G-Shock Inventor Kikuo Ibe Discusses the Innate Collectability of G-Shock and the Success of the Full Metal Line
I met Kikuo Ibe for the first time last November during the G-Shock 35th-anniversary party held at Madison Square Garden. Although the larger-than-life spectacle featured contemporary cultural icons like Virgil Abloh and Ronnie Fieg, everything was centered around Mr. Ibe, the eccentric engineer who created the practically indestructible timepiece.
My next in-depth encounter with the world that Mr. Ibe created was while I was working on a feature story on the history of G-Shock design for WatchTime’s annual Design Issue. During my research process, I talked with over a dozen watch collectors that felt their horological journey had been started by G-Shock. It’s a known truth that being a serious watch collector involves a certain kind of madness, and I found that G-Shock collectors were even more passionate and emotional about their watches than many of the Swiss-based collectors I’ve met during my time as a watch journalist. G-Shock fandom is non-discriminatory, it consumes both neophyte collectors as well as deep-pocketed hobbyists that have literal safes filled with watches. Once I finished the article, my interest was not yet sated, and I yearned for my next comprehensive G-Shock experience. Kikuo Ibe, November 2018
My second one-on-one encounter with Mr. Ibe took placed a few weeks ago when I met him at the G-Shock showroom in New York for a follow-up interview. Read on as Mr. Ibe and I discuss the recent success of the Full Metal line, the importance...
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A Week in Watches Ep. 79 – Swiss Leftovers
29-04-2024 05:06 - (
Luxury Watch )