Development Story of G-Shock’s Tough Silicone Band by Casio

Although the G-Shock watches with the all-new Tough Silicone Band are noticeably more expensive than their standard resin counterparts, it is certainly an innovative look that many will find more to be more comfortable than stainless steel bands and more attractive than resin bands.

Casio published a behind the scenes article titled “10 years in the making! The development story of G-SHOCK’s ‘Tough Silicone Band'” and featuring product planner Shinji Saito and designers Takumi Yasuda and Hayato Ikezu. (The Japanese article is available translated with a Chrome browser.)

As mentioned in our post about the GM-5600YM/YMG and GM-2100YM/YMG models with the Tough Silicone Band, the new band took over ten years to develop. Although the idea of using a metallic vapor deposition on a resin band was first conceived over fifteen years ago, the band needed to conform to G-Shock’s high standards of durability, and Casio eventually decided to combine a vapor-deposited resin band with the use of silicone for a G-Shock.

The article confirms that the silicone layer is the (black) backside that makes contact with the wrist, and the front has a thin transparent layer that protects the metallic vapor deposition on its reverse side. The band was developed with the help of Sunarrow Co., Ltd., which specializes in silicone processing. (Sunarrow Co. is also known for making the carbon fiber bezel on certain G-Shock models like the GG-B100.)

Although the metallic style is the most attention-grabbing aspect of the new band, Saito states that “The primary objective was to achieve both the wearability of silicone material and the abrasion resistance of urethane resin.” He also mentions that the band will be used for other future G-Shock models and the back of the transparent layer can be decorated with other non-metallic designs.

Read the original article at casio.co.jp