Casio Watches

Casio Watches – A Brief History

 

Kashio Seisakujo (later to become Casio Computer Co. Ltd.) was founded by fabrication engineer Kashio Tadao in Mitaka, Tokyo in April 1946. As Tadao became increasingly overworked his younger brother, Toshio, quit his job with the Tokyo office of the Ministry of Communications to help his brother. Toshio had extensive electrical knowledge and felt he could use this to help his brother and his company.

 

One of Toshio's first ideas was the “yubiwa pipe”. This was a ring that could be worn on the hand that held a cigarette. Post-war Japan was suffering financially and tobacco was expensive. The ring allowed the smoker to smoke the cigarette all the way down to the filter without burning the smoker's fingers and allowed them to continue to work with the now free hand. This product was a huge success and the proceeds of this allowed Tadao and Toshio to develop Japan's first electrical calculator in 1954. Younger brothers, Kazuo and Yukio, also quit their jobs, and began working at Kashio Seisakujo. Uchida Yoko Co. Ltd. signed a contract as the exclusive dealer of the new calculator and in June 1957, Casio Computer Co. Ltd. was established and the brother's father, Shigeru, became the company President. The calculator had launched Kashio Seisakujo into the electronics industry.

 

In November 1974 the company decided to diversify by producing timepieces. Watches were undergoing a technical transformation and mechanical watches were being replaced by quartz mechanisms. In October 1974 Casio released it's first computerised watch, the CASIOTRON. This watch was unique in that it not only showed the current time but also automatically determined the number of days in a month and adapted to leap years. Casio then began to release watches with a number of advanced features, including a calculator function (the Casio C-80) in 1980, and a dictionary function (the Casio T-1500) in 1982. In April 1983, Casio released another revolutionary new watch – the Casio G-SHOCK (DW-5000C). Whilst other manufacturers focussed on designing thinner and lighter watches, Casio's GSHOCK was designed to be dropped from the top of a building and still not break. Due to its unique, robust appearance, Casios G-SHOCK was not initially universally popular. However ten years later, the trend for larger watches had caught on and customers began looking for a more rugged and substantial watch with a larger variety of functions. Casio G SHOCK established the new category of shock resistant watches, and has since become Casio's signature watch.

 

The Casio Databank Telememo 10 (Casio CD-40) released in 1984 included a data-bank function capable of saving names and telephone numbers. This new Casio watch was extremely popular, selling six million units within five years of its release and is now considered a classic Casio watch. Due to this popularity Casio then created further Casio data bank watches, featuring a full keypad and many other new functions such as auto-dialling, a calculator and timetable functions.

 

March 1985 saw the release of the Casio PELA FS-10. This smart watch sported a one-piece plastic case and strap and was only 3.9mm thick and weighed just 12g. Like the Casio Databank, this watch was very popular, becoming the first ever watch to sell over one million units.

 

The Casio BM-100WJ was released in 1989 and could be considered the predecessor to today's modern Casio Pro-Trek watch. It featured a digital watch with a weather prediction function. This Casio watch included a semiconductor barometer sensor that measured the air pressure every three hours, and displayed the data as a bar graph and used this information to predict the weather using basic principles. The data could also be used to approximate the current altitude or depth underwater.

 

Due to the Casio GShocks ever increasing popularity worldwide, Casio released a new Casio G-SHOCK designed especially for women. 1994 saw the release of the Casio BABY-G. Similar to the men's Casio GSHOCK, the ladies watches were cute and colourful with popular motifs whilst maintaining the shock resistancy of the men's Casio Gshock watches.

 

In 1995, Casio released its first radio-controlled timepiece, the Casio FKT-100L. It was released in Germany and utilised local radio waves to automatically set the time. By 1999 the radio signals became more widely available and Casio began to develop a number of radio-controlled models which became popular in a number of countries. 1999 also saw the release of the Casio SATELLITE NAVI, the world's first watch with GPS. It was the flagship model of the new outdoor Casio PROTREK series. The modern Casio PRO-TREK series have now evolved to include a number of features including a compass, altitude display, temperature display and a barometer among many other specific functions suitable for sailing, fishing etc. and are shock resistant. Some models also feature the now dubbed Casio WaveCeptor technology for the automatic correction of the time.

 

In 2001, Casio began to make clever 'advanced function' solar-powered Casio Tough Solar watches. The Casio Tough-Solar watches are capable of providing many functions using only outside light as a power source. Prior to this, the watch industry had thought this impossible.

 

Casio have designed watches that measure blood pressure, include digital cameras, connect to your PC, play your MP3's, change the channel on your TV and many other functions and as a watch designer truly stand out as one of the most innovative. Their quartz crystal watches are available in analogue and digital LCD displays, in plastic, rubber, steel and titanium. The majority of Casio watches are water-resistant. Some are splash resistant but many are water resistant to 200m or more for lovers of water-sports. Casio make fashion watches, sports watches, outdoor watches and dress watches. Casio watches come complete with a 2 year manufacturers guarantee and instructions. Casio watches are renowned for their value and accuracy and are universally popular amongst gadget lovers. Without a doubt, Casio make some of the best watches in the world.