Casio Wave Ceptor (WVQ-570DBE-1AVER) Radio Set Watch
In this review I will be looking at the WVQ-570DBE-1AVER from the Casio Wave Ceptor range. Alas Casio have neglected to give any of their extensive watch range catchy monikers so I will simply refer to WVQ-570DBE-1AVER as the Casio Wave Ceptor henceforth.
I’ve always had trouble with gadgets as ostensibly simple as watches, their limited complexity is always shown in dials that often carry no meaning for me and my basic understanding of timepieces. I still cling to digital clocks as my island of hope amid waves of confusing spinning dials and tiny pointing needles, in fact I have always had trouble interpreting analogue clock faces at a glance due to my blunt refusal to deal readily with a technology that’s so quaint and obsolete that it has only been kept alive as a historical curiosity and fashion accessory; in the same way that horse drawn carts, whilst clearly rendered obsolete by automobiles, are still owned and operated today.
This doesn’t change the fact that watches, even in the days of ubiquitous mobile phones all bearing digital time keeping, are a prevalent fashion accessory worn by almost everyone, collected obsessively by many and come in a mind-boggling range of styles and designs. Thus, I have resolved myself to bring coverage of these curious devices to Gadgetoid.
The WVQ-570DBE-1AVER, ahem also known as the Casio Wave Ceptor, will be the first such product to be reviewed on Gadgetoid. It’ll either be the bottle that launches the ship or the iceberg that sinks it. Let’s find out which.
Now, my inability to readily read analogue watches has often lead to an inability to set them. Perhaps the task of setting an analogue watch is so absurdly simple that it flies under my geek radar or maybe I simply don’t have the nails to pull out those tiny little dials one has to twist to accelerate the hands into the correct position. Either way, this problem is completely moot with the Casio Wave Ceptor. This particular watch, like many others, is born knowing what time it is and will, under the right conditions, always know what time it is provided it’s not permanently inside a building, in a vehicle, near high electrical interference causing equipment or otherwise unable to receive the radio time signal broadcast from Rugby, England and the equally obscure Mainflingen, Germany.
It’s a solidly built, good looking watch as far as watches go but my obsession with minimalism and Apple-like simplicity makes me shy away from it and favour, instead, the refined designs of unobtainably expensive brands such as Rado. However, for it’s price the Wave Ceptor is an impressively styled piece of kit that doesn’t shy away from the traditional compliment of dials you will find on watches the world over.
Alongside it’s classic ability to tell the time the Wave Ceptor boasts a 60 minute and 1/20th section stopwatch dial and 24-hour timekeeping. The stopwatch includes a “Velocity Indicator” which calculates speed over a pre-programmed distance, so if you’re running a 100 meter sprint you can time yourself and then quickly work out your speed without needing to do any speed=distance/time maths. It would have been far more impressive if the Wave Ceptor had a Wii-like accelerometer built in that actually automatically determined your speed in real time but I don’t think we’re quite at that level of miniaturisation yet.
Overall the Wave Ceptor is a fairly generic watch that’s enhanced with automatic timekeeping and an array of simply but handy features and dials. It’s probably still more likely to sell on looks and price alone as its motor-sports inspired face design might set it apart from multi-dial competitors for the most discerning of customers.