Welcome to Baselworld 2014. If you’re lost among the maze of glittering booths and lust-worthy watches, Casio‘s got you covered with the latest addition to their Pro Trek series of outdoor enthusiast watches. The new PRW6000Y is an update to the PRW5100 series of Pro Trek models that feature an analog-digital display as opposed to the full digital display seen on models like the PRW3000. With the expansive list of features that we’ve come to expect from Casio’s Pro Trek range, the PRW6000 has a focus on user experience and accessibility with a new dial layout and a trick crown that offers simplified control over its many features.

Being one of the flagship Pro Trek models, the PRW6000 gets all of the best bits from Casio. The movement is solar powered and features Multi-band 6 atomic timekeeping and Casio’s latest Triple Sensor V3. The Triple Sensor allows for the compass, altimeter and barometer we all expect on a Pro Trek, but this latest generation is considerably smaller and more efficient while offering the same measurement accuracy improvements we saw on the PRW3000. Along with a chronograph, timer, world time, and alarm, Casio has included an atmospheric pressure trend alarm that will notify the user of any drastic changes in barometric pressure, which would suggest the weather conditions will soon be changing.

The dial design is quite a departure from the PRW5100 series and it’s clear that Casio is working to make all of these many features more accessible and easier to use. Being an ani-digi style watch, the PRW6000 has a standard time display with a feature /mode sub-dial at ten o’clock. This sub dial is linked to a new crown design that allows the user the ability to manage features and data via the combination of a traditional Mode button (at eight o’clock) and a rotating crown that can be pressed like a button. With a small but legible reverse-style LCD at six on the dial, more intricate data is shown in conjunction to the main time display.

While we have yet to try this new control scheme in person, the PRW5000 series was a bit cumbersome to control in adverse conditions, often requiring many button presses to access a specific feature or bounce between two pieces of data (such as altitude and the chronograph). No word yet on specific sizing, color or strap options but we will update with more details as soon as possible. If this new system offers faster access with less of a learning curve, the PRW6000 should be worth every penny of it’s $600 USD list price, especially for those of us who spend a lot of time out in the woods chasing that next peak (or simply getting lost at watch shows). casio.com