Casio released their first watch in 1974, and soon became appreciated for the concept of relatively inexpensive but highly reliable and durable Japanese sports watches.

The Casio sports watch ushered in an entirely new line-up of durable, water resistant watches that would become the bedrock of Casio’s sport watch offerings. Of course, having a great product is only half the battle for any company. The other half lies in timing, and in the case Casio really lucked out; the 1980s were a time where gym memberships soared, Pilates and yoga become household words, and lumbering hulks that were body builders started crossing over to the big screen and demonstrating the value of fitness to fans across the world.

Casio also made a number of great choices that targeted it specifically at active 20-30-somethings: it was extremely resilient, water resistance, had a countdown timer, internal light, and a stopwatch. Since then Casio’s sports watch lineup has become more of a mainstream series of watches for the semi-active 20-30-something crowd, while trying to integrate fashion as a new focus. This has opened the door to a number of specialty variants, not all of which go by the Casio moniker.

There are now low-cost series of Casio sports watches aimed at referees, and those that want an inexpensive heart rate monitor, and even those who want an integrated calorie counter. These more specialized sports watches by Casio have returned to the basics: durable, lightweight plastic shells with quirky designs that set them apart from the competition.

While Casio presently offers both the G-Shock series and custom suited sports watches for many applications, it is worth noting that many technologies pioneered by Casio’s formidable arsenal of sports watches have since become standard features for all Casio watches. Everything from limited water resistance to the ability to use a wristwatch as a stopwatch began with Casio’s sports watches (if not in other brands) and then trickled down to virtually every model of wrist watch on the market today.