Top 17 Facts About Casio – Interesting Things to Know
Casio is a well-known brand that is known all over the world. Today, Casio is most known for its wristwatches, but unlike many other watch companies, Casio also manufacturers a wide array of other products. Today, Casio’s watches make up most of the business so it is not strange that most people associate Casio with watches.
Casio is appreciated for its affordable yet durable and high-quality timepieces. Casio has a wide collection of timepieces, from classic analog watches to highly advanced digital watches in the G-Shock collection. Casio’s G-shock model is probably the watch that most people are most familiar with due to its unique look, exceptional performance, and great ruggedness.
If you are looking to learn more about Casio, the brand, its history, and its watches, you have come to the right place. In this article, we’re taking a closer look at interesting facts about the Casio brand.
Top interesting facts about Casio
1. Casio makes much more than just watches
Today, Casio is most known for its watches but did you know that Casio also produces a wide array of other products? Casio’s other products are also highly popular and appreciated around the world because of their performance, functionality, and affordability. The company primarily focuses on electronics in different forms, and this also includes watches, which explains why most of Casio’s watches are digital.
Some of the main items that Casio produces include calculators, digital cameras, musical instruments, cash registers, laptops, mobile phones, electronic keyboards, computer printers, clocks, and much more.
Casio has great expertise when it comes to manufacturing electronics and this also explains why Casio’s watches are so successful and popular.
2. Casio is a company of a Japanese origin
Today, Casio has operations all over the world due to its large market presence but its head office is still located in Japan.
Casio was established in Japan in 1946 and was named Kashio Keisanki. The company was co. founded by Kazuo Kashio who was the CEO of Casio Computer Co since 1988. Keisanki died in 2018. It was also co-founded by Tadao Kashio who was an engineer specializing in fabrication technology.
In 1957, the holding name was changed to Casio, which is the name we know today.
3. Casio didn’t start out making watches
Whilst the company is certainly most known for its watches today, that is not how it started out.
In fact, the first product that the company made was, interestingly enough, a finger ring for holding cigarettes, known as the yubiwa pipe. The benefit of this invention was that it allowed smokers to smoke the cigarette down to its nub and also left their hands free which was important for workers. The invention came after the end of World War 2 which had been tough on Japan, making cigarettes a valuable resource. This invention became a huge success.
4. Only three prototypes exist of the original G-Shock
The first G-Shock ever created was the DW-5000. Casio made five prototypes but only 3 are left. The three of the prototypes that remained were gifted to some of the team members who had developed the G-Shock.
Because of this, the DW-5000 from 1983 is the rarest Casio watch in the world.
5. All digital Casio watches present 10:58 in advertisements
As you may have noticed, all digital Casio watches present the time 10:58 in advertisements. Why? The reason is that 10:58 is considered the best combination of numbers to make the watch look as good as possible and more importantly, make use of the full watch face to ensure that it doesn’t look empty.
6. Casio was one of the earliest manufacturers of quartz watches
At the end of the 1960s, Seiko released the world’s first quartz watch. The launch of the quartz watch led to the quartz crisis in the Swiss watch industry. Affordable quartz watches competed with more expensive and less accurate mechanical watches and won a lot of market share. Casio was one of the earliest watch companies to start manufacturing quartz watches, both digital and analog.
7. The Casio founders decided to start producing calculators in 1949
After having seen electric calculators at the Business Show in Ginza, Tokyo in 1949, the Casio team decided to start making calculators using some of the profits from the pipe. The original calculators used gears that were operated by hands or with a motor but with some knowledge about electronics, they managed to make a calculator that used solenoids. In 1954, the calculator was done and became the first electro-mechanical calculator in Japan.
8. Casio watches have been worn by many celebrities
Considering the strong presence that Casio has on the market and its recognized brand, it’s not surprising that Casio watches have found themselves on the wrist of celebrities and actors on and off the screen.
Casey Affleck wears a DW-6900MS-1 in the movie Triple 9. Moreover, Celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Clint Eastwood, and many more have been seen wearing Casio watches.
This proves that price isn’t everything and that there is something attractive about Casio’s watches beyond just the price.
9. Casio has many inventions to its name
Over the course of its history, Casio is responsible for having invented many different items. An important invention from Casio is the QV-10 which became the first consumer digital camera to feature an LCD screen.
Casio also invented the first consumer three-megapixel camera, ceramic lens technology, and the first ultra-compact camera model.
10. Casio Illuminator VS Fox Fire
If you look at the dial of a digital Casio watch, you’ll likely be able to spot the word “Illuminator”.
But have you ever seen a Casio with the text “Fox Fire” on the dial? The Fox Fire dial print is reserved for Casio watches that are intended for the Japanese market. The watches with “Illuminator” on the dial are meant for the international market.
The name Fox fire is taken from a bioluminescence that is created by a special species of fungi from the genus Armillaria, the honey mushroom.
11. The creator of the G-Shock, Kikuo Ibe, almost exclusively wears one model
The legendary and important creator of the G-Shock, Kikuo Ibe, almost only wears one model. The first is the DW-5000 which is one of the three prototypes that we discussed earlier. The second G-Shock is the DW-5600. The catch is that he only uses the DW-5600 since the prototype is at the museum. The reason he almost only wears the DW-5600 is that it looks like the original. He changes between black, red, or white versions depending on the season.
12. Casio created the Frogman in honor of Navy SEALs
The Casio Frogman is one of the most popular and iconic models from Casio. The elite soldiers were known as Frogmen during World War II due to their amphibious skills and demanding tasks related to water. Naturally, these men require the most durable and robust tools and so creating a watch specifically for these individuals is a great testimony to a watch’s performance. In honor o the Frogmen, Casio, therefore, created the G-Shock Frogman.
13. The Navy SEALs in the US wear G-shocks
Whilst Rolex used to promote its watches together with various marines and military divers from around the 1950s to 1970s, no military issues Rolex watches anymore. This is due to the fact that Rolex watches are now luxury items and are not ideal for the demanding tasks and challenges that the military face.
Back in the day, the Navy SEALs received Rolex watches but obviously, that’s not realistic any more. In the 1980s, they changed to G-Shock watches with analog displays.
Today, the G-Shock is the go-to watch for a lot of members of the Navy Seal.
14. Casio created the Model 14-A in 1957 which sold for 485,000 yen
The Model 14-A was the world’s first all-electric compact calculator, based on relay technology. The calculator sold for 485,000 yen. Obviously, the technology and difficulty of making it resulted in this expensive price tag. Today, you can find calculators for just a few dollars. Just goes to show just how far technology has come.
15. Casio was amongst the first to create watches with special function
Today, you can find Casio watches that are packed with different functions. Casio was one of the first, maybe even first, to release watches with these functions.
Casio was early to release watches that could display the time in countless different timezones, display temperature, and show atmospheric pressure, altitude, as well as GPS information.
16. The G-Shock was inspired by a rubber ball
One day, the creator of the G-Shock, Kikuo Ibe was working at Casio when he accidentally dropped and broke his watch – specifically a watch that had been passed on to him by his father.
This sparked the idea to create a watch that could withstand shocks and be dropped without breaking. So Kukuo gathered a team, known as “Team Tough” to develop a “Triple Ten” watch. That is a watch with 10-year battery life, 10 meters of shock resistance, and 10-bar water resistance.
When he and his team developed watches, they used to drop prototypes out of a bathroom window 10 meters up. This led to many broken watches and failed prototypes. But one day, Kikuo looked out of the window and spotted a rubber ball being bounced. This sparked an idea in him that he could try to make a watch using the same principles as a ball where the outer shell absorbs all the impact. He applied this by creating an outer shell of the case that absorbed the impact. By using this principle, he successfully managed to create the G-Shock.
17. Casio is a huge brand all over the world
Casio is a truly global brand that is known and appreciated all over the world. Not just in Japan. Casio exports products all around the world but of course, the US is a big and important market for the company.
