G-SHOCK

An engineer, an accident, and a vision

Back in the day, watchmakers were in constant competition for the slimmest or most lightweight watch in the market. At that time, most people considered watches to be fragile instruments, including Casio’s then head of watch design, Kikuo Ibe.

One day, on his way to work, Kikuo Ibe accidentally dropped his precious watch that was given to him by his father. He watched it break into pieces and suddenly had a vision to build a watch that wouldn’t break –even when dropped. That day marked the beginning of the G-SHOCK story.

Never, never, never give up

The road to success turned out to be unimaginably difficult. Apart from protecting the exterior of the watch, Ibe and a team of three members, also had to figure out a way to protect the engine, or electronics of the timepiece, which would often break due to the drop. He could not find a way to absorb the shock and feared that the project would be a failure.