1980s | Casio Watch 50th Anniversary | CASIO

1980 W-100 100-meter water resistance for use in water sports This watch had the rigid resin case, but with 100-meter water resistance. Its comfortable fit and lightweight design made it great for swimming and other water sports, and it also had a stopwatch, timer, and other functions useful for athletes. Even powering all this functionality, the battery life was still great, at about five years. 1980 C-80 First calculator-style Casio watch This wristwatch incorporated a keypad the user could operate with a fingertip, leveraging original Casio miniaturization technology. In addition to doing all you would want in a watch, it offered all four arithmetic operations to eight digits. Even further, the Finger Touch System (FTS) circuitry could electronically determine the likely intended key when the user pressed two or more at once. Reinterpreting accidental input to grasp what the user meant to do — this was a truly conscientious design touch of the sort only Casio, a calculator maker, would think of. This timepiece was a milestone in both multifunctional watch development and wearable calculator design. 1981 J-100 Jogging watch with pace-setting function This sports-oriented timepiece was created just in time for the worldwide jogging boom. Helping joggers keep their desired cadence with an electronic signal, the watch could also measure required time, distance, number of steps/strides, and average speed if the user specified stride length. It also displayed lap times down to 1/100 of a second. Rigid resin was used to allow for a lightweight, colorful design. From athletic-minded younger fans to health-conscious older users, joggers of all ages loved this watch. 1982 T-1500, T-2000 Digital watches with English-Japanese & Japanese-English dictionaries Casio leveraged original LSI technology to develop a CPU capable of running English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries on these digital watches. The T-1500 included English terms and phrases at about the level of a junior high school graduate, while the T-2000 went further with terms and expressions for travelers and businesspeople. Needless to say, all the desired basic watch functions were included, as well. Another new step for Casio — a “walking dictionary” that changed the time-telling wristwatch into a wearable information device. 1982 DW-1000 Diver’s watch with 200-meter water resistance Designed to perform as a diver’s watch, this was the first Casio digital watch to deliver 200-meter water resistance. The stainless-steel, screw-lock case back ensured a water-tight seal. Paired with a top bezel made of resin, this made for an all-around heavy-duty design. Even when using the stopwatch or timer functions, the watch also separately displayed the current time, a highly practical feature. More than ready for intensive use, it also had long-term stamina, with a battery life of around seven years. 1982 TS-1000 First wristwatch with a built-in thermometer The TS-1000 could tell the temperature, another first for a wristwatch. It employed a fine ceramic semiconductor called a thermistor to sense changes in temperature. The alarm function even notified users of temperatures above or below specified ranges. Despite the greater number of components, the watch was still an easy size to wear, thanks to the new single-chip microprocessor and high-density mounting technology. This also ensured low power consumption, providing for a roughly three-year battery life. 1982 AQ-500 (Janus) First Casio analog-digital combination watch with three hands Offering both a digital display and an analog display complete with hour, minute, and seconds hands, this watch gave the advantages of both: an intuitive grasp of the time at a glance and confirmation of the time with precision. The name was inspired by Janus, the two-headed god of time from ancient Roman mythology. It boasted a refined design to complement dressy, formal attire, along with functionality like a stopwatch and dual time display. Variations including a gold version and one with a leather band were offered to meet users’ increasingly diverse needs. 1983 AT-550 (Janus Read Sensor) Touchscreen watch ahead of its time This watch not only boasted a streamlined design combining analog hour, minute, and seconds hands with digital LCD, but was also equipped with a calculator function allowing manual input. Users could draw numbers and math symbols with a fingertip on the glass, and the LCD would then display the formulas and calculation results. This epoch-making watch is still known as one of the first watches with the kind of gesture recognition people use today on smartphones and smartwatches. Not bad for the early ’80s. The technical achievement was significant. The touch sensor incorporated a transparent terminal switch as the cover-glass of the watch face. The originally developed Finger Trace Recognition System (FTRS) provided character recognition architecture that delivered accurate results regardless of factors such as the size of the letters or where characters were traced on the screen. This was a true pioneer in wristwatch multi-functionality requiring no physical buttons. 1983 CFX-200 Calculator watch that could perform scientific calculations The CFX-200 added full-fledged scientific calculator functionality to the C-80 calculator watch which, three years earlier, already had a keypad allowing direct fingertip input and 8-digit calculation functions. Offering support for 25 scientific calculation functions, 12 types of unit conversions, and memory for three fixed numbers, this amazing tech breakthrough met a broad range of needs, from research to practical work. It was a truly high-spec timepiece, boasting an abundant selection of practical features for daily life and business settings as well, with stopwatch and alarm functions, 12/24-hour format switching, and more. 1983 DW-5000C (G-SHOCK) Tough watch that overturned common sense about the wristwatch The very first G-SHOCK hit the scene at a time when people thought of wristwatches as sensitive instruments in need of careful handling. Turning this conventional thinking on its head, the G-SHOCK created all-new value by redefining the timepiece as a tough tool that could withstand drops and impacts. The development story began with a single-sentence proposal to construct a tough watch that would not break even if dropped. After about two years of trial-and-error and over 200 prototypes, Casio finally achieved a revolutionary shock-resistant structure. The unique hollow case structure protected the movement from external shocks, and the urethane bezel provided an omni-directional buffer, keeping all the watch components safe. The new G-SHOCK was not only praised by professionals working in extreme conditions; it also sparked a craze in youth culture, with skateboarders and others flocking to the brand. With the strength and functionality to handle hard use, all in a super-cool design, G-SHOCK watches have become a global favorite, an instantly recognizable must-have for street fashion, known for combining inspiration from sports, art, music, fashion, and other cultural forms. By 2017, more than 100 million G-SHOCK watches had been shipped worldwide. 1983 TC-500 Touchscreen calculator watch Owners of this watch could perform calculator functions on the touchscreen. Just switch the LCD from timekeeping to calculator key display, then simply press the virtual keys shown on the screen with a fingertip on the glass to input math equations. With its large LCD set in a square case, the design previewed the smartwatches of today. The distinct look and feel of this model summed up the spirit of innovation behind every Casio watch. 1983 W-27 First solar-powered Casio watch The very first Casio solar watch, able to generate power from sunlight or even fluorescent lamps, combined a high-efficiency, amorphous silicon solar panel and an energy-efficient LSI developed by Casio. Power generated by the solar panel beneath the LCD ensured stable operation of various functions, while also recharging an internal battery to ensure smooth operation later in dark locations. Also offering 50-meter water resistance and a slim profile of just 6.5 mm, this design met all the demands of daily use. 1984 CD-40, CD-401 Data Bank watches with telephone number storage These Data Bank watches allowed users to store telephone numbers in internal memory. Ten combinations of numbers and letters (up to 12 numbers and 4 letters) could be stored for easy, on-the-spot recall. Also equipped with calculator functionality, this watch was handy for a wide range of settings, including business. As Data Bank functions continued to evolve, the name came to be synonymous with the multifunction digital watch. 1984 Casio ships 100 millionth watch Casio surpasses 100 million watches shipped, nine years and nine months after the November 1974 debut of the Casiotron. In less than a decade, Casio goes from the world’s first auto-calendar function to a wide array of other features, from calculator, dictionary, and phonebook functions to onboard thermometers and other sensors. The Casio focus on developing an information device to wear on the wrist is paying off, giving it a real presence in the watch market. 1985 FS-10 (PELA) Slim, lightweight digital watch with integrated case and band This watch took a whole new approach to structure, creating a new fashion item befitting the digital age. The comprehensive design process started with the basic construction of the watch. Miniaturization technologies delivered dramatic size reductions, and hybrid molding techniques allowed for different materials to be molded together. The case and band were integrated — a revolutionary idea in wristwatch design. Featuring a slim profile at 3.9 mm and a light weight of just 12 g, this streamlined timepiece became an instant hit. Eventually, over one million were sold. 1985 DBC-60, DBC-600