The famous history of CASIO G-shock

Does anyone not know about CASIO G-SHOCK? Very seldom。 Is there any watch series that can sell 100 million? Yes, CASIO G-SHOCK. No more electronic watch can be seen as G-SHOCK, but the birth and fame of CASIO G-SHOCK is not a smooth sailing.

One day in 1981, known as the "G-SHOCK" father of Mr. Ibe Kikuxiong is only 28 years old, he was a staff member of CASIO, the R & D department at the time, he accidentally gave his watch, father broke when the college entrance examination is lost, so determined to create a never broken watch.

DW-5000C-1A (left) and DW-5000C-1B (right)

It's not easy. It's difficult for anyone to create a bad watch that can't be broken. The problem is that the transmission part and LCD of the watch core are extremely fragile, so we must solve the problem of earthquake prevention. G-SHOCK had set up three 10 goals: 10 years of service life, 10BAR's waterproof ability, and 10 meters of falling impact. Mr. Ibe Kikuxiong and his team spent more than two years doing more than 200 gravity tests and finally reached the "three 10" standard. In 1983, the first G-SHOCK was born, model DW-5000C.

CASIO advertising in 1984

Previous CASIO G-SHOCK ads

But in Japan in that time, it was a beautiful look of thin watch, and the thick, rough G-SHOCK was not popular. The change in G-SHOCK's fate is an advertisement in the United States. G-SHOCK became the iconic watch, we have to mention in the United States in 1984's first broadcast television advertising.

Advertisement screenshot

DW-5200C (the model of the watch in the AD)

In this 1984 ad, the ice hockey player replaced the ice hockey with G-SHOCK, and after such a violent hit, G-SHOCK was still working. After the broadcast, there was a lot of doubt, and many Americans doubted whether the watch was so strong in advertising. At that time, some popular TV programs in the US restored the advertising scenes even in television. The durability of G-SHOCK was tested by ice hockey stick, and the G-SHOCK that had been hit was intact. Plus the size of G-SHOCK is exactly the same with the needs of American men, so this watch is popular among outdoor enthusiasts, firefighters and policemen in the US.

The second turning point of the company was DW-5900C, which was released in 1990s. CASIO launched the first graphic display of G-SHOCK, watch time information with three circular windows design, breaking the traditional square liquid crystal design. The watch of this LCD is welcomed by the West Coast skateboard enthusiasts in the United States. At the same time, just in time, Japanese fashion magazines are introducing the latest street culture in the US. They see that the American tide people are wearing DW-5900C, and the young people in Japan are starting to follow suit. In addition, the famous music producers and action film actors were also wearing DW-5900C, which made the influence of G-SHOCK expanding rapidly among young people. G-SHOCK became the first digital watch pursued by young people.

Because the core users are young people, CASIO began to make G-SHOCK as much as possible and young people nowadays popular elements together, in addition to street culture, they began to appear in a large number of skiing, surfing, reggae and nightclubs and other consumption scenario. At the same time, G-SHOCK launched cooperation with environmental protection groups and sports organizations. During the period, it also sponsored the world's largest sports events, including football and sailing competitions. Through cross-border marketing, G-SHOCK has gradually become a brand of young people. But with the brand's emphasis on "fashion" instead of its core quality of "falling bad", people's aesthetic fatigue has been generated. After 1997, by the early 2000s, the sales volume of G-SHOCK began to decline.

Fortunately, the brand realized its misunderstanding in time. After considering it again and again, CASIO decided to go back to the origin of durability and enhance technology. After that, G-SHOCK joined the solar energy drive system and the six global radio reception. Time has proved that this decision is correct, even if the appearance of smart meters does not cause a great impact on G-SHOCK, let alone September 1, 2017, G-SHOCK has one hundred million shipments worldwide. In any case, the firmness is the soul of the G-SHOCK, and the fashion is just its style.

I wish you a merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!