The DW-5600E is the longest-selling G-Shock and a direct heir to the original G-Shock from 1983. The 5600 series was introduced in 1987, and in 1996, it was upgraded with an electroluminescent backlight, hence the E. Contrary to what you would expect from such a legacy model, it's also the cheapest one available.
The DW-5600E is the first watch by any company to survive the Guinness World Record test of driving a 24.97-tonne truck over the watch. It has the basic functions you would expect from G-Shocks and, surprisingly, one of the more comprehensive alarms of the bunch. If you don't need World Time, Bluetooth connection, or tide graphs, this is probably the watch for you.
Features
These are features that may require clarification and may not be found on all models:
Actual glass with heat treatment to prevent scratches. All G-Shocks have at least a mineral glass; the more expensive ones have a sapphire layer on top of it.
The timer can be set with 1-second increments for up to 24 hours.
Stopwatch with 1/100th precision to 60 minutes and 1-second precision to 24 hours. Displays elapsed time and can be toggled for split times and 1st and 2nd places.
The split time in Casio watches means freezing the elapsed time on the screen while the stopwatch keeps running in the background. E.G. if you run 1:36 laps with a steady pace, your first split time will be 1:36, the second one 3:12, then 4:48, and so on.
You can set hourly time signals on or off, and the watch has a multitude of alarms: daily alarm, daily alarm for one month, alarm at a specified date, and a monthly alarm. You can enable a flash alert to blink the backlight independently of the beeps.
You don't have to check the date setting of this watch each month: leap years, Februaries, and Biblical events are covered for a very long time – automagically.
The electroluminescent blue-green backlight is an upgrade over the original dim LED backlights. Fixed afterglow at 3 seconds. Higher-end models of today have something they call the Super Illuminati.