Casio G-Shock DW-5600E DW-5600E-1VER«El cuadrado (The Square)»

The storyWhy this reference matters

The brief Kikuo Ibe set himself at Casio came down to three tens: ten years of battery, ten bar of water resistance and surviving a ten-metre fall. It took him more than two hundred prototypes to get there, and the result was the DW-5000C of 1983, the first G-Shock, with an inner steel case and a screw-down back. The square shape, with the display sunk behind a resin bezel, was born there and hasn't moved since.

The 5600 arrived in 1987 and changed the recipe: a metal back held by four screws instead of a thread, cheaper to make, and the first G-Shocks that weren't black. Casio America asked for the yellow because it was the colour sports cars were wearing at the time. Those screwbacks were built until 1992 in nine versions, and they're the ones collectors chase today. The DW-5600E is their grandchild, from 1996: same silhouette, an all-resin case, a press-fit back and not one extra.

What's interesting about the DW-5600E is that outside it hasn't changed and inside it has, three times over. The original 1545 module had its calendar capped at 31 December 2039 and an electroluminescent light. In 2011 the 3229 came in, with a calendar out to 2099 and ±15 seconds a month. And in 2023 came the 3525, which swaps the EL panel for a Super Illuminator LED, adds Flash Alert and stretches the battery to around five years. The same watch in the display case, a different watch when you light it up at night.

SpecificationsThe numbers, in one table

IdentificationHow to tell it apart

The E is the key: it's the entry version of the square, all resin with a press-fit back. If the back screws down and there's an inner steel case, you have a DW-5000; if the display carries a solar panel and a radio aerial, it's a GW-M5610; if the whole case is steel, a GMW-B5000. The DW-5600E has no solar, no radio and no Bluetooth: stopwatch, countdown, alarm, light and auto calendar. End of list.

The final suffix only tells you the market. DW-5600E-1VER is the one sold in Europe, DW-5600E-1V is the export version, and there are -1DR, -1CR and Japanese variants. The watch is physically identical: what changes is the cardboard box, the language of the manual and the warranty territory. Don't pay extra for a handful of letters.

To find out which module you have, press the light. If the whole display glows in that even greenish-blue, it's an electroluminescent panel, so 1545 or 3229. If the light is white and the display flashes when the alarm sounds (Flash Alert), it's the 3525 from 2023. And there's a definitive test for the oldest module: try setting a date beyond 2039. If it won't let you past, you have a 1545.

CollectingWhat collectors check

You don't buy a DW-5600E for what it will be worth, but for what it takes. What ages is the resin: the strap splits at the buckle holes and next to the lugs, and the bezel turns ash-grey in the sun. Both are official spares and both take ten minutes to change at home. Look at the four case back screws as well: rounded or stripped heads mean somebody went in with brute force.

The display is the weak point on old squares. An LCD with dead segments or dark patches almost never gets fixed, and the elastomeric connector between module and screen degrades over the years. Run through every mode before you pay. If it's a used one you plan to get wet, fit a new gasket to the back: those 200 metres depend on that rubber ring, not on the plastic around it.

The real collecting is somewhere else: in the DW-5600C screwbacks of 1987 to 1992, and in the collaborations, which is where the square actually moves on price. The DW-5600E is the base that hundreds of colour editions have been built on, and that is exactly its job. It's the watch you put on when you don't want to think about the watch.

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