The origin of G-SHOCK is the square-body 5600 series! What is the charm of this famous model that has been passed down from generation to generation?

Casio watches are so well known that even those who are not familiar with watches and check the time on their smartphones can imagine “G-SHOCK” as a “tough watch. Casio has released a number of models, but there is one model that is so well-known that when people think of G-Shock, they think of this one! The most famous model is the “5600 series. This model is classified as a “speed model” and is still being released today.

G-Shock, the highly functional watch that shocked the world

The development of Casio’s G-Shock began with a single line of a proposal that read, “A watch that won’t break even if dropped,” and after much trial and error, the first G-Shock “DW-5000C,” released in 1983, was completed. It was a high-spec watch that broke the common sense of the time with its shock-resistant construction and 20 atmospheric pressure water resistance. It was released at a time when it was commonplace to think of watches as precision instruments, vulnerable to shocks and water, and prone to stopping immediately, and it sent shockwaves around the world.

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The watch’s hollow structure was developed to soften the impact inside by covering the entire surface with urethane resin and supporting the engine at a point. It is a well-known story that no one took seriously the TV commercial that said “Again!” when an ice hockey player hit it with all his might and it did not break, but an American TV program demonstrated that this was true, and the popularity of the product was ignited.

G-SHOCK ” 5600 series ” popular speed model… Is this name not official?

After the release of the first model, successors with enhanced functions were introduced, and in 1987, the “DW-5600C” was born, inheriting the square case design from the original “DW-5000C. The simple form of this watch has remained as the basic G-Shock model through the ages.

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The “5600 series” starting with the DW-5600C has been called the “Speed Model” and has been loved by many, but it is not actually the name of the series that Casio came up with. The inspiration for the name came from Keanu Reeves’ role in the 1994 blockbuster movie “Speed. In the action-packed film, he wore a G-Shock DW-5600C-1V, which became the talk of the town and was an explosive hit. Since then, the square-shaped G-SHOCK has been nicknamed the Speed model.

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Incidentally, in the 2000s, G-Shock continued to appear in entertainment content in Japan as well, with Takuya Kimura wearing it in the movie version of “Hero,” Junichi Okada wearing it in the drama “SP,” in which an important police inspector of the Metropolitan Police Department plays an active role, and Tomohisa Yamashita wearing it in the coming-of-age drama “Buzzer Beat,” about professional basketball players. For men in their 30s and 40s who may have been viewers at the time, these watches must have had status not only for their functionality but also as fashion icons worn by the stars they admired.

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