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: