Watches that Can’t be Broken

By Nathan Devlin

The Casio watch store at Global Harbor - From GettyImages

First founded in the early 80s by Casio, Project Team Tough was formed by Kikuko Ibe to invent something that hadn’t been done before - a watch that couldn’t break.

Infamously inspired by the shattering of his beloved grandfather’s pocket watch. The group set themselves a target: create a watch that could survive a 10-metre drop, withstand 10-bar of water resistance (100 metres down) and run on a 10-year battery.

To test their prototypes, Ibe famously dropped from his own count around 200 out of a third story toilet window at Casio headquarters.

When Casio entered the watch in the mid-70’s digital watches were often overlooked or ignored. Casio aimed to turn that around with cheap long lasting resin watches for the population of Japan.

Yuichi Masuda, Leader of Project Team Tough said: “Casio was a latecomer to the watch industry. When we entered into the watch industry [in 1974], there were other brands, Seiko, and Citizen in Japan.

“We had to separate ourselves, which was why we started with digital products. We had to appeal to the target consumer who wanted digital watches.”

What the team came up with was the Casio G-Shock DW-5000c.  A watch that ticked all their boxes except one. They didn’t manage the 10-year battery, instead it was only seven years which still out-performed several other digital watches at the time. Despite an initial slow start the brand quickly caught on - particularly in the United States.

Since then, the brand has never been bigger with an estimated 150 million units sold worldwide since 1983.

In the 1990’s G-Shocks popularity really took off; between 1990 and 1998 they released over 200 models with worldwide sales said to have reached over 19 million.

Casio still holds a huge part of the watch market in terms of units sold by selling 1.65 million units between April and June of 2026. Casio also has an estimated 20 million watches sold every year.

Casio and G-shock has become more than just watch brand, however with G -Shock often becoming trendy. In 2019 Casio launched a new model the GA-2100 one of the first time G-Shock has produced an almost entirely analogue time piece only featuring a LCD screen between the three and six o clock.  It was soon dubbed the Casiaoak due to its resemblance to the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. What followed was a huge popularity surge among G-shock with many collectors turning to just collect the GA-2100.

Since 1983 and the invention of social media G shock and Casio have become even more popular. With the smaller more refined or fancy lines within the Casio and G-Shock range often associated with people who are interested in fashion. For example, the G-Shock GA-V01A is often associated with the streetwear scene. With other G-Shock lines such as the Frogman and the Mudman series often associated with hiking, camping any outdoor activities.

The digital Gs are more popular than ever after the 2025 release of G-Shock GW-BX-5600 which finally brought a Memory in pixel, LCD display to the iconic DW-5600.

Swiss watches will always make a bigger impression or look flashier. However, it’s just as easy to find a watch geek as well as normal people who don’t like the big Swiss brands.

But everyone loves G-Shock.

From billionaire John Collison and Bill Gates who wear Casio and G-Shock: it doesn’t matter if you are the richest man in the world or the poorest - there is a Casio G-Shock for anyone and everyone.

Kikuko Ibe’s vision of creating ‘the watch that never breaks’ is now marketed as ‘the world’s toughest watch.’ As Casio make very clear he also came up with something that could stand the test of time. Forty years later G-Shock remains endlessly fun.

This is illustrated with the launch of the all-new GAC-2500 series - a completely new line in the G-Shock range. The 2500 series introduce a completely new movement, module 5757. The design is heavily inspired by the DW-5000c. The 2500 features a square design with pin like hour markers and features a fully analogue date display. The design of the 2500 series has been compared the Patek Phillippe Nautilus. The watch has been dubbed the ‘Casionaut’.