In 1983, Casio engineer Kikuo Ibe designed the first G-Shock: the DW-5000C.[1] It had a 10-year battery life, water resistance to 10 bar and was able to survive a 10 meter fall onto a hard surface (he tested 200 prototypes by dropping them from rooftops or third story windows).[2][3][4][5]
The shock resistant design has 10 layers protecting the quartz timekeeping module,[2] including a urethane rubber bumper, the stainless steel case, the hardened mineral glass watch crystal, the stainless steel screwed down caseback, and the "floating module" where the quartz mechanism floats free in a urethane foam cradle, with the outer buttons and LCD module attached with flexible cables.
Casio released the G-Shock in April 1983, to fill the demand for durable watches. The popularity of G-Shocks increased throughout the 1990s. By 1998 Casio released over 200 G-Shock models. By then Casio had sold 19 million G-Shocks worldwide.[6]
In 1991, Casio released the Baby-G series for women.
G-Shock Mini are 70% the size of a G-Shock, for people who have smaller wrists. They are available in Japan and can be shipped worldwide.
On September 1, 2017, Casio celebrated its 100 millionth shipment of G-Shocks worldwide.[6]
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