MR. G-SHOCK
American blogger Ariel Adams, founder of the most famous blog blog about Ablogto Watch, spent an afternoon in Tokyo with Ryusuke Moriai, the designer of the most rugged watch in the world.
Walking with Mr. Ryuusuke Moriai, I lived a childhood dream of one afternoon in Tokyo – in addition to being able to challenge him to play Street Fighter in a video game store. This is the man in charge of designing the G-Shock and many more Casio watches.
Mr. Ryuusuke Moriai wears one of these “luxury” watches, an expensive G-Shock, which belongs to the MR-G, one of Casio’s two high-end collections (the other is the MT-G). His official title in Casio is a bit difficult to understand, but this man is the head of watch design and, directly or indirectly, responsible for some of the most popular mass-produced watches of the last 30 years.
The invitation
The meeting with Mr. Moriai was secured at my request to Casio, when I asked them to help me understand where the inspiration for the G-Shock design came from. And because this company never disappoints you, during a trip to Japan to visit their “top production line” at Yamagata Casio, they secured me the time of K. Moriai – and an interpreter.
The most important sports watches in the world do not have this characteristic appearance by chance. What began as a targeted design in the early 1980s, when K. Kikuo Ibe invented the G-Shock, evolved into a world full of watches, each with its own history, aesthetics and temperament. In essence, G-Shocks follow two values in Casio. The first is “absolute hardness”: the limits of endurance are constantly tested. The second is to “never give up” trying to innovate and solve problems. The next watch you make should be your best.
The first watch designed by K. Moriai is still in production today. It was the Casio F-91W, which had to be small, legible and very durable for its price. It also happened to be extremely economical – I don’t think it ever exceeded $ 30. Most industrial designers are not so lucky in their first attempt, but K. Moriai was. And Casio as a company was very lucky to make successful sales of modern watches. You see more Casio worn in Japan than any other brand – and the situation is not very different in other parts of the world, where looking cool and always on time is a priority.
The life of Casio G-Shock watches starts with a functional purpose. This is somewhat special in the world of watchmaking, as many watches today are born out of a marketing theme or idea and not because “we need a watch that can do X things”. And this is because Casio is one of the few watchmakers whose customers test their watches in harsh conditions and wear them in hostile environments.
In order to make sales, Casio’s strategy was to continue to offer its customers more technical features and more special purpose watches. Think about how much specialization he gained over the years. Today it makes watches not only for diving, but for commercial diving, recreational diving, rescue diving, etc. Makes watches for soldiers, surfers, rescue teams, mud flood rescuers, dock workers, pilots and skateboarders.
Each of these worlds has its own needs and its own culture. Casio was inspired by tanks when designing the Mudmaster collection and naval equipment when designing Gulfmasters. It does this because for Casio there is another important incentive to design a product: its watches need to be cool to wear and fun to use. I consider it to be a deeply unpretentious watchmaking, a feature I particularly admire. What does this mean; Perfect to look at the wrist and fun when doing small things like checking the barometric pressure or doing a timing.
It is worth emphasizing that every watch is born with its functionality in mind and not just a nice design. This does not mean that the function is imposed on the form, but that the function is converted to a form.
At the heart of every G-Shock watch is the mechanism system, which is always its most sensitive part. From the very first G-Shock models, the mechanism was suspended from a few points inside the case, to increase its resistance to shocks, falls and vibrations. In some even more advanced G-Shocks, the mechanism is mounted on a material called Alpha Gel. Casio asked us to test this material, throwing a raw egg on it would not break (and it did not break when I threw it).
The case must also prevent dirt and water from entering the interior and must facilitate the connection of the various buttons to the mechanism. The buttons must be used safely even when the watch is dirty or in the water. So the reason many G-Shocks have a distinctive, familiar style is because they all employ similar techniques to ensure their functionality.
Of course, Casio continues to innovate in the field of appearance. In fact, it has won several innovation awards, such as injection molding and precision manufacturing of plastic parts. No watchmaker I know of has made plastic so interesting. Of course, other materials are used for the G-Shock, such as steel, titanium, carbon fiber and sapphire crystal. There are also expensive G-Shock, as long as one finds the model that suits him. And of course one can find an incredibly good G-Shock with a price around 135 euros.
More color
Mr Moriai impressed me when he stated that he actually preferred to design digital dials instead of analog ones. This may come as a surprise to many people, as Casio makes many analog G-Shock models, as it has found that they tend to sell better. The designer hopes that in the coming years the technology on the screens will be developed to become more colorful, brighter and with greater depth for the human eye. Of course, they should follow the G-Shock philosophy for carefree use, which means that the watch will not need a battery change / charge (regularly or not at all) and that it will be extremely durable.
The final frontier
When I asked him what the Casio of his dreams was, Mr. Moriai read my mind again, referring to a clock capable of coping with space. This is not only his dream, but also the dream of many watch companies.
One of the most important advantages of Casio is the prices. I can not think of any other watch so innovative at these prices, except smartwatches.
Modern Japan and modern technology are just one part of the inspiration for Casio watches. Another part comes from traditional Japanese techniques. And it does not always have to do with form as much as with mentality.
Having seen for myself where G-Shock watches come from and knowing the people who make them, I gained new, strengthened links with the brand. The opportunity to be around people who make the watches I love is a real joy in my work, and when that happens with a brand that has had such an impact on my life as so many others, then I feel even more humble about it. what can mean to people all over the world something as simple as a cool watch.
Excerpt from the article by Ariel Adams on the AblogtoWatch site as well as the Greek magazine Hours of Kathimerini.