Have I bought a fake?

[Sterillium]

Hi all...

I will try to add photos to this thread at some point, as it might not be much good without them, but, for the knowledgeable horologists amongst you, a little help please:

Last week a I bought a new G-Shock watch, to replace the one I have worn daily for about five years. I find them to be great as super-tough daily watches, happy to be battered, abused, bumped about and covered in all manner of substances without ever needing more than a good scrub.

My previous one was a G314-RL - black, simple, did the job. In fact I only replaced it because it ran out of battery and I noticed the strap was beginning to split (I may now simply replace the strap and continue!).

The one I bought last week was GA-100-1A1ER - I chose this because it is big and chunky, also in plain black, I thought a bigger watch would suit my wrist even more.

Now I only paid £60, with a RRP of £110 popping up in various places, so I thought I'd got an OK price for what I assumed would be a bigger, chunkier version of my trusty old G314-RL. But almost as soon as I got it out of the tin, it felt a bit odd.

It's very light, feels very plasticy (I mean I KNOW it's plastic!) and kind of cheap. The strap is just plastic / rubber (none of the layered flexible material like the old one) and the light, instead of lighting up the face, is a little orange light that hardly allows the face to be seen in the dark!

Have I picked a light, plasticy model or are G-Shocks just not as robust now?

Or is it a fake?

It has the tin, the warranty card, the back of the watch is all inscribed the same as the G314-RL is, which I know was genuine.

Maybe they just don't make things like they used to?

[Sterillium]

An eBay watches "PowerSeller" - so lots of feedback and lots of happy customers, had I bought it from a market stall I'd be more inclined to expect a fake!

[Mikebentley]

I have almost identical model, mine has red on face.Light is a little orange glow. They are not as heavy as you might expect. I paid £59.99 about 6 years ago. Fingers crossed it is probably real. PS mine has taken loads of stick and looks like new..and still original battery

[Mikeyjae]

I have the same watch but red and black and I can confirm the backlight is useless. I also payed roughly around the £60 mark. Cant help with yours without pictures but at least you know the back light is useless.

[Sterillium]

Sounds like they're lighter and less solid than they used to be... The "backlight" isn't even a backlight on mine, it's just an orange light in the face (not very useful) but I think we are describing the same thing.

If it takes half as much punishment as my last one, I'll be happy.

[Mikeyjae]

I have used mine daily at work for about a year and not a single scratch. Its robust enough and I knock it daily against metal and rubber materials.