WU25 Panel: Kikuo Ibe, G-Shock, and the Origin of Toughness

November 24, 2025

WU25 Panel: Kikuo Ibe, G-Shock, and the Origin of Toughness

There are few for whom this title is apt, but Mr. Kikuo Ibe is a certified living legend. The father of G-Shock, which has sold over 100 million watches worldwide, Kikuo Ibe graciously shares his journey through the conception, development, and journey of G-Shock. It’s a story of toughness and perseverance, not only of the watch, but also the man behind it. View the full presentation in the following video or follow along in text.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Host:
Welcome, Worn & Wound community. We’re honored to have you here today, and it’s a privilege to introduce Kikuo Ibe, the founder of G-Shock. Mr. Ibe will be available after the presentation for a meet and greet, and we have watches available for purchase and signing—truly collectible items. Please give him a warm welcome.

Kikuo Ibe:
Arigato. Good afternoon, everyone. I’m very pleased to be here in New York and to have this opportunity to meet you. Thank you very much for joining us this afternoon. My name is Kikuo Ibe, and I love the USA and New York. Thank you.

This year marks the 42nd anniversary of G-Shock. G-Shock keeps growing thanks to great retail partners, media, and fans worldwide. Your strong support is a big reason why G-Shock has been so successful for so long. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I’m delighted to be here to share the G-Shock story with you.

Forty-four years ago, on my way to work, I dropped a precious watch that had been a gift from my father. It broke into many pieces. Of course, it wasn’t a Casio. At the time, people believed watches should be treated with care. That moment inspired me to develop a tough watch that wouldn’t break—even if dropped. That was the beginning of G-Shock.

Back then, the watch industry was focused on slim cases. But my vision was for a tough, rugged watch. I started developing it in secret—in a restroom in our R&D building. I took a standard metal case, added rubber protection, and threw it from the third-floor window. Using rubber to make it the size of a ball, it worked. But the sample was totally unrealistic.

So I began developing a new watch. I created a shock-resistant structure with five components to protect the module. This allowed us to dramatically reduce the size. But inside the module, there was still a gap. Some electrical parts would break, and even after reinforcing them, others would fail.

I thought so long and hard about a solution that I felt like my head would explode. I brought testing equipment home and tried to dream up answers for a week. Nothing worked. But I never gave up. I believed I could find the answer. That’s my motto.

One day in the park, I saw a little girl playing with a ball. I imagined a floating watch module inside the ball. Suddenly, the solution was obvious: float the module. With this concept, we developed the G-Shock’s tough structure—a shock-absorbing system with five components and a floating module.

We launched the first G-Shock in Japan in 1983 and began selling it in the USA. To prove its toughness, we created a TV commercial showing the watch surviving extreme conditions. Some viewers thought we were exaggerating and wrote to a popular TV show asking them to verify it. The show recreated our tests—hitting the watch in an ice hockey rink and driving a dump truck over it. The watch survived everything. G-Shock never gave up.

Ten years passed quickly. G-Shock gained both practicality and fashion appeal, attracting younger users. I thought that if people could adapt their G-Shock to suit their lifestyle, they’d become lifelong fans. So we needed a new G-Shock that worked in both casual and formal settings.

I started a new project with eight watch engineers to create a metal G-Shock. I was the project leader, and my mission was to motivate the team and challenge them to solve every issue. I told them, “If you can’t do it, nobody can. You are the only ones who can make this happen. You will make history.”

We spent over a year testing and retesting. Finally, we completed the metal G-Shock. Lady Luck smiled on us. The first MRG was released in 1996 and sold out on the first day.

With MRG, we aimed to fuse Japanese craftsmanship with metal watch innovation. My first challenge was building a tough watch. My second was building a full-metal tough watch. My third challenge was creating a real gold G-Shock.

To realize this difficult idea, we created a dream project. The 18-karat gold G-Shock featured new shock-resistant construction and waterproofing to 20 atmospheres. Machining gold into complex shapes was a major challenge. But we never gave up. We used Japan’s top technicians to achieve the fine machining work. It was the ultimate merging of metal and Japanese technology.

To celebrate G-Shock’s 35th anniversary, we released a limited edition of 35 watches, which sold out immediately. We’re extremely grateful.

As we mark the 40th anniversary, we wondered if we could take on a new challenge. I thought so hard about this, I thought my head would explode. Our new challenge was to return to the starting point and again reject commonly held beliefs. The truth is: glass breaks easily. So I thought, what if we could make a G-Shock out of glass?

We decided to develop a G-Shock with a case made of sapphire crystal. The concept: it will not break and will not scratch. But because we set such an unreasonable target, the watch is still splitting during testing. Oh, shock. Same with my head—but never give up. It will take time, but I look forward to introducing it to you in the near future.

G-Shock may always be evolving, but I myself feel like I’m only going backward. Oh, shock.

Soon, we’ll enter an era where we can fully travel into space. Space is a harsh environment unlike Earth. We may develop a G-Shock for space aliens—one that can be used for spacewalks.

My friend Taro-san says, “Ibe, the G-Shock really is a fabulous watch. Tomorrow, I will go to the space watch shop to buy watches with my family.” That’s my last dream of the dream project.

Although G-Shock became the toughest watch in the world, all my energy has been absorbed by it. As you can see, my body became small and tiny. Before development, I used to be two meters tall. Oh, shock.

What I learned from developing G-Shock is that even if I meet an obstacle, I should not give up. Never, never, never give up. That is my motto.

Please continue to support us and help make G-Shock the strongest brand in the USA. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to speak today. Thank you for your kind attention.

Host:
Thank you, Ibe-san. We have time for a few quick questions.

Audience Member:
What was the first watch that broke and made you want to create a tougher one?

Kikuo Ibe:
I don’t want to reveal the manufacturer’s name—it would be unfair to them. But I can say it was a Japanese brand. Not Casio.

Audience Member:
Has G-Shock gone into space yet?

Kikuo Ibe:
We’ve produced G-Shocks that can endure harsh conditions on Earth. But for space—with extreme temperatures—we haven’t yet made a G-Shock that can handle those conditions.

Audience Member:
What’s your favorite G-Shock model besides the original?

Kikuo Ibe:
The DW5600. It’s the same style as the original, and I’m wearing it now.

Audience Member:
What’s been your most challenging G-Shock project?

Kikuo Ibe:
The first project—the original G-Shock—was the most challenging.

Host:
Thank you so much. Let’s give Mr. Ibe one more round of applause.