function, both can be synchronized by the watch itself, so to speak.
Upon trying to synch the analogue to the digital, when you press the button to 'zero in' the digital seconds to the seconds hand, the later waits until the former makes the first advance towards the next second count. Pretty cool, if you ask me.
Dial colors are black, white and champagne.
Later on (around 2008), Casio has brought more dial variations of this model, with rectangular indices and more color variations, in blue/silver and black/gold, with OEM bracelets.
http://www.casio.com/products/Timepiece/Sports/AMW320_Series/
This year there's a new PVD version of the later rectangular indices model, which is pretty cool, mounted on the same rubber strap as the others AMW's.
Here are mine:
AMW-330 - In 2008, Casio has launched an analogue chrono version of the successfull AMW series, sans-digi window, with an analogue chrono function and calendar, only.
Same case, same rubber strap, same bezel, only differences are dial, and of course the pushers addaptation for the analogue chrono function.
Dial colors available are white (on OEM rubber) and black (on OEM bracelet).
Worth to mention that the AMW's bracelets are made of folded links and there's no SEL. In my book they are cheap, and I didn't like them at all. The AMW's look GREAT on their OEM rubber and also on NATOs.
Here's my 330 white dial:
[img]
Some collection pics (with the MQD-3000W and a Casio Duro 200m diver mixed in between) - enjoy them!
[img]
[img]
[img]
With a Casio Duro 200m...
[img]
[img]
With a NOS MQD-3000W...
[img]
[img]
[img]
Group shot of the gang...
[img]
[img]
First AMW-320 configuration (black dial, w/ opposite sides pushers - pic by calvin 3389):
[img]http://]http://larrybiggs.net/scwf/images/com/photobucket/img/6f/0c/f5/65/2e21fc77374c2a0526c3689c.jpg%20More%20extensive%20data%20on%20the%20AMW%20series%20can%20be%20seen%20here%20%28Denzel%20Washington%20is%20also%20a%20fan%20of%20this%20watch,%20as%20it%20looks%20like%29:[url=http://www.google.com.br/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mcbroom.biz/PMWF/Casio-AMW320D-thread05.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mcbroom.biz/PMWF/Casio_AMW-320D_Marine_Gear_review.htm&usg=__qsr1UhLJFR28M32_-Y2V1gortSM=&h=470&w=619&sz=65&hl=pt-br&start=19&zoom=1&tbnid=TZ8iBNN8NA6J6M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcasio%2Bamw-320%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dpt-br%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1]http://www.google.com.br/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mcbroom.biz/PMWF/Casio-AMW320D-thread05.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mcbroom.biz/PMWF/Casio_AMW-320D_Marine_Gear_review.htm&usg=__qsr1UhLJFR28M32_-Y2V1gortSM=&h=470&w=619&sz=65&hl=pt-br&start=19&zoom=1&tbnid=TZ8iBNN8NA6J6M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcasio%2Bamw-320%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dpt-br%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1[/url]%20Arnie%[email protected]%20Kindegarten%20Cop%20%28AMW-320%20first%20installment,%20w/%20opposite%20sides%20pushers%29:%20[img]http://www.digitalwatchlibrary.com/images/movies/kinder_JohnKimble_AMW320D-9.jpg%20AMW-320C%20w/%20addapted%20bracelet,%20probably%20from%20the%20modern%20era%20AMW%27s%20%28first%20installment,%20champagne%20dial,%20opposite%20sides%20pushers%20-%20pic%20by%20Rick%20Lee%[email protected]%20PMWF%29:[img]http://www.mcbroom.biz/PMWF/BFTP/Casio-AMW320C-05L.jpg Who copied who? Seiko's own AMW-320??? (pic by Roverguy78) [img]http://larrybiggs.net/scwf/images/us/imageshack/img225/dc/d6/c5/ef/d5681df0b7879676b37c2c19.jpg
More Hollywood plugging....Matthew Lillard and his AMW320 "SMILE" on a bund...
Think you need a screw-down crown to go diving with a W.R. watch? Well...think again!
(pics by SquishyPanda @ WUS)
[img]
It looks great on a NATO, too...
Hope you enjoy my humble review, and once again, sorry for being late to the party, Gabe! :(
Regards,
CHRIS
Well, as I'm in a huge debit with Gabe (Isthmus) in this Casio special month, I'll try my best to somewhat compensate my fault.
I'll explain...
Gabe and I had agreed on setting a Buyer's guide for the awesome AMW-3XX series watch, and would help him in getting it done.
Due to some personal issues that happened to me over the past week or so and demanded to be addressed asap, I left him nihil for the task.
So now that things are going better, I'll try to do my best with the little I know of these great watches, and then some.
CASIO AMW-3XX SERIES (also refered to as Casio Marine Gear)
Specs: 46mm, 100m W.R., non-screw down crown, screw down caseback, rubber bracelet, bi-directional bezel, sits very flat and comfortable on the wrist.
I'll cover here the 320 and 330 series, since I don't think the 340 one belongs to the same family, since it has an entire different module, a very modern one, BTW.
AQ-600W - The first installment of the AMW-3XX series wasn't an AMW per se, but it had the same case, same module, same strap, but different dial and hands. There were 2 versions of this model: black dial and white dial. A pic of the white dial can be seen on this post, whereas the black dial one can be seen on this link -
http://www.google.com.br/imgres?imgurl=http://imagenes.lapapa.com/%3Fi%3D856819&imgrefurl=http://brasil.abatata.com.br/lista_historicas/365334&usg=__IYHV2ZfhcG1eV0CoH8UJzk8QU2U=&h=90&w=90&sz=4&hl=pt-br&start=6&zoom=0&tbnid=BJUwAndAnO_eOM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=78&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcasio%2Baq-600%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dpt-br%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1
The AQ-600 is the proverbial hen's teeth, and it's probably impossible to find one these days. Personally I have never seen one on ebay.
It's interesting to find its dial indices - especially the 12 o'clock mark - holds a close resemblence with the 6309-704x seiko diver.
Casio ran this model during the 1980 decade until around 1990/92, where the first installment of the AMW series took place.
AMW-320 - Casio discontinued the AQ600 and started production of this model in 1992. The first installment had 2 pushers on opposite sides of the case, with exactly the same module that equipped the AQ600.
Dial color options were black and champagne, being the later the most famous one, especially due to a strong plugging campaign made by Casio (a paid one, perhaps?) on some major Hollywood action flicks. Arnold Schwarzenneger made this Casio famous due to sporting the champagne dial on Kindegarten Cop, Last Action Hero. The black dial he sported on True Lies, and on Jinggle All The Way he worn the rare AQ-600W black dial.
As an horourable mention, there was a spin off version of the champagne dial called AMW-320D, which was a tad smaller than the traditional one, and with a curious digi window that had the shape of a smile, which entails the nickname of CASIO AMW-320 'SMILE' to this installment. Still, module functions were the same, although somewhat of a modification to it was necessary due to the configuration of the LCD to conform with the smile shape of its window.
Fast forward Y2K, Casio has retired the AMW-320 original w/ pushers on the opposite side and brought to us the nowadays case configuration, with both pushers on the left side and the crown on the right side. The rest was kept identical to the AMW original, which includes the module with a slight different complication (and it translates to its new nomination to "320R", instead of just 320). Upon adjusting the digital window and the analogue function, both can be synchronized by the watch itself, so to speak.
Upon trying to synch the analogue to the digital, when you press the button to 'zero in' the digital seconds to the seconds hand, the later waits until the former makes the first advance towards the next second count. Pretty cool, if you ask me.
Dial colors are black, white and champagne.
Later on (around 2008), Casio has brought more dial variations of this model, with rectangular indices and more color variations, in blue/silver and black/gold, with OEM bracelets.
http://www.casio.com/products/Timepiece/Sports/AMW320_Series/
This year there's a new PVD version of the later rectangular indices model, which is pretty cool, mounted on the same rubber strap as the others AMW's.
Here are mine:
AMW-330 - In 2008, Casio has launched an analogue chrono version of the successfull AMW series, sans-digi window, with an analogue chrono function and calendar, only.
Same case, same rubber strap, same bezel, only differences are dial, and of course the pushers addaptation for the analogue chrono function.
Dial colors available are white (on OEM rubber) and black (on OEM bracelet).
Worth to mention that the AMW's bracelets are made of folded links and there's no SEL. In my book they are cheap, and I didn't like them at all. The AMW's look GREAT on their OEM rubber and also on NATOs.
Here's my 330 white dial:
[img]
Some collection pics (with the MQD-3000W and a Casio Duro 200m diver mixed in between) - enjoy them!
[img]
[img]
[img]
With a Casio Duro 200m...
[img]
[img]
With a NOS MQD-3000W...
[img]
[img]
[img]
Group shot of the gang...
[img]
[img]
First AMW-320 configuration (black dial, w/ opposite sides pushers - pic by calvin 3389):
[img]http://]http://larrybiggs.net/scwf/images/com/photobucket/img/6f/0c/f5/65/2e21fc77374c2a0526c3689c.jpg%20More%20extensive%20data%20on%20the%20AMW%20series%20can%20be%20seen%20here%20%28Denzel%20Washington%20is%20also%20a%20fan%20of%20this%20watch,%20as%20it%20looks%20like%29:[url=http://www.google.com.br/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mcbroom.biz/PMWF/Casio-AMW320D-thread05.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mcbroom.biz/PMWF/Casio_AMW-320D_Marine_Gear_review.htm&usg=__qsr1UhLJFR28M32_-Y2V1gortSM=&h=470&w=619&sz=65&hl=pt-br&start=19&zoom=1&tbnid=TZ8iBNN8NA6J6M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcasio%2Bamw-320%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dpt-br%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1]http://www.google.com.br/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mcbroom.biz/PMWF/Casio-AMW320D-thread05.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mcbroom.biz/PMWF/Casio_AMW-320D_Marine_Gear_review.htm&usg=__qsr1UhLJFR28M32_-Y2V1gortSM=&h=470&w=619&sz=65&hl=pt-br&start=19&zoom=1&tbnid=TZ8iBNN8NA6J6M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcasio%2Bamw-320%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dpt-br%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1[/url]%20Arnie%[email protected]%20Kindegarten%20Cop%20%28AMW-320%20first%20installment,%20w/%20opposite%20sides%20pushers%29:%20[img]http://www.digitalwatchlibrary.com/images/movies/kinder_JohnKimble_AMW320D-9.jpg%20AMW-320C%20w/%20addapted%20bracelet,%20probably%20from%20the%20modern%20era%20AMW%27s%20%28first%20installment,%20champagne%20dial,%20opposite%20sides%20pushers%20-%20pic%20by%20Rick%20Lee%[email protected]%20PMWF%29:[img]http://www.mcbroom.biz/PMWF/BFTP/Casio-AMW320C-05L.jpg Who copied who? Seiko's own AMW-320??? (pic by Roverguy78) [img]http://larrybiggs.net/scwf/images/us/imageshack/img225/dc/d6/c5/ef/d5681df0b7879676b37c2c19.jpg
More Hollywood plugging....Matthew Lillard and his AMW320 "SMILE" on a bund...
Think you need a screw-down crown to go diving with a W.R. watch? Well...think again!
(pics by SquishyPanda @ WUS)
[img]
It looks great on a NATO, too...
Hope you enjoy my humble review, and once again, sorry for being late to the party, Gabe! :(
Regards,
CHRIS