Those who collect G-Shocks know that the number of individual models produced is mind boggling. As a collector, it seems that I am constantly uncovering new models in my daily searches. Most of the time when I see something new, I check out the model for distinctive features. Obviously you can’t buy them all so essentially, once I spot a new one, I’ll just file its existence away in my watch collecting conscience. Every once in a awhile though, a new discovery will trip the aquisition reflex, and my recent discovery of this “Dogtown” model on Yahoo! Japan did just that.

In my younger years back in the ’70s and ’80s I was an avid skateboarder. Any skater back then, knew what Dogtown was and what it represented. Dogtown was a surfer/skateboarder derived nickname for Santa Monica, California and the surrounding Venice/Ocean Park areas. This region was inhabited by a unique group of kids that created an informal gang of what turned out to be the most famous and influential people in skateboarding history.

Picture of author circa 1981

The Dogtown, or Z-Boys (called this because of their association with Zephyr skateboards) were known for a very raw aggressive style in both their skating and lifestyles. Being rabid surfers, they looked for ways to duplicate the surfing experience using concrete and skateboards. They transformed the sport from a street and hill experience to one where skateboarders were riding in drainage ditches, pipes, pools and vertically sloped ramps.

For a while, it seemed as if every successive issue of Skateboarder magazine contained crazy pictures of the Dogtown boys pulling off increasingly more radical moves while redefining the sport and its direction. Being an East coaster and so far from “the action” in California, the Dogtown boys seemed like bigger than life superstars to a young kid living on the wrong coast 3,000 miles away.

As they became established, many of the boys were able to build on the Dogtown mystique and went on to create their own succesful skateboard companies before the skate boom of that period faded. The products from those days have become sought after collectibles for old skaters such as myself. Today, it is not uncommon for good examples of vintage Zephyr, Dogtown or Alva skateboards (Tony Alva was perhaps the most famous Dogtown skater) to command prices into the four figure ranges on eBay.

The mystique has also gone mainstream. In 2001, one of the original Z-Boys, Stacy Peralta, created an award-winning film documentary about Dogtown. Narrated by Sean Penn, the movie introduced the Dogtown Phenomenon to the non skateboarding world. The film sparked a newfound interest with the general public about the Dogtown history and skateboarding in general. For more information, click here.

Having a long history sponsoring skateboarders and extreme sports, it was natural that Casio produce a special Dogtown DW-9000M-8T G-Shock watch. From what I have been able to find, this model was released in 1999 as part of a Street Arts Series along with at least one other model; an Eric Haze (artist) designed DW-6900M-9T. Both these Street Arts models are distinguished by their “silver metallic” finishes and model specific artwork. For this review, I will concentrate on the Dogtown G-Shock.

The Dogtown DW-9000 is differentiated from a standard DW-9000 through the packaging and watch cosmetics. The box is a generic Casio G style imprinted with the classic Dogtown cross and DTS (Dog Town Skates) logos printed in red.

The most obvious characteristic of the Dogtown DW-9000 is the silver case and band. While some Casio silver G-Shock finishes can mimic stainless steel remarkably well;

Picture of DW-5000

with this model, the silver leans towards a glittery rather than stainless steel look. Like the box, the band is imprinted with the Dogtown and DTS logos.

When we get to the watch head itself, we see some neat stuff. I tried very hard to photograph the unique aspects of the display on this model, but for the most part, I’ve been unsuccessful.

Instead of the standard grey that you often see with Gs, the background of the LCD screen on this model is actually finished like a brightly polished mirror. This display is so bright that you can actually see yourself reflected off the display. I’ve never seen this on a G-Shock until now. Unfortunately, this mirrored appearance makes it very difficult to read the time outside in the sunlight. If you are not careful, you’ll get a blinding flash of sun in your eyes as you turn the watch towards your eyes to read the time.

In looking at the display characters, I discovered another exclusive feature of this model. The numbers, while appearing black in most environments, will actually turn a bright shade of forest green when exposed to bright light. It’s a neat effect and you can see a bit of it in my first picture.

The last aspect of the Dogtown G is the caseback engraving. The back is printed with a special logo specific to the Street Arts Series. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what the logo represents nor who designed it. If someone knows more, please contact us at GMT+9.

I’ve come across a few ex-skateboarders in watch collecting circles over the past few years and I hope some will see and appreciate this article. Hopefully upon seeing it, they’ll both smile and remember some good times, much as I did upon discovering the Dogtown G.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 15th, 2007 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Casio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.