In the year 2020, Casio celebrated the 38th anniversary of its G-Shock watch. The iconic timepiece’s story began in 1981 when Kikuo Ibe, engineer, and head of design, set out to create a watch that could withstand the shock of gravity and survive the “triple 10” test: a 10-meter drop, 10 atmospheres of water pressure, and with a 10-year battery life. After two years of drop-testing 200 mock-ups, Ibe’s team found success, and the G-Shock watch was born, the chunky, square digital DW-5200C model.
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The early G-Shock’s were more practical than pretty. Later, Casio collaborated with artists and fashion designers to create traditional round dials in attractive styles with luminescent hands and indices in many colorful options. But it would be the array of innovations that would keep the G-Shock’s popularity alive with features like solar-powered, radio-controlled atomic timekeeping, and ABC sensors (altimeter-barometer-compass). These timepieces turned into cool tool watches attracting police officers, firefighters, hikers, and others. Today, many of the G-Shock models have “gone back to square one.” If you’re ready to “be square,” check out our collection of the Best Square G-Shock Watches.
