Casio

Casio traces its origins to Kashio Seisakujo, a workshop opened in Tokyo in April 1946 by Tadao Kashio, whom his brothers Toshio, Kazuo and Yukio later joined; Casio Computer Co., Ltd. was incorporated in 1957 to build calculators. The company entered watchmaking in 1974 with the Casiotron, a digital quartz watch with an automatic calendar, and has remained an electronics maker rather than a traditional horological house, developing its own modules, sensors and radio and solar technology.

The defining product is G-Shock. Engineer Kikuo Ibe set out in 1981 to build a watch that would survive a ten-metre drop, resist water to ten bar and run for ten years on one battery; the first model, the DW-5000C, appeared in 1983. Edifice covers metal chronographs, Pro Trek outdoor watches with barometer and compass, and Oceanus the upper end of the range. Watches now account for around two-thirds of Casio's sales.