Few production brands last for more 35 years. But the Casio G-Shock line is a cultural institution. Developed by engineer Kikuo Ibe afterwards he dropped and broke a pocket watch given to him past his father, the One thousand-Daze line includes the world'southward near durable lookout every bit deemed by observers from the Guinness Book of World Records after it survived the weight of a 25-ton truck. Today, the G-Shock'south appeal stretches from armed services personnel to outdoor adventurers who demand its resilience to weekend warriors who simply like its style, a countercultural statement against the high-priced sleek minimalism and app-driven versatility of the Apple tree Watch.

Over the decades, the line has expanded beyond a range of digital and analog designs and an array of sub-brands: Babe G, G-Steel and the epic-sounding Master of K. There'south also a brand chosen Mr. K., and over the years he's had enough of companion brands: Mudman, Frogman, Rangeman, and Gulfman—a veritable Justice League of tough watches fighting the supervillains H2o, Grit, and Stupor. (Casio has shifted away from such gender typing with its recent Mudmaster series.)

The G-Shock Mudmaster is an entire line unto itself. [Photo: courtesy of Casio]

Despite the hundreds of colour and style variations over the decades, Casio still sells a model, the DW5600E, that is near identical to the original G-Shock watch that the company launched in 1983. Its hallmarks have included iv corner buttons that are notoriously and intentionally hard to press and a bulky, loosely octagonal face up with a matching plastic strap.

Co-ordinate to Tadashi Shibuya, senior product manager of the fourth dimension products division at Casio America, the watch'due south toughness transcends the cloth selection and toll brackets. "Whether a customer is purchasing a $99 Chiliad-Shock or a high-terminate model at $seven,500, a daze-resistant structure and the ethos of absolute toughness are built in. While we might be better known every bit a resinwatch brand, we have several materials we work with, including stainless steel, titanium, and carbon fiber."

Casio'southward design decisions aid reinforce the watch's ruggedness. But ruggedness does not imply simplicity; the designs are oftentimes intricate, visually overwhelming affairs. On the analog front end, you take the likes of the Casio Men's XL Series G-Daze Quartz 200M WR Stupor Resistant Resin Color: Gray With Camo Face—too known as Model GA-100CF-8ACR—a watch that pairs a decorated name with a busy face. Below its hands are 3 smaller circular indicators and ii LCDs for alternate time zones and the date.

Some M-Shocks are digital; some are analog. The GA-100CF-8A is both. [Photograph: courtesy of Casio]

The digital Thousand-Shock watches, on the other hand, tend to include printed text—lots of text. These indicators serve a range of functions that include the typical (branding), the functional (button labels), and the quirky (proclamation of features). The last feels unnecessary given that features need to be advertised just earlier the watch is purchased. But there's a instance for a kind of viral marketing element for anyone else who happens to see your K-Stupor.

This "Cerise Back" G-Daze is a collaboration between Casio and shoe-fan mag Sneaker Freaker. [Photo: courtesy of Casio]

And Casio isn't shy about driving home the message. The 21 words printed on the DW5600E confront include "Illuminator" beneath the Casio make and "Electro Luminescent Backlight" below the display. Both are redundant given that the ii buttons on the spotter's correct side are labeled as controlling functions related to the watch'southward backlight. And if you were unaware that the Thousand-Stupor brand included daze resistance, the words "Shock Resist" appear above the product make while the broader "Protection" appears at the top of the face.

Shibuya explains G-Shock'due south verbosity. "Think of it every bit a kind of, 'functional expressionism,'" he says. "Of grade, Water Resistance is indicated, that'southward industry standard, but our technology like Tough Solar or Bluetooth, that's like having V6 or Hemi on your car or truck. Certain, part of information technology is marketing, only we want to convey the functionality of our watches." Simply if the Thou-Daze were a car, that vehicle's visual identity would be more like a NASCAR race entrant than an SUV with a lone sticker boasting of all-cycle bulldoze or the number of engine cylinders.

The G Daze DW 5600E in all its 1980s-aesthetic glory. [Photo: courtesy of Casio]

The Yard-Shock paved the mode for products that consumers bought even when they were designed for far more farthermost conditions. The Hummer has gone the way of the dinosaurs that fueled it while Canada Goose jackets migrate from closets every winter. But unlike those brands, Chiliad-Shock watches don't command a huge price premium compared to popular way watches from Fossil or Swatch. So that may aid explicate why its owners don't mind Casio doing a scrap of bragging.

What happens to all this functional expressionism when Casio must deal with the constraints of a smartwatch brandish? The company has created an outdoors-focused lookout based on Google's Wear Bone chosen the Pro Trek. Information technology'south marketed as being tough—that is, for a smartwatch—but it's not a G-Shock.

Shibuya says that the company gets asked all the time about how it might create a smartwatch that lives upward to users' rugged expectations for its storied brand, but that whatsoever such production would have to be a G-Shock first. "I believe yous can residuum assured that it will exist uniquely 1000-Shock in its form gene, unlike annihilation nosotros take seen before." If Casio carries its tradition forward, you'll be able to read all near information technology—right on the face of the picket itself.