G-Shock Founder Kikuo Ibe On 40 Years Of Time

Backstage at the Shock the World 40th anniversary extravaganza, I spoke with G-SHOCK founder Kikuo Ibe to learn about the brand’s unexpected beginnings and gain insight into its bright and shiny future.

Success is rarely planned and in Ibe’s case, it was a serendipitous blend of a few blunders, a bit of luck, and many, many well-deserved accomplishments. Ibe represents what G-SHOCK so skillfully embodies: calm, cool, collected, with a pop of color and a touch of eccentricity. And while his journey to the 40 year milestone was non-linear, the fruits of his labor continue to stand the test of time, inspiring those around him to stand up taller, embrace their failures, and never give up. We sat across from each other on crisp leather couches and talked about watches, vegetables, and what it really means to be tough. 

*Interview was done through translator

Hi! How are you doing today? How is all of this going? 

It has been going great! I am very excited. 

I’m excited to be here too. Congratulations on 40 years of G-SHOCK, that’s quite the accomplishment. Can you give me some insight as to how, when, and why G-SHOCK came to be? 

It all started when my father gave me my first watch, back when I was in high school, in my junior year. At the time, watches used to be a precision machine so in other words, it was breakable. I had it with me throughout high school, university, and my working career, and I was very happy about that, but one day, as I was walking in the hallways, I dropped it. It broke into many pieces. That’s when I thought, I need to make a watch that’s sturdy. So that’s really the crux of how I decided to make a watch that could withstand any shock. And that was the start of G-SHOCK.

Right, so that’s essentially the mission of G-SHOCK. 

The toughness of the watch is really what I was looking for. Something you can use for a long time, that was another important aspect that I was looking to create: also a watch that can be passed on through generations as well. 

That’s so nice. Would you say that your intentions have remained the same or have they shifted over the last 40 years?

One thing that certainly has not changed is creating watches that are tough, that will be durable. That will not change for the time to come. What has changed is that the first G-SHOCK is black, but we decided to do a colored version: first yellow, then purple and white. In 1997, we came up with a full metal G-SHOCK. Other things that have evolved over the years are style, obviously style progresses. We would progress with the times and the latest technology that we would adopt for the G-SHOCK. It started with solar technology, as both a sensor, and the bluetooth, of recent. 

What would you say inspired that shift? That’s almost a more emotional decision, a feeling. Was it purely a style shift, or was there another driving force? 

So the very first colored G-SHOCK came about actually as a request from the United States. There were people that wanted a sports car type of yellow, so they wanted that kind of yellow in a G-SHOCK watch. That was the original instigator of the color introduction. And since then, many colors, as you know, have come out of G-SHOCK, but it all started with that first initial request that came from the U.S., so we appreciate it! 

That’s so interesting. And now, clearly, G-SHOCK is a brand with a pretty widespread influence. How does it feel to see your watches in so many places? As a component of street fashion? 

So initially, when I was creating G-SHOCK, the people I had in mind as the target audience were actually the people that worked in road construction. They worked with these really hard machines and because they work with those hard machines, their watches would break, so they wouldn’t be wearing watches. I thought, wouldn’t it be great if they could be wearing watches. For that to be adopted in this range of people, including the young people, all comes down to the media, so thank you very much for your interview. You’ve been regularly interested in us and to showing G-SHOCK to the world, and that really helped us propel into different parts of the culture. 

That’s amazing. Has there been a point in your career where you’ve felt like you’ve achieved what you set out to do? Do you feel successful in your endeavors? 

I of course started out targeting people who work in road construction but in the 90s when I was on the train, going somewhere, I saw young people wearing G-SHOCK and I thought, Oh my gosh, my watch is on their wrist. So seeing that breadth of G-SHOCK, that influence, that’s when I had that great moment, that turning point for me. And you know on the trains, we have those hanging rings to hold on. I saw the young people wearing G-SHOCK and looked at my wrist with my G-SHOCK and I thought, I should not be wearing this. These are for young people. So I did take it off! 

That is so funny. And the influence of G-SHOCK absolutely is widespread and has made a great impact on both fashion and practicality. Conversely, what was your biggest challenge over the course of your career? Have you made mistakes, and how did you bounce back? 

In terms of the mistakes many, many, many. Looking back at the challenges I experienced, it’s not about G-SHOCK. At the time, it was initially around when G-SHOCK was developed, the trend was that watches needed to be thin. Thin watches were in style. So I thought, why don’t I create a watch that is three millimeters thick. And I did that and realized that it looked like a blade; it was so thin. It didn’t look appetizing; it looked painful. I thought, this can’t be the way to go, so I would consider that a mistake. 

Did you or do you feel pressured to adhere to trends? 

I don’t conform to the norms. I don’t conform to whatever style is on at the moment. So looking back, I’ve never had a moment where I’ve felt like I really needed to follow the trend or style. That is not my thing. So when I create, I imagine what I should create, and this idea would fall on me, as opposed to looking at what is already out there and working with that. This goes for the development of G-SHOCK, as well as other aspects of development that I’ve been involved in. 

G-SHOCK are unique! That’s great. You mentioned earlier that in your junior year you started feeling inspired to create watches. Was there ever another career that you thought you might want to try, or was this always what you thought you’d be doing? 

Going back quickly to the idea of non-conforming. I’m considered to be an eccentric. People tend to think that I am not within the stereotypical idea of a person. It’s nothing to praise about; I know that I’m a bit outside the box. 

I love being outside the box. I’d rather be outside the box. 

One thing I can say, because I don’t fall into this typical stereotype, the people around me will have to face the consequences. And when I initially graduated from university, it was actually a difficult time for people to find jobs. I had some failures of not being able to go through the interviews. It just so happened that Casio had an opening for me, and they took me in. It wasn’t that I was setting out to create watches for the rest of my life. It wasn’t that. It was basically a chance given to me. But when I joined Casio, I had the option of going to the calculator division or the watch division. Casio had just started the watch division, so I thought, why don’t I just do that. Do the new thing. Throughout my life, I have never really set out to do something and pursued that. It’s almost a series of chance encounters, and things evolved from there. 

Wow. That’s incredible. It has become such a force. And the mission of G-SHOCK, as we talked about before, is the question you pose; “What is the vital essence of toughness?” How would you answer that question? 

Toughness for me, until about five years ago, was about being able to resist anything; to be sturdy. But five years ago, on our 35th anniversary, I began to think that toughness might not be enough. I thought I needed to redefine toughness in my mind. I consider myself to be a weak person. I have lots of failures, and I really wanted to give up on so many occasions. So when I think about the weak person that I am, I thought, maybe this is an opportunity for me to deliver a message to other people who might feel that way about their weaknesses. So from the 40th anniversary on, I wanted to deliver a message to everyone out there who resonated with the weakness I feel to enjoy the failures we’ve had but to not forget or give up on ourselves: to allow for that to be something we can accept and move forward with together. So I started to speak about never giving up, and I was quite surprised and really happily surprised that a lot of people around the world really resonated with that message. It spoke to them. I thought that it was really great to be able to deliver that message. 

Absolutely. A watch is almost like armor. It can make you feel so sturdy. 

I am almost in tears and so grateful for what you just said about the watches being like armor. That is exactly what I’m getting at by delivering this message that you can be weak, and we can accept that, let’s move forward from that. And I hope that G-SHOCK becomes that thing that can give you that extra boost, that extra energy, that extra positivity. You really understand what I’m going for, so thank you so much, I appreciate it. 

Oh of course! It’s so easy to identify that message in your work. And when you’re not working at all, what do you like to do? 

I like to empty my mind; to just be. I like walking. I like jogging. I like to take everything out and just exist. Actually, I’m growing vegetables at the moment. That’s one of my greatest hobbies. If I didn’t have to do anything, I would be tending to my vegetables from morning to night. 

What vegetables do you grow? 

During the summertime, I would do tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, and bell peppers. Given that it’s now fall and almost winter, I grow burdock and radishes. Also onions and garlic. I can grow so many vegetables that I don’t have to go grocery shopping. 

That is incredible! What a lovely way to live and eat. 

This is a side note but because this past summer was so hot, I had so many aubergines in my garden. Fifteen would grow in a day! I would be giving them to my neighbors, but that wasn’t enough. So for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I had my aubergines.

To get your grubby hands on a G-SHOCK watch, look here.