Casio

G-Shock Watches

This is the original concept of the G-shock line： A ultimate watch with 10 years of battery life,10-bar water resistance, and 10-meter free-fall endurance.

The 3 featuring concept was combined and named “Triple TEN”.

The very first model DW-5000C came along with the triple Ten technique, was tough enough to play as the Hockey puck in Hockey game in its advertisement. It was not false adverting. Lots of people did a test on it, tried to break this so-called wrecking-free watch to check whether it was as tough and durable as advertised, shockingly and amazingly found that it was true.

It was a great shot to G-shock, yet the project team has never been satisfied, they keep improving the watch tougher.

The DW-5000C with a Hollow structure that allows the module to float, and protected the interior with cushioning material, makes the device withstand impact when dropped.

In the 80s, G-shocks keep developing the resin case, by reinforcing the resin case or launched colorful resin case, even the mix-color.

In the 90s, the first metal G-shock watch is released, still provide good performance without fatiguing the toughness and duration.

And, in 2017, the whole new case material carbon even offering the ultimate lightness with the toughness.

G-shock even evolved the triple ten to the next stage, which was called triple G resist in 2012. The new triple G resist featuring 3 ability of resistance, the core technology of resisting the dropping shocks got a perpetual evolution, now it could perfectly resist the vibrations, and centrifugal gravity as well.

The vibration resistance is tested for approximately 10 hours under oscillation conditions, reaching amplitudes up to 20mm, 20G acceleration, and frequencies up to 1000Hz.

The centrifugal gravity resistance specifications significantly surpass 15G, the maximum level required of cockpit instruments by the continuous acceleration test standards for aircraft equipment (ISO 2669).

G-shock always provides the tough watch more than you thought.

In 2019, the first G-shock model DW-5000C has been added as a future technology heritage to the register of essential historical materials for science and technology by the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo. The future technology heritage program is to encourage the preservation and use of materials on the history of science of technology. The material is chosen for the reason that having made an important historical contribution to the advancement of science and technology, and for having a significant economic, social, and cultural impact. 

The DW-5000C was recognized as having significantly changed the value proposition of wristwatches. In other words, it led the wristwatches to a new generation. Wearing a G-shock is not just for practical use, but also showing an innovative lifestyle.

G-shock not just focus on the toughness of the watch, it values the user experience even more. The team never stops adding any function that would make the user more convenient and comfortable.

In 2005, the Solar-powered system was added to the G-shock line, converting light into ample electric power, eliminate the bother of periodic battery replacement.

The radio-Controlled reception function could provide an automatic Time correcting, keeping the accurate time anywhere.

Sports functions even make it more functional and safety during the activity.

G-shock never forgets how technology changes the world, the BLUETOOTH communication could let the watch connect to the smartphone, being managed by smartphone app. Makes daily life more convenient than ever.

What G-shock would like to provide to the user is always more than the user thought.

G-Shock is actually an abbreviation for "Gravitational Shock", a phenomenon resulting from the curvature of spacetime, which means that the spacetime will be twisted because of gravity.

The noun perfectly revealing the core concept of the G-shock series. The series creator Kikuo Ibe had a deflated experience, in 1981, he accidentally breaking the gift watch given to him by his father during his work. Since that, Ibe has dedicated himself to invent a watch that could be "Broken-free" so that even the fireman or soldier could feel free to wear it without worry about any damage that comes from their daily activity or work.

But the challenge is way more difficult than he thought, they tested nearly 200 prototypes but none of them could achieve the conception criteria, till one day, seeing the children paying the rubber ball in the playground, an idea popped up in Ibe’s mind ── “What if we put the watch into the rubber ball? It might prevent the watch from suffering the shock. “.   

And there it was, in 1983, Casio finally launched the first G-Shock watch, by featuring the “durable” and “ tough”, it received critical acclaim wildly in a short time, especially among the male customers.

Nowadays, G-shock is still one of the favorites of outdoor enthusiasts.

“To make a timepiece that will not break” The simple and clear idea comes from the CASIO engineer, Kikuo Ibe.

And that was where the story of G-shock began.

In 1981, Ibe accidentally dropped his watch and broken it during his working hours. It was a present given by his father, at the same time while he felt heartbroken, the idea of making an unbreakable watch popping into his mind.

It was an incredible idea at the time. Even nowadays, timepieces are still considered delicate precision instruments, it is quite natural that they shall break when dropping to the floor.

The concept of a tough watch seemed nonsense. Nevertheless, Ibe submitted the proposal to the CASIO, and it was approved.

The idea was simple, however, hard to achieve.

The project team focused on the case material and design initially. After countless tested out and failed, the team was frustrated facing the fact that none of their ideas was good enough to make a real unbreakable watch, no matter how much shock-absorbent material they adhered to the case exterior, the watch would still break. 

Furthermore, the more shock-absorbent material was adhering to it, the large size the watch became.

The team finally solved the problem by protected the watch center with five shock-absorbent cushioning materials. But this 5-step shock-absorbent structure just solved the very first task of the saga.

The soon-arising problem was the electronic parts of the watch, the structure failed to prevent the electronic parts from damage. Ibe’s team got into the problem, soon, they found that it was a vicious cycle, just like a seesaw, strengthening one broken part always led to the breakage of another.

The project got into a dead-end. And, the miracle just happened in this limbo, one day,  during the break in the park, when depressingly thinking about how to fix the problem,  Ibe saw some children played rubber ball in front of him.

“ What if to attached the watch to that ball?”

A sudden thought came up in his mind, seems the center of the ball could endure severe shocks. And there is was, following this idea, the project team eventually overcome the obstacle, in 1983, the first model of G-shock, DW-5000C was brought to the world.

Then, G-shock started its way of changing the concept of a timepiece.