Few product brands final for more than than 35 years. Merely the Casio G-Stupor line is a cultural institution. Developed by engineer Kikuo Ibe after he dropped and broke a pocket sentinel given to him by his begetter, the G-Stupor line includes the earth's most durable sentinel equally deemed by observers from the Guinness Volume of World Records after it survived the weight of a 25-ton truck. Today, the K-Shock's appeal stretches from armed forces personnel to outdoor adventurers who need its resilience to weekend warriors who simply similar its mode, a countercultural statement against the loftier-priced sleek minimalism and app-driven versatility of the Apple Sentry.

Over the decades, the line has expanded across a range of digital and analog designs and an array of sub-brands: Baby G, Thou-Steel and the epic-sounding Master of Thou. There's also a brand called Mr. Thousand., and over the years he's had plenty of companion brands: Mudman, Frogman, Rangeman, and Gulfman—a veritable Justice League of tough watches fighting the supervillains H2o, Dust, and Shock. (Casio has shifted away from such gender typing with its contempo Mudmaster series.)

The G-Daze 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 virtually identical to the original G-Daze watch that the company launched in 1983. Its hallmarks take included iv corner buttons that are notoriously and intentionally difficult to press and a beefy, loosely octagonal face with a matching plastic strap.

Co-ordinate to Tadashi Shibuya, senior product director of the time products division at Casio America, the watch's toughness transcends the cloth choice and price brackets. "Whether a customer is purchasing a $99 One thousand-Shock or a high-terminate model at $vii,500, a shock-resistant structure and the ethos of absolute toughness are built in. While we might be amend known as a resinwatch brand, we have several materials we work with, including stainless steel, titanium, and carbon cobweb."

Casio's design decisions help reinforce the watch's ruggedness. But ruggedness does not imply simplicity; the designs are oft intricate, visually overwhelming affairs. On the analog front end, yous have the likes of the Casio Men'south XL Series Thousand-Shock Quartz 200M WR Shock Resistant Resin Color: Greyness With Camo Face up—likewise known equally Model GA-100CF-8ACR—a watch that pairs a busy name with a busy face up. Beneath its easily are three smaller round indicators and two LCDs for alternate fourth dimension zones and the appointment.

Some 1000-Shocks are digital; some are analog. The GA-100CF-8A is both. [Photo: courtesy of Casio]

The digital G-Stupor 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 exist advertised just before the spotter is purchased. But there'southward a case for a kind of viral marketing chemical element for anyone else who happens to see your G-Shock.

This "Red Back" G-Shock is a collaboration between Casio and shoe-fan mag Sneaker Freaker. [Photograph: courtesy of Casio]

And Casio isn't shy about driving dwelling house the message. The 21 words printed on the DW5600E face include "Illuminator" below the Casio brand and "Electro Luminescent Backlight" below the display. Both are redundant given that the two buttons on the sentry'southward right side are labeled as controlling functions related to the watch's backlight. And if you were unaware that the G-Daze make included shock resistance, the words "Shock Resist" appear above the product brand while the broader "Protection" appears at the tiptop of the face.

Shibuya explains G-Shock'southward verbosity. "Think of it as a kind of, 'functional expressionism,'" he says. "Of class, Water Resistance is indicated, that's industry standard, just our technology like Tough Solar or Bluetooth, that's like having V6 or Hemi on your car or truck. Sure, part of it is marketing, but nosotros desire to convey the functionality of our watches." But if the Yard-Daze were a car, that vehicle'due south visual identity would be more similar a NASCAR race entrant than an SUV with a lone sticker boasting of all-cycle drive or the number of engine cylinders.

The 1000 Shock DW 5600E in all its 1980s-artful glory. [Photo: courtesy of Casio]

The G-Shock paved the mode for products that consumers bought even when they were designed for far more extreme weather. The Hummer has gone the way of the dinosaurs that fueled it while Canada Goose jackets drift from closets every winter. Only unlike those brands, G-Daze watches don't control a huge price premium compared to pop fashion watches from Fossil or Swatch. And so that may assistance explain why its owners don't mind Casio doing a bit of bragging.

What happens to all this functional expressionism when Casio must bargain with the constraints of a smartwatch display? The company has created an outdoors-focused watch based on Google's Wear OS called the Pro Expedition. It's marketed equally being tough—that is, for a smartwatch—but information technology's non a G-Shock.

Shibuya says that the company gets asked all the fourth dimension about how information technology might create a smartwatch that lives up to users' rugged expectations for its storied brand, just that any such product would have to exist a G-Stupor first. "I believe you lot can rest assured that it will exist uniquely G-Shock in its form factor, unlike anything we accept seen before." If Casio carries its tradition frontwards, you'll be able to read all about it—right on the face of the watch itself.