Tuesday, March 19, 2024

G-SHOCK

Born from a dream of “creating a watch that never breaks” in 1983, CASIO engineer Kikuo Ibe won the battle against the laws of nature. He designed a watch that would resist centifrugal and impact forces, as well as high water pressure. Since then, the name G-SHOCK has become a byword for independence and pushing the limits.

Heartbroken by a broken pocket watch given to him by his father, Mr. Ibe set about creating ‘the unbreakable watch based upon a triple 10 philosophy. It should be water resistant to 10bar, have a minimum 10 year battery life and most importantly, survive a minimum 10 metre drop. This new timepiece would go on to shatter the reputation of a watch as a fragile piece of jewellery.

It began with a reckless challenge  to the conventional wisdom of the day, a developer’s belief that  it was possible to construct a watch  that wouldn’t break, even if dropped, Project Team Tough was formed  to build it in 1981. The team created  over 200 prototypes  one after another over a period  of about two years. They finally arrived at  a shock-resistant structure. This marked  the birth of a technology  that is tough to the core. 

G-SHOCK on MrWatchMaster: