Atomic G-Shocks
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Atomic G-Shock is a shorthand term for radio-controlled (wave ceptor®) watches of the G-Shock® watch series manufactured by Casio. G-Shock and wave ceptor are trademarks of Casio.
[edit] Description
G-Shock wave ceptor watches are similar to other watches of the G-Shock line, except that they are able to reset themselves to the correct time by receiving time signals from various government time services around the world. These signals are normally driven directly by ultra-accurate atomic clocks, and so by synchronizing with the signals, the Atomic G-Shock watches achieve unparalleled long-term accuracy (the same accuracy as the atomic clocks that drive the time signals, which is on the order of one second in three million years).
The Atomic G-Shock watches are not the only radio-controlled wristwatches on the market; other Casio watches (all of the wave ceptor watches) and many watches from the German manufacturer Junghans also have this feature. Like most radio-controlled watches, the Atomic G-Shock watches require no setting or resetting of time, date, daylight saving time, or year; and like most other watches of this kind, they synchronize at least every 24 hours, usually in the middle of the night. Their long-term and short-term accuracy is thus better than 500 ms.
A weakness shared by the Atomic G-Shock watches with other radio-controlled watches is that they revert to merely "normal" (free-running) quartz accuracy in areas out of range or shielded from time setting signals. The time setting signals usually come from radio emitting towers. However, they are still as accurate as other quartz watches in this mode.
The receivers to which the watches can tune themselves vary by watch submodel. For example, in Europe, the watches will tune to DCF77 in Germany, or MSF in the United Kingdom. In the United States, they will tune to WWVB.
