
An Afternoon in Tokyo with the Man Who Designs Casio G-Shock Watches (2017) - bookofjoe
https://www.ablogtowatch.com/tokyo-man-designs-casio-g-shock-watches-ryusuke-moriai/
======
Animats
Finally, a company that gets ruggedization. It's not about wrapping some
hulking box around the thing. It's about careful energy absorption around the
key parts.

Most of the cell phone makers other than Nokia do not get this.

~~~
baddox
I mean, there's no way that cell phone makers don't understand that putting
chunks of rubber in certain places would make their phones more durable,
right?

~~~
hombre_fatal
Even if I had the option to choose, I'd still much rather be able to cycle
through cases than have a phone with a built-in case that gets scuffed up and
impossible to resell.

I go through 1-2 cases per iPhone and have a mint-condition device when I'm
ready to get a new one. What works for $30 throwaway Nokia bricks doesn't work
for $800 smartphones.

I don't think I'm in the minority.

~~~
raverbashing
Why are your cases lasting only one/two years?

I've never had a case not outlast a phone, they keep up well, rubber cases I
mean.

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nihonde
I saw a Japanese TV show about the story of his discovery of the G-Shock
design. It embodies everything good and bad about Japanese business culture.
Great story!
[https://www.gshock.com/technology/story](https://www.gshock.com/technology/story)

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devereaux
They prey on nostalgia, but the rugged aspect also speaks to me.

Casio watches, Nokia cellphones (formerly, now Huawei or Xiaomi), Thinkpad
latops and Panasonic Toughbooks - if you have one, you are likely to have one
of the others.

Looks like people are getting defined by their lifestyle. (I guess Rolex and
Apple would be on the other end of the spectrum)

~~~
phyzome
I have a Thinkpad and a featurephone, but I _specifically_ dislike Casio's
insistence on big, chunky, over-featured watches. I wish they'd go back to
making the kind of watch they made in the 90s.

The one I had had an 8 year battery life, time/date alarms, timer, stopwatch,
back/forward buttons. 30 phone number storage, heh. Nothing else. The only
thing it was missing and could have used was a backlight.

Many of their newer watches also have this awful thing where if you hold own
one of the buttons for a few seconds, it does a DST transition. Which is
_terrible_ , because suddenly your watch is off by an hour.

~~~
jdietrich
_> I wish they'd go back to making the kind of watch they made in the 90s._

Many of their 90s watches are still in production, including the
legendary/notorious F91W.

[https://www.casio.com/products/watches/classic](https://www.casio.com/products/watches/classic)

~~~
reaperducer
Wow. I have a friend who's part of the 80's Mercedes crowd. Now I know what to
get her for Christmas. Thanks!

~~~
devereaux
Well, that's another thing. I'd love to get my hand on a 1980-1980 Mercedes.

Another thing build for live [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-
Benz_W126](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_W126)

I'd love to import a well maintained one, still featuring its original parts.

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stygiansonic
According to the article, he also designed the famous Casio F-91W model.

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komali2
> They have watches for people who are soldiers, surfers, rescue workers,
> muddy rescue workers, boat workers, pilots, skateboarders, and even for
> glamping (“glamorous camping”).

I follow Casio earnestly but I have no idea what the "glamping" watch is. I
probably want it though...

~~~
duxup
It's just camping ... but with a lot of fancy stuff ... so also not camping.

~~~
komali2
Oh no I've been glamping, I mean what watch was he referring to that's
designed specifically for glamping?

~~~
inflatableDodo
I hope it unfolds into a little tent.

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hbosch
>I really can’t think of any other watch products which are so innovate at
these prices save for smartwatches. And most smartwatches aren’t nearly as
dependable and good-looking as your average G-Shock these days.

When I got my first tech job I became a victim to wristwatches and Swiss
timepieces. I spent a couple grand on a present to myself with my first check
and really loved the thing, but it was precious and needed to be wound and
adjusted for daylight savings... over time, my G-Shock prevailed. I sold my
watch last year for some other equipment related to another budding
hobby/interest, and I don't see any reason to go beyond a Casio anymore. There
are literally videos on YouTube of people smashing these things on anvils with
sledgehammers and they don't even blink. I am astounded at what a good value
they are.

And for those that want a little bling, well... they have you covered still:
[https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/solid-18-karat-gold-g-
shoc...](https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/solid-18-karat-gold-g-shock-pure-
gold-g-d5000-9jr)

~~~
JohnStrangeII
Some people like it, but I personally find the G-Shock (exterior) design
intolerable. At least, they should remove some of the spurious writings on
their higher end watches. I currently have an old Casio Protrek PRG-550BD that
seems to be indestructible, too, but if it ever stops working I will probably
go for a Seiko or a Hamilton Field watch.

There is an interesting story about Seiko I once read. Apparently they built
two factories in the 60s whose main purpose was to compete with each other to
break new precision records for their quartz watches. They almost destroyed
the Swiss watch business.

~~~
rv-de
Also this bloated ruggedness is mostly an aesthetic feature. I mean there are
no moving parts in a digital watch. Why would you need such excessive casing.
And what's the benefit of a watch that can sustain a blow with a sledgehammer
when there's no wrist left to wear a watch.

Anyway - Seiko manufactures everything from the caliber to the casing which
makes them in my opinion superior to most Swiss watch makers as those just
design a casing and put an ETA in there. Also the value for price ratio of a
Seiko automatic is unbeatable. Plus they revolutionized the wrist watch
technologies and have lots of history to show for.

------
blub
I really like their Pro-Trek series for outdoors usage - besides typical watch
functions and the rugged G-Shock-like case they have an altimeter, barometer
and compass. Some models also have time synchronization and are solar powered.

Unfortunately the latest models are a catastrophe. Google is giving their
watch OS away for free and have probably ruined the market - manufacturers
don't invest in their own software, they slap Google's OS on everything, so
now a Pro-Trek watch has a battery life of a few hours under heavy usage or
two days under normal usage, WiFi, a color screen and other useless crap.

Only two companies that I know of still do their own thing: Garmin, which
requires app/cloud sync and Suunto, which can function standalone. Both have a
battery life of about a 5-10h with GPS under heavy usage/a week with normal
usage.

~~~
oriolid
Polar is another brand that has their own watch software. They tried Android
in one model, but they too had problems with battery life.

Unfortunately Suunto is moving to the app only direction too with the numbered
sport watch series. Ambit and Spartan required an app for synchronization too
but at least there was a desktop option. One thing that Garmin got right in
their old models was that you could just plug the watch into computer and it
would show up as USB drive with GPS tracks as files.

~~~
goatinaboat
The new Suunto app is complete shit. I am going to stick with the old one as
long as I can, then just go back to syncing when I charge it.

~~~
oriolid
The desktop app and Movescount are supposed to be shut down at some point, but
now it seems they are extending the deadline indefinitely.

------
w8rbt
I love the solar g-shock wave ceptors. They blend radio signals (to sync the
time), toughness and solar power. They are almost as accurate as GPS time on
smart phones, yet much simpler.

------
PeterStuer
I had a Casio F-91W in those days. Except for sleeping, it never left my wrist
through a 2 year period that included daily jogging, swimming and sauna
routines. Superb product.

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touisteur
Casio also made watches with incredible battery life. I have had a Casio
Edifice (EFA-111, 10-year battery) for 15 years, with no change of battery.
Amazing tech. Imagine buying something in 2004 and still have it work
perfectly today, having done no maintenance whatsoever...

~~~
kijin
The ones with solar charging technology ("Tough Solar") are even more amazing.
I used to have an older version that failed around the 10-year mark, but newer
versions are said to last over 20 years if regularly exposed to light.

Solar power unlocks so much potential that are usually limited by battery life
in quartz watches. Since much more power is now available, they can make
watches that automatically detect the current location by GPS, sync the time
over radio, etc.

~~~
NKosmatos
Having a tough solar pro trek Casio I totally agree, but keep in mind that the
long battery life is due to the very low power consumption and sleep function.
Around 8hrs per day my watch is in standby mode and then for 95% of the time
it only displays time/date. It’s only when you use the extra
functionality/backlight that the battery starts to drain.

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mongol
It is incredible with this diversity in timepieces and yet so few have ability
to show week number.

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ypcx
This is the kind of page / reporting where I disable my ad-blocker and reload
the page.

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manishsharan
fashion question to all : are you able to pull off wearing a fitbit and a
normal watch at the same time?

edit: changed "not-smart" to normal

~~~
goatinaboat
I’ve seen many people try this and none who can make it look good. The problem
is the mixed messages it sends. Digital+Fitbit? Redundant, just wear a Garmin
or Suunto. Mechanical+Fitbit? Confused, trying too hard.

