Alright folks, grab a drink, ’cause I’m gonna walk you through my whole time wrestling with this Casio DW6900NASA237. It’s been a ride, lemme tell ya.
First Look & Box Stuff
Popped open the box, and boom, that white and gray color hit me right away. Looks fresh, kinda spacey, you know? Plastic case feels solid in hand, good heft to it. Didn’t fuss with any fancy extras, just the watch, manual, and that warranty card nobody reads. Slammed the battery in – CR2016, same as half my other Casios – slid the case back shut. Easy enough.
Threw it on my wrist. Felt comfortable, not too bulky, sits nice. Screen clarity looked good right out the gate.
The Button Masher Phase
Here’s where the fun started. You know me, manuals are for later. Just started punching buttons, see what happens.
- Mode Button: Bashed this one first. Cycles through the usual: time, stopwatch, countdown timer, world time, alarms. Standard G-Shock setup. No surprises.
- Start/Stop Button (Right Top): Hammered this expecting stopwatch action, obviously. Worked fine. Start, stop, lap. Felt clicky, responsive.
- Light Button (Left Top): This was the BIG NASA surprise. Pressed it once for the light – bright blue LED lights up the whole display, perfect for my pre-dawn runs. Cool. But wait, there’s more! Held this sucker down for a sec… BOOM! Whole EL backlight glows that deep orange-gold color NASA’s known for. It looked slick. Genuine “whoa” moment. Seriously cool touch.
- Find Button (Right Bottom): Didn’t even know I needed this. Messing around, pressed it. Watch beeped and flashed the light! Actually handy when you toss the watch on a dark nightstand.
Digging Deeper: The NASA Bits
Okay, after the button chaos, I actually cracked the manual. Wanted the full NASA experience.
- Moon Phase Thingy: This one’s neat. Went into the settings (took some fiddling), set my location and date. Now, holding down that bottom-left ‘Adjust’ button cycles through the moon phases. Shows the moon phase right on the digital screen – waning crescent, full moon, whatever it is. Not crucial daily, but a legit fun nod to spaceflight planning. Astronauts used Casios for stuff like this, apparently! History right there.
- Ocean Stuff (Tides): Honestly? Got a bit lost with this. Messed with the tide pattern settings (‘DIFF’ or ‘SAME’), entered a moon age… saw some numbers shift on the world time screen. Gets complex. If you live near the beach, maybe gold. For me, landlocked, it’s more a ‘hey, this exists’ feature.
Daily Grind Test
Wore it everywhere for two weeks straight.
- Tough as Nails: Smacked it hard against a doorframe getting groceries. Absolutely nothing. Still works perfect. G-Shock build is just legendary.
- Battery Champ: Used that sexy backlight a lot. Battery indicator hasn’t budged. Solar cells doing their thing like silent heroes.
- Comfort: Completely forgot I was wearing it sometimes. That resin strap breathes well and doesn’t rub.
- Annoyances: Okay, gotta be real. Those buttons are SMALL, especially the bottom two. Big fingers? Prepare for some clumsy pressing. Also, that orange NASA font on the strap? Gets dirty looking real fast. Minor gripe.
The Why Everyone Loves It Moment
It clicked one night. Walking home, everything dark. Pulled the watch up, pressed the light button. That warm NASA glow lit up the screen… and it just hit me. This thing perfectly mixes that classic G-Shock toughness – the one everyone trusts – with legit, usable NASA history and style without being tacky. It’s not just a watch. It’s a tough tool and a conversation piece that actually does special stuff. That combo? Killer. That’s why folks go nuts for it.
Bottom Line
So yeah, putting it through its paces… it lived up to the hype for me. Took a beating, showed off those NASA smarts (love the backlight!), kept time perfectly. Yeah, tiny buttons can be fiddly, but the mix of heritage, built-to-last quality, and genuinely cool spacey features? Total home run. Get it while you can, these NASA editions tend to vanish. You’ll dig it.
