Compare and Contrast >>

[MartynJC (UK)]

So I've had a couple of recent incomings since the festive season and thought I'd do something a little different by comparing the two watches.

Zenith 03.2241.4069/27.C803 - HERITAGE: CRONOMETRO TIPO CP-2 FOR PURISTSPRO SPECIAL EDITION
Casio GMW-B5000-1ER G-SHOCK - 35th Anniversary metal and resin finish

Compare and Contrast
One is mechanical with a long lineage of the El Primero 4096 movement from Zenith. The model I have is a limited run of 1 of 50 for PuristSPro.com. It is a chronograph movement with chronometer COSC grade certification. Sapphire case back with monochrome finished movement throughout, with a silicon escapement. (The case back is solid on the original black faced version. Subsequently there have been flyback versions with display back). The case is inscribed with 'Cronometro' instead of 'Automatic' and I believe the bezel is slightly different too. The Zenith star is applied at 12 o'clock with SuperLuminova SLN C1 painted hands and numbers. The oscillating weight is customised with the 'passion, opinion, information' engraving. 2 Straps and buckles are provided. 51x43x12.85mm (approx. 51mm across lugs). Hours, Mins, Small Seconds and 30min totaliser. 36,600 (VpH) with minimum 50h power reserve.
(ref: https://www.watchprosite.com/page-wf...-of-50-pieces/)

Other is digital and battery operated and is a variant the Casio GW-B5600XX-XXXX style watches. It is a 35th anniversary edition with a multitude of functions including bluetooth connection to your phone as well as 6 band radio frequency synchro and solar power charging. It has full digital display. Very rugged construction - think of "being run over by a truck or dropped out a 2nd floor window onto concrete and surviving", tough. It has a steel and resin construction and measures an oblong 49.3x43.2x13.0mm Day, Date, Month, Hour, Min, Sec. with 22months power reserve from full charge.
(ref: https://g-shock.co.uk/gmw-b5000-1er)

Is one 'better' than the other? In terms of cost - one is approximately x20 retail price of the other. Does that make it better? Not sure. One seems to have a lot more workmanship involved and something of the connection between man-machine is present in one, not the other. One could take a hell of a beating and still work. If one failed it could be easily be replace - it is a commodity item. One had more 'sole' than the other. One could be used for diving, the other some would take off to do the washing up. One wouldn't worry about losing one on a drunken night out.

One is an anachronism in todays world - along with a personal calculator or log tables for arithmetic. Though they both are becoming less seen with the advent of 'smart wearables' that are replaced every 2-3years. Who needs a history?

I may do a more details write up on the CP2 SE - the Casio - maybe I will do a write up on that too!

Thanks for looking.

Martyn

[shalako]

You know my feelings on Zenith, so worth every Penny IMHO and excellent value compared to other high end brands.

The Casio G-Shock GMW-B5000-1ER is much harder to quantify, the level of case finishing is amazing at the price point but it’s the technology that makes it incredible value. Always accurate, no battery required and with every feature you should ever need, alarms, world time etc with the added bonus that it will take everything you can throw at it along with 200m WR. When you compare to Breitling Aerospace, B50, B55’s, Omega X33’s etc it makes it very hard to rationalise choosing the latter models which cost so much more........ I think it would be interesting to compare the G-Shock with your Omega X33.