The History of Casio Watches

Helmets on for this crash course in the history of Casio watches. Chances are, you’re going to learn quite a bit!

Casio is one of the most (if not the most) famous watch manufacturers on the market. The company promises affordable prices and high-tech designs. 

In fact, I’d say that if you haven’t heard of Casio, you must have been hiding under a rock. Chances are, though, you’re more than acquainted with the brand. 

You may even own a couple of watches this world-renowned Japanese giant made. But do you know enough about the history of the company?  

Got a spare five minutes? Grab a coffee and kick back while we revisit some of Casio’s milestone moments.

Casio’s First Revelation — The Casiotron 1974

We’ll start at the beginning. Pocket watches were already a popular option during the 19th century. Associated with power and success, only the wealthy enjoyed them. 

By the point at which WWI soldiers realized that consulting their pocket watch with a grenade in their hand could be deadly, the wristwatch came along. It proved much easier to time critical exercises than a pocket watch. 

Soon, the wristwatch became mass-produced.  

The next big leap marked the arrival of the quartz watch, where Casio comes into the story. 

Casio opened its doors in 1946 but only began manufacturing watches in the 1970s. Before that, electronic calculators were its field of expertise. These, along with other electrical products, led to the production of its technical-looking wristwatches.

The release of Casio’s Casiotron watch in 1974 deserves some acknowledgment. It was a truly ground-breaking revelation. It was one of the world’s first electronic watches, featuring a calendar that adjusted to longer and shorter months automatically. 

The Casiotron was compact, trendy, and reliable. Two years later, the brand released the X-1 with a stopwatch and World Time functions. Today, we take these features for granted, but at the time, they were revolutionary.

The Arrival of the G-Shock — 1983

The Casio G-Shock sent shock waves through the industry, literally! It became the precursor to the robust digital wristwatches we all know and love today, arriving in 1983. 

The famous G-Shock range was rugged on the outside yet technically refined on the inside. Casio did for the watch industry what GoPro did for cameras. It wrote over the public’s perception of a watch (delicate and fragile) and created a revolutionary, robust design. 

Brutal shock impact tests put the G-Shock to the test. They were dropped from helicopters, crushed inside cars, and whacked with hockey sticks! Guess what? They survived!

History of G-Shock Watches

G-Shock watches by Casio are not just some of the toughest watches on the planet. Collectors collect them and respect them for what they are — near-on indestructible tools for every eventuality! 

The brand’s head of creative design, Kikuo Ibe, birthed the legendary G-Shock concept. He pulled a project team together to accomplish the “triple ten” criteria. 

This “Team Tough” group of experts had to find a way to make a watch resistant to 10-meter drops. The watch also needed to withstand 10 atmospheres of water pressure and deliver 10 years of battery life.

The arrival of the fort model took two long years of research and experimentation. However, the Casio G-Shock DW 5000C, although groundbreaking, brought with it some issues. 200 prototypes had been and gone, and the G-Shock was still miles away from where Casio wanted it to be. 

Still, its hard-to-break design was resistant to shocks and vibration, as well as reinforced with a urethane bezel.

Casio doubled down on the G-Shock’s ability to survive heat, shock, and water immersion. 

Hockey players and skateboarders soon heard of the G-Shock via the brand’s advertising efforts. Casio also began developing systems to negate battery replacements and refine time-adjusting features for time-zone hopping.  

The Evolution of the Casio G-Shock  

In 2000, a built-in antenna made it possible for the G-Shock to receive radio signals. Then, popular models like the G-Shock GB-6900 offered the first Bluetooth connectivity in 2012. It made it possible for wearers to connect their watches with their smartphones to receive messages. 

The G-Shock series blossomed into one of the biggest designs on the market. Military personnel, successful athletes, and extreme adventurers still swear by the watch and its innate toughness.  

In 2017, the G-Shock reached its 100 million units milestone.

There is now a dizzying array of G-Shock watches on offer, from fan favorites like the 6900 series to the dive-ready Frogman. 

Today, collectors seek out models from the high-end MT-G and MR-G collections. The series also stretches to solar-charging variants and atomic timekeeping models like the Multi-band 6.  

The Casio F-91W — 1989

While all the hype seemed to surround the G-Shock and its near-on indestructible design, Casio was continuing to innovate materials. The brand released its first resin watch just three years after the launch of the Casiotron. 

In 1989, the brand released the F-91W. It became the most-sold watch throughout the entire world. In fact, it continues to be Casio’s most popular watch of all time. The production rate of the F-91W stands at around 3 million units per year!  

Not only is the Casio F-91W incredibly affordable, but it also offers a set of superb baseline features for its price point. It shares some of these features with other modes, like the F-84W. 

On top of that, the watch is lightweight, durable, made from resin, and has an accuracy of +1 / – 1 seconds per day. Wearers can also expect its battery life to last up to 7 years.  

The Baby-G Watch Lands – 1994

While the G-Shock remained the go-to watch for outdoor pursuits and extreme challenges, the Baby-G became a fashion icon. The women’s G-Shock was incredibly precise and had a memorable design.

It arrived in the 1990s and, as an icon of punchy digital timekeeping, soon gained celebrity status.  

The likes of Rihanna and Lady Gaga have put the Baby-G under the spotlight. If nothing else, they constitute an eye-catching 90s-inspired statement piece for modern enthusiasts. 

Today, these chunky, bold, and creative designs are a nostalgic nod to the past. Casio pursued every color and collaboration possible to promote the Baby-G back in the day. As a result, there is now a design and style to suit everyone.

Still, one thing holds modern male consumers back from bringing the Baby-G into their collections. The population still associates the watch with a female demographic.  

Even so, a shift in the market has seen us turn our attention to smaller-sized models over recent years. Could this mark the turning point for men to embrace the Baby-G design?

The Adventurer’s Watch: The Pro Trek —1995

In 1995, Casio released its Pro Trek watch. While the G-Shock’s design protected against extreme shock impact, the Pro Trek was the adventurer’s tool watch. 

It was perfect for campers, hikers, and outdoor explorers thanks to its well-rounded, robust design.  

Since 2013, the Pro Trek has benefitted from the triple sensor feature. It detects heat, direction, and pressure. The watch also offers features like a barometer, thermometer, compass, and altimeter. 

When out exploring, the Pro Trek enables you to check weather trends, altitude differences, moon phases, and flood times. In fact, there’s not much it can’t do! 

Top-of-the-line models today include the ref WSD-F21HR.

The Edifice Arrives — 2000

With the G-Shock almost becoming a brand of its own, Casio turned its attention to a new and exciting line of watches. The first Casio Edifice arrived in 2000 and soon became the watch of choice for professionals. 

The Casio Edifice became popular for combining a sporty design with the robustness of the G-Shock and state-of-the-art technology. 

Each design from the Edifice collection has a screw-down stainless steel caseback and a 100-meter water-resistant capability. On top of that, they feature mineral glass fronts and a choice between an analog or digital display.

Over the years, the series has evolved drastically.  Chronographs, which made up the vast majority of the range, joined solar-powered models. 

Others offer Bluetooth connectivity that enables the wearer to connect to a smartphone. 

In the beginning, this feature would allow the wearer to store telephone numbers from their mobile phone. 

Today, the limits are boundless. Casio integrates multiple alarms, second time zones, and Phone Finder features, amongst others, into the Smartphone Link Series.  

Casio’s First Solar-Powered Wristwatch Technology, the WVA-300 — 2001

The arrival of the Casio WVA-300 watches improved basic watch performance drastically. It was the first worldwide watch to be able to sync itself to the correct time using radio signals automatically. 

Wearers could know the exact time wherever they were. They also never needed to adjust it manually and didn’t need to think about battery replacements.  

Ever since then, Casio has been refining its radio-controlled watches. The G launched not long after. It was the G-Shock’s version of a radio-controlled watch. Following that was the world’s premier Multi-Band 6 radio wave receiver, launching in 2008.

The Casio G-Shock GPW With Time Acquisition System — 2014

Casio’s determination to offer its wearers a wristwatch that could rely solely on radio-controlled signals in all situations continued. 

The GPW-1000 answered that need. It was the first to feature a hybrid acquisition system that synced Multi-Band 6 and GPS satellites together. What that means in English is that it could provide the exact time, even in the harshest of conditions.

Enthusiasts could wear the Casio GPW-1000 anywhere in the world, even when out of reach of terrestrial time signals. 

Its heigh-precision map data, built into the watch, could seek out a time zone instantly. It improved what the PRT-1GPJ could offer (Casio’s first watch with an in-built GPS function) by miles.

Casio’s First Smart Outdoor Watch WSD-F10 – 2016

The launch of Casio’s WSD-F10 watch in 2016 was a great accomplishment. Not only water resistant, it met U.S Military procurement standards. It came equipped with apps that were useful for hiking, trekking, mountaineering, cycling, and fishing. 

Its built-in sensors make for a great multi-purpose digital watch for all outdoor pursuits. Lastly, the wearer could add external apps to the watch’s Android Wear operating system. It made the WSD-F10 one of the industry’s most cutting-edge smartwatches of its kind.

FAQs

These frequently asked questions about the brand may provide a little extra insight into the brand.

When Were Casio Watches Popular?

Casio Watches have never not been popular. However, the height of the brand’s success came in the 1970s. Shortly after the brand began mass-producing quartz watches, it became a household name.  

What Is Unique About Casio Watches?

Watch wearers love the robustness and the long-lasting qualities of a Casio watch. The wristwatches made by the Japanese brand often provide a whole host of technical features to play with.

Some of the most innovative features of a Casio watch include GPS and solar-charging qualities.  

What Was the First Watch Made by Casio?

The Casiotron was Casio’s first watch. It arrived at a particularly pivotal point in the brand’s history. The industry was about to undergo a period of technological change, and Casio was at the forefront of it.  

Is Casio Chinese or Japanese?  

Casio, known for producing some of the world’s most enticing electronic gadgets, is a Japanese brand. Yamagata is the name of its manufacturing facilities based in Japan.

Conclusion  

The fact that Casio Watches appeals to experienced watch wearers and newcomers proves the brand’s strength. They’re worn on the wrists of grandparents and kids, athletes and military divers, runners, and 90s retro watch lovers alike. 

When you look at the brand’s demographic, the only thing these collectors have in common is a logo. That’s a huge accomplishment for a company that only began making wristwatches in the 1970s.

The history of Casio watches is an interesting story to tell. From its first calculator to cutting-edge smartwatches, its growth and success are staggering.  Hopefully, you’ve learned a thing or two about Casio Watches by reading this article.

Maybe you’ve even decided to give the brand a go. Either way, do let me know whether a Casio watch belongs in your collection and why. 

Drop us a message in the comments below!