Casio has a long, rich and deep history in the electronics industry. There at the beginning of the digital revolution, Casio continuously leaves its mark on the world of digital time keeping. From humble beginnings far from the world of digital calculators or other consumer electronics, Casio has grown to become one of the world’s most recognizable corporations, and one of the most trusted consumer brands.

Established in its earliest form, Kashio Seisakujo, in April of 1946, Casio began its long history in the world of electronics, with the first Japanese all electric compact calculator utilizing solenoids instead of hand operated gears. Seven years later, they introduced the Casio 14, the world’s first compact all-electric calculator.

For the next several decades, Casio continued to focus its energies on electric and then digital calculator innovation.  They continued to slim down the design of the desktop calculator and added memory and programmability to the features of their calculators. In 1972, Casio released the Mini. The Mini was the world’s first personal calculator and was a major milestone in the development of Casio’s ability to miniaturize its electronic technologies.

The release of Casio’s first wristwatch, the CASIOTRON, came in November of 1974. This move into the timepiece market highlighted the company’s desire to diversify its product base and stretch its digital expertise into what would become a highly lucrative market. The CASIOTRON is a type of quartz timepiece consisting of a counter that measures pulses form a crystal oscillator. It was an adding machine simply counting the number of pulses, of known frequency, that add up to a second. The CASIOTRON displayed a count of hours, minutes and seconds as well as automatically determining the number of days in a particular month and could recognize a leap year.

Casio’s major breakthrough in the watch market came with the launch of the G Shock line. In 1983, fashion was moving toward slender and lighter styles. It was during this time when Casio went against the mainstream thinking and launched the bulky rugged G Shock. The premise was a timepiece that could be dropped from a building and not break. It took more than ten years for the G Shock to catch on; when it did, it became Casio’s signature watch.

The honor of having the first million selling watch is another of Casio’s achievements. The PELA FS-10 was a revolutionary timepiece. It was based on the concept of a one-piece watch. Weighing only 12 grams and a slender 3.9 mm thick, it won instant popularity and furthered Casio’s growing recognition as a premier watchmaker.

What about calculator watches? Surely, Casio made one or two of those, right? Yes, of course they did. Casio could not resist combining two of their flagship product lines. The C-80 was their first, next followed the Walking Dictionary and then the Databank Telememo, which featured a personal phone book manager. These watches all fulfilled the company’s desire to see the wristwatch become more than just a timepiece. The weather sensing BM-100WJ furthered this idea with a barometric sensor that measured the air pressure every three hours. In addition to a weather-sensing feature, the BM-100w could estimate underwater depth or altitude.

The ‘90’s saw Casio continuing its growth in the wristwatch market. Maintaining the Databank and G Shock lines and introducing the baby G Shock for women, the electronics company solidified its standing as a major player and well recognized brand in the timepiece industry. This trend has continued since the turn of the new millennium. Anyone looking for a fine timepiece will be well rewarded for and find confidence in their purchase of a timepiece made by Casio.

J.S. Thomas