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The history of Casio: how two brothers created the world’s biggest watch brand

The history of Casio: how two brothers created the world’s biggest watch brand

Buffy Acacia

Most famous watch brands began in more or less the same fashion.: either a sole watchmaker grew their craft into a flourishing company, or a businessman spotted a gap in the market. But while the Europeans cling to their generational heritage, the world’s best-selling watch brand is Casio. Sure, Rolex wipes the floor in terms of annual revenue, but how many wrists are occupied by Casio watches? The winner is the Casio F-91W, and it’s not even close. But Casio doesn’t just manufacture watches, and it didn’t begin with calculators or electronics either. It all goes back to a much simpler invention from another age.

Casio from Kashio

Tadao Kashio apprentice
Tadao Kashio working on a lathe.

The Kashio family moved to Tokyo when Tadao Kashio was six years old. In 1931, at the plucky age of only 14, he started working as a lathe operator apprentice. He spent the next decade perfecting his craft and further studying metalwork at what has since become Waseda University. To call him an industrious mind would be a criminal understatement. During WWII, he began to run his own manufacturing business with his brothers Toshio and Kazuo lending helping hands, but airstrikes and evacuations made it difficult. It wasn’t until 1946 that Kashio Seisakujo was founded as a true family business, and its first success was something that it could produce reliably and at a high quality.

Kashio yubiwa pipe
Kashio’s yubiwa (finger ring) pipe.

Considering the recent hype surrounding Casio’s latest ring watch, it’s fun to learn that the company’s first hit product was also a ring. Rather than a watch, however, it was a steel pipe designed for a hands-free cigarette smoking experience. A modern company of Casio’s repute couldn’t get away with something like that now, but in 1946, Kashio Seisakujo was practically bankrolled by the ‘yubiwa pipe’. It would be decades before the first Casio watch was released, but the development of the company’s electronic calculator was an important first step, which was Kashio’s next goal. The model 14-A was highly innovative being the first all-electronic and semi-portable calculator in 1957, which was the same year that Kashio Seisakujo became Casio Computer Co., Ltd.

Journey to the first Casiotron wristwatch

Casio 14 a 1957
The Casio 14-A calculator from 1957. Image courtesy of First Versions.

Then led by four of the Kashio brothers in a respectful balance of power, the 1950s and ‘60s were an exciting time in the evolution of Casio’s calculator offerings. 1972’s Casio Mini was particularly important, as it marked the beginning of personal calculators being widely available to everyone, as opposed to tools for businesses. However, as calculators were also becoming much cheaper to manufacture, a price war began, and Casio needed extra avenues for profit. Toshio, ever the thinker of the brothers, approached the idea of a digital watch as something that calculates time rather than simply displaying it. From there, his mathematical approach led to the world’s first automatically calculating calendar display on the Casiotron, Casio’s inaugural wristwatch, in 1974.

Original 1974 CasioTron
The original Casiotron from 1974. Image courtesy of Δήμος Δημοσθένης Πολίτης in The Casio Vintage Club.

The Casiotron was something of a scandal in the watch business, as it was seen as a calculator company encroaching on watchmaker turf. Case manufacturers were hesitant to supply Casio, lest they upset their other customers who saw it as competition. Thankfully, personal pleas sealed the deal, and Casiotron watches were sold in huge numbers by the same department stores and electronics retailers that stocked its calculators. The first version of the Casiotron was the QW01, but its calendar did need adjusting on Februaries and months with 30 days. The QW02 quickly fixed that, essentially becoming the first digital perpetual calendar. In 1976, the Casiotron X-1 also included a stopwatch and a separate time zone, all features we now take for granted from Casio watches.

C 80 Casio advert
A catalogue advert for the Casio C-80 c.1980. Image courtesy of Liquid Crystal.

Casio finally combined its two greatest achievements into a calculator wristwatch in 1980. Seiko and Citizen had already started making calculator watches by then, but the Casio C-80 was the first to use rubber buttons for use with fingers rather than needing a separate stylus. It also packed in those same calendar, stopwatch, and dual time complications included with the Casiotron X-1, making it a fairly unbeatable prospect for the average consumer.

From wrist computer to indestructible G-Shock

Casio F 100
The Casio F-100 from 1977 and a modified double-watch version worn by Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in 1979’s Alien.

For the first decade of Casio’s watchmaking, it had focused on incremental improvement, and there was no slowing of sales that indicated a need for drastic change. The C-80 was also a hit, but 1983 witnessed the birth of a true titan – the G-Shock. The F-100 from 1977 (as worn by Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley in 1979’s Alien) had kick-started Casio’s use of resin cases, and engineer Kikuo Ibe conceived the G-Shock concept after an unfortunate bump resulted in his mechanical watch shattering. The watch had to have a battery life of 10 years, a water resistance of 10 bar, and the ability to survive a 10-metre fall.

G shock DW 5000c 1983 square copy
An original G-Shock DW-5000C from 1983. Image courtesy of Giuseppe Casella in The Casio Vintage Club.

Ibe’s “Triple 10” concept was pursued by the “Team Tough” which he formed out of three personally selected engineers, but it took over 200 prototypes before a successful approach was found. The story goes that Ibe was finally inspired by a rubber ball at a playground. The first G-Shock was the DW-5000C, with a quartz-powered digital module floating in a urethane foam cradle, then protected again by a urethane rubber bumper, a stainless steel case, the steel caseback, a mineral glass crystal, and finally the resin outer shell. Even the resin strap is designed to act like a spring when dropped, absorbing shock. But no matter the ingenuity of the G-Shock’s design, its main claim to fame came through marketing.

The Japanese market did not have much fascination with the G-Shock range on launch, but a US ad campaign featuring a G-Shock being smacked around a hockey field certainly captured North America’s attention. This bold advertisement was like a red rag to a bull for television news shows, who were no strangers to torture tests as far back as the 1960s with Timex commercials. The G-Shock was quickly plastered across American TV sets, being subjected to horrible conditions and drops by newsdesks across the country. What began as an attempt to expose false advertising became the greatest advert of all, purely because the Casio G-Shock was precisely as durable as it had claimed to be. G-Shock’s popularity continued to soar into the 1990s, when its influence reached its Japanese homeland once more, and it has been a global phenomenon ever since.

The world’s best-selling watch — the Casio F-91W

Casio F 91W catalogue ad
The Casio F-91W appearing in a 1989 catalogue. Image courtesy of Pierre D via u/zzzzeru on Reddit.

The G-Shock was the result of a specific vision and years of work, all of which paid off. However, some success stories came a bit more easily. The Casio F-91W first started popping up in catalogues in 1989, and it didn’t really have anything going for it that other Casios didn’t also have. Whether it was something to do with its charming blue stripe, the black resin case and bracelet, or some other unknowable circumstance, the F-91W became one of Casio’s most popular models. Whatever it was, the daily alarm was a popular function, even if it would later lead to some unfortunate connections.

Casio F91W 1
The Casio F-91W is to watches what the Toyota Corolla is to cars: cheap, durable, and the best-selling of its kind.

Across various magazine and news articles from 1996 to 2006, examinations of Guantanamo Bay interrogations revealed somewhat of an obsession with the Casio F-91W. It was already on its way to becoming the best-selling watch in the world thanks to its affordability and features, but its module also happened to work well as a timer for improvised explosives. Naturally, the F-91W was used in bombs produced by members of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The US government and Guantanamo Bay officials became suspicious of those who wore them, but that was an incredibly wide net to cast due to their popularity across the whole world (not to mention due to their popularity among US servicepeople, too). Thankfully, the legacy of the “terrorists’ watch” seems to be fading into obscurity where it belongs, and the Casio F-91W is now treated with the respect it has earned. As the world’s most sold watch, approximately three million are manufactured every year.

Other Casio fan favourites

Back to the future casio c 80
A Casio calculator watch on the wrist of Marty McFly in 1985’s Back to the Future.

Being the behemoth that it is, it would be impossible to cover all of Casio’s important references in just one article. Thankfully, many of its best references from the ‘80s and ‘90s are still available for sale today, either uninterrupted or reissued with tweaked features for modern audiences. A few fan favourites are the CA-50/CA-53W, as worn by Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy; the AE-1200 “Royale” that bears a passing resemblance to the Seiko worn in Octopussy; and the A168W-9VT in all of its cheesy ‘80s gold tone glory, even if its original release date was in 1990.

Casio’s analogue watches

casio duro pepsi
The Casio Duro in a classic Pepsi bezel colour.

Of course, not all Casio watches are digital. It has had its fair share of iconic analogue watches, as well as ana-digi hybrids. Perhaps the most famous analogue Casio is the Duro, which came about in the late ‘80s as an affordable and durable homage to the archetype of a Rolex Submariner. What it lacked in originality, it made up for in toughness, and it has long been prized for its true dive watch status. It’s also worn by Bill Gates, and as such has become a symbol for watch collection humility.

Casio Edifice EF 100
The first Casio Edifice EF-100 from 2000.

In the year 2000, Casio entered a realm of higher watchmaking with its Edifice brand. While Edifice watches are still by and large affordable to buy thanks to their quartz movements, the build quality and features are generally much higher than standard Casio ranges. Solid steel cases and bracelets allowed for more creative diversity and extreme looks, and traditional dial styles like triple-register chronographs were given Casio makeovers.

The modern direction of Casio and its iconic models

The g shock dragon ball z
The G-Shock x Dragon Ball Z collaboration from 2020.

Truthfully, the core lineup of Casio watches for the past 15 years has largely focused on vintage classics. We can’t blame Casio, because vintage reissues are still by far the most popular kind of watches. But if it’s innovation that you’re after, G-Shock has been the Casio effort to watch. What started out as a shock-proof watch has occasionally become considered a luxury product, with some models costing thousands of dollars. Some of the modern features include Full Metal cases in various colours, smartphone synchronisation over Bluetooth, atomic clock synchronisation, and fitness tracking tools. Even the affordable models feel elevated above their utilitarian roots, having found a home in streetwear fashion, and even collaborating with such varied powerhouses as NASA and Dragon Ball Z.

Casio G SHOCK GA 2100 1A CasiOak
The 2019 “CasiOak” GA-2100-1A.

Of all of Casio’s hits, none have been so impactful in recent years as the Casio G-Shock “CasiOak” from 2019. Affectionately nicknamed for its octagonal bezel’s resemblance to the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, the CasiOak GA-2100 series was one of the first full-production Casios to create true internet hype. Some non-limited, second-hand models were even selling above their RRPs, proving how much Casio underestimated its production needs and how crazy CasiOak madness initially was.

CasiOak diagram
Exploded diagram of a CasiOak’s construction.

The ana-digi display does provide a nice balance of functionality and aesthetic, but it’s the overall look and feel of the watches that make them so popular. Lightweight but rugged on the wrist, the CasiOak has spent six years being developed into one of the best sports watches you can get for the money. It was also technologically significant because it introduced the Carbon Core Guard, which further improved shock resistance and weight reduction by hybridising carbon fibre and Casio’s standard resin.

Casio G Shock Mudman GW 9500 black on wrist
The G-Shock range now encompasses multiple sub-lines, such as the Mudman range, of which this Casio G-Shock Mudman GW-9500 is a member.

There really is no other brand like Casio. From its consumer-driven approach to product development to its unmistakable design style, it has inspired customer loyalty that is rarely seen for such affordable brands. Casio collectors are some of the happiest watch enthusiasts because they can end up with a pretty huge collection for the price of just one single luxury Swiss watch. Then, if you really do have cash to burn, there are the rare and desirable vintage models that can end up commanding high prices, such as original examples of the F-100. It has something for everyone, and nobody is too good to have a Casio in their watch box.