This Is How G-Shock Watches Are Tested and Built

It's well established in watch lore that in the early '80s, after accidentally destroying his mechanical watch, Casio's head of watch design Kiku Ibe challenged himself and his team to build an indestructible watch that could, notably, withstand a 10-meter fall What seems like a high-school physics project eventually birthed the original G-Shock, a plastic-cased digital watch that spawned one of the most iconic watch lines in timekeeping history Before the dawn of G-Shock, watches were a very small part of Casio's electronic empire, but today, G-Shock is "The largest asset of Casio," according to Senior Executive Managing Officer Yuichi Masuda.

The brand no-longer sells just humble, tough digital watches - rather, Casio has shifted to offering the classic G-Shock formula with higher-end materials and upgraded functions According to Casio, on any given day, there will be anywhere from 10 to 20 individuals attempting to destroy G-Shock watches - both prototypes of each new model and randomly selected production models - with the power of gravity, water, pressure, electricity and even hammers Casio's Yamagata facility is an entirely different beast; it opened in 1980 and has been home to the production of a number of Casio products, but as of this year, the brand has updated its watch production facilities.

Often watch enthusiasts are quick to praise the tradition of producing mechanical watches and ignore the effort it takes to build something electronic or quartz-regulated. . Source