Who owns G-Shock?

IBE Kikuo introduced the G-SHOCK to the world in 1983. The watch eventually drew attention in the United States before making a sensational splash in Japan, as well. By the early 1990s, it was such a hit that stock would sell out immediately upon arrival in the shops. Meanwhile, IBE had left G-SHOCK development to work on lower-priced timepieces. While these less expensive watches, which could be purchased for several thousand yen (about 20 or 30 US dollars), would go on to sell a lot of units, the work didn’t involve major promotional activities, nor did it evoke much of a social phenomenon. Concerned about declining motivation among staff, IBE made a proposal: “Let’s work together to make the watch we all truly want!”

Still, this was not an official project, which meant those who came onboard would have to put in their time strictly outside of regular work hours. In these less than favorable conditions, IBE put together a team of eight motivated engineers with the skills necessary to make the timepiece a reality, from planning and design to quality control.

The inspiration for the development of G-SHOCK came from an engineer who wanted to make “a tough watch that doesn’t break even when dropped.” He conducted repeated tests by dropping a watch from the third floor of the research and development center to analyze how it broke and redesign the structure. As the result of much trial and error, he created a structure that could absorb shock from all directions by combining soft materials that reduce shock with a hard material frame.

That still left the problem of shock being transferred to and breaking the module which is the key component of a watch. The engineer devoted himself to thinking about the problem, but could not find a solution. He even put the parts from a broken watch at the head of his bed and tried to solve it in his dreams.