Casio G-Shock

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Astronaut Thomas Reiter with a G-Shock DW-5900 on the ISS space station

Since 1983 , the Japanese electronics group Casio has been selling wristwatches under the name G-Shock , the construction of which makes them particularly robust against vibrations of any kind. The name "G-Shock" is an acronym and stands for Gravitational Shock (gravity shock or impact).

History of the G-Shock

In 1981, the electrical engineer Kikuo Ibe was commissioned by the then Casio management to form a project team to construct a digital clock based on the Triple 10 concept. With the Triple 10 concept, Casio wanted to bring a new digital watch onto the market that had the following features at a retail price of less than 50 US dollars :

  • Battery life of at least 10 years
  • Water resistance up to 10 bar water pressure
  • Impact resistance from a height of 10 meters

These three core properties should have a G-Shock in the early 1980s . Various test watches have been tested for two years and subjected to extreme material loads. But Kikuo Ibe wasn't really satisfied. Casio's quartz technology at the time was so sensitive that most of the prototypes did not survive the research phase. At that time, during a lunch break, Ibe observed children playing with a rubber ball in the city ​​park of Shibuya ( Tokyo ) and realized:

"The inside of a bouncing rubber ball remains completely unaffected by the impact."

- Kikuo Ibe, Casio engineer
Casio G-Shock GMW-B5000D-1ER stainless steel

This observation led Kikuo Ibe to develop a wristwatch with a hollow construction, in which the digital movement inside the clock is almost floating. This prototype has withstood all test series and was approved for mass production by the Casio management under the model name: DW-5000C. Casio's first ever G-Shock, the DW-5000C, hit the market in April 1983, priced at $ 49.99. The first G-Shock models were all square and had beveled corners (square bezels). As with today's models, the screw back was made of stainless steel and was 100% waterproof. The connections on the housing were still 18 mm wide, today they are 16 mm wide.

Well-preserved original DW-5000C models from 1983 are now traded at watch auctions between € 500 and € 5,000 (depending on the state of preservation).

Functions

In addition to the pure time display, the watches have several standard functions that are present in every G-Shock. Typically these are:

Some G-Shock models also show the moon phase ; the state of the tides and the respective summer or winter time automatically. Various G-Shock watches also have a digital compass, altimeter and air pressure meter, as well as a temperature display. Other special features of the model are the power supply from solar cells and the reception of radio and / or GPS signals . The high resistance to environmental influences such as Heat, cold, sweat and dust have made the G-Shock a popular outdoor watch for leisure activities today.

All Casio G-Shocks are waterproof to a depth of 200 meters . The clocks are tested up to 20 bar, which corresponds to the pressure of an assumed water column of 200 meters. Watches in this group are suitable , for example, for device-independent apnea diving .

Market leader for outdoor watches

In 2017, Casio announced in an official press release that the 100,000,000 G-Shock wristwatch was produced by Casio in August 2017. This makes Casio the market leader for outdoor watches today (2019).

Web links

Commons : Casio G-Shock  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgQqJamOpOk
  2. ↑ https://www.todayonline.com/lifestyle/style/casio-g-shocks-kikuo-ibe-never-imagined-it-would-all-take
  3. ↑ http://www.gsking.net/uebersicht-modell-geschichte-der-g-shock-dw-5000er-screwback-serie-1-generation/
  4. ↑ https://www.g-shock.eu/de/story/#philosophie
  5. ↑ https://www.watchtime.net/uhren-klassiker/casio-g-shock-alles-ueber-die-robuste-quarzuhr/
  6. ↑ https://www.casio-europe.com/de/news/2017/2848_casio-100-millionste-g-shock-ausgelütung/