He decided to put the watch's movement inside a "floating module", which would isolate it from shock. In , the first G-Shock model DW was released with m water resistance and the ability to survive a fall of more than 10m. I was surprised we managed to capture such a big audience," he says through an interpreter. They buy more than one G-Shock and that thankfully has allowed us to maintain the growth of the G-Shock business today.
She told me: 'We're both big G-Shock fans. One black, one white and one red. The black one I wear during spring and autumn, the white for summer and the red for winter. I see more appeal in the analogue world," he says. The analogue world and my hobby often come together and give me ideas. When I die, I'd like someone to dissect my brain to see what's going on in there. In space, conditions are extreme, with extremely high or low temperatures.
If I'm alive to see it happen, I'd like to create a G-Shock which can withstand these conditions in space," he says. Asked if the mantle of G-Shock inventor carries great pressure, he replies with a grin: "I'm quite dense and pressure-resistant. The people around me have pressure about what next to do with the G-Shock. Not me. I am okay. I don't have a say in everything.
Unfortunately I dropped it on my way to work and it smashed into pieces on the floor. So that is the reason why I wanted to create a tough watch that can't be destroyed. Marcus Fairs: What did your father say when you told him you'd broken his watch? Kikuo Ibe: He used that watch for such a long, long time. So when it broke, he wasn't upset. He was very understanding because he had used it for a long time. Marcus Fairs: That's lucky! So that inspired you to create a watch that couldn't be broken.
You joined Casio's development team and started to develop the watch. Tell me how you did that. Kikuo Ibe: The most difficult part was to come up with a structure that can absorb shock. At the time there was a kind of competition for slimness in the watch industry, so I decided to test it in a secret place.
My office was located on the second floor and the height from the ground to that floor was about 10 metres. Marcus Fairs: What was the solution you discovered in the end that protected the watch movement from the shock? How does it work and what materials does it use?
Kikuo Ibe: So the final solution to the problem was to come up with a five-stage shock absorbent system. The fifth stage is a hollow system, so the watch mechanism is floating.
That fifth stage of the floating concept came from seeing a girl playing with a bouncy ball in a park. I watched the ball bounce and imagined a floating watch engine. Suddenly, the solution was obvious. I came up with the idea to float the watch engine.
Finally we could develop G-Shock. Kikuo Ibe: During development the target was to be able to drop the watch from 10 metres high, have metre water resistance and year battery life.
That triple ten was the original target. The ten-metre-drop shock resistance remained the same, metre water resistance became metres, and the year battery life became seven. Kikuo Ibe: When G-Shock was first on sale in stores, what was popular in the Japanese market was very thin watches. Recommended Suggested for you.
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