Few production brands last for more than 35 years. But the Casio G-Shock line is a cultural institution. Developed by engineer Kikuo Ibe subsequently he dropped and broke a pocket lookout given to him by his father, the G-Shock line includes the world'south most durable watch as accounted by observers from the Guinness Book of World Records later on it survived the weight of a 25-ton truck. Today, the K-Daze'southward entreatment stretches from war machine personnel to outdoor adventurers who need its resilience to weekend warriors who only similar its style, a countercultural statement against the high-priced sleek minimalism and app-driven versatility of the Apple tree Watch.

Over the decades, the line has expanded across a range of digital and analog designs and an array of sub-brands: Infant Yard, G-Steel and the ballsy-sounding Master of G. There's also a brand called Mr. Chiliad., 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 Water, Dust, and Shock. (Casio has shifted away from such gender typing with its recent Mudmaster series.)

The Thousand-Shock Mudmaster is an entire line unto itself. [Photograph: courtesy of Casio]

Despite the hundreds of color and way variations over the decades, Casio still sells a model, the DW5600E, that is virtually identical to the original G-Stupor 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.

According to Tadashi Shibuya, senior production manager of the time products sectionalization at Casio America, the watch's toughness transcends the textile choice and price brackets. "Whether a customer is purchasing a $99 M-Shock or a high-end model at $7,500, a shock-resistant structure and the ethos of absolute toughness are congenital in. While we might exist improve known as a resinwatch brand, we have several materials nosotros work with, including stainless steel, titanium, and carbon fiber."

Casio's blueprint decisions assist reinforce the watch's ruggedness. Just ruggedness does non imply simplicity; the designs are often intricate, visually overwhelming diplomacy. On the analog front, you lot have the likes of the Casio Men'southward Xl Series Thou-Shock Quartz 200M WR Shock Resistant Resin Color: Grey With Camo Face—besides known every bit Model GA-100CF-8ACR—a spotter that pairs a busy name with a busy face. Below its hands are three smaller circular indicators and two LCDs for alternate time zones and the date.

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

The digital K-Shock 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 (announcement of features). The last feels unnecessary given that features demand to be advertised only earlier the watch is purchased. Just there's a case for a kind of viral marketing element for anyone else who happens to see your G-Shock.

This "Cherry Back" G-Shock is a collaboration betwixt Casio and shoe-fan magazine Sneaker Freaker. [Photograph: courtesy of Casio]

And Casio isn't shy most driving dwelling house the bulletin. The 21 words printed on the DW5600E face up include "Illuminator" below the Casio make and "Electro Luminescent Backlight" below the display. Both are redundant given that the two buttons on the picket's right side are labeled every bit decision-making functions related to the watch's backlight. And if you were unaware that the G-Shock brand included shock resistance, the words "Stupor Resist" appear in a higher place the product make while the broader "Protection" appears at the summit of the confront.

Shibuya explains K-Shock's verbosity. "Retrieve of it equally a kind of, 'functional expressionism,'" he says. "Of form, Water Resistance is indicated, that's manufacture standard, but our applied science like Tough Solar or Bluetooth, that's like having V6 or Hemi on your motorcar or truck. Sure, part of it is marketing, but we want to convey the functionality of our watches." Only if the Grand-Shock were a automobile, that vehicle's visual identity would be more similar a NASCAR race entrant than an SUV with a lone sticker boasting of all-bicycle drive or the number of engine cylinders.

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

The G-Shock paved the way for products that consumers bought even when they were designed for far more than extreme conditions. The Hummer has gone the way of the dinosaurs that fueled it while Canada Goose jackets migrate from closets every winter. But unlike those brands, Thousand-Daze watches don't command a huge price premium compared to popular fashion watches from Fossil or Swatch. And so that may help explain why its owners don't mind Casio doing a scrap of bragging.

What happens to all this functional expressionism when Casio must deal with the constraints of a smartwatch display? The company has created an outdoors-focused watch based on Google's Habiliment OS called the Pro Trek. Information technology'due south marketed as being tough—that is, for a smartwatch—only information technology's not a K-Shock.

Shibuya says that the company gets asked all the time nearly how it might create a smartwatch that lives upward to users' rugged expectations for its storied brand, but that whatsoever such product would take to exist a G-Shock get-go. "I believe you can rest assured that it will be uniquely G-Shock in its course cistron, unlike anything we have seen earlier." If Casio carries its tradition frontwards, you'll be able to read all about it—right on the face of the watch itself.