They produced the world's first electronic wristwatch: Casio

The birth of the Casio brand dates back to 1946. Founded in Tokyo by Tadao Kashio, an engineer specializing in manufacturing technology, the company was originally named Kashio Seisakujo. Their first product to market was a finger ring holding a cigarette called a yubiwa pipe. Thanks to the cap attached to the tip of the cigarette, the hands remained empty and the fingers could be used freely while smoking. Although this invention may seem very simple at first glance, after World War II, it attracted great attention among the Japanese, who had great economic difficulties and had to smoke cigarettes at high prices.

Tadao Kashio (1917-1993)

In the 1940s, calculators were beginning to become popular in Japan. Kashio and his brothers were impressed by the calculators they saw at the first Business Show in Tokyo in 1949 and began to think about how they could improve these products. Calculators at this time were still mechanical in nature and were manually operated using special gears and a crank or engine. Using their electronic knowledge and profits from selling yubiwa pipes, Kashio and his brothers turned to calculators.

Their efforts to make a calculator that works entirely with electronic components bore its first fruit in 1954. The solenoids they used performed the operations of mechanical calculators quickly and easily. On this date, the company succeeded in producing Japan's first electric calculator. These products also had 10 keys and made the use of a full keypad displaying numbers such as 100 and 1000 unnecessary and reduced the three different screen windows used until that day.

In 1957, Tadao Kashio founded Casio Computer Co. and introduced the Casio 14-A, the world's first all-electric compact calculator based on relay technology. Working entirely with electrical components, these products played a major role in closing the era of mechanical calculators. Capable of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing up to 14 digits using 342 electrical transmissions, these products were a major milestone in the history of electronic calculators.

New features added to electronic calculators in the 1960s were quick and easy to complete more complex mathematical operations, preparing the birth of scientific calculators. Launched in 1965, the 001 model became the world's first electronic calculator with a memory function. These products attracted great attention not only in the Japanese market, but also in Europe and America. The first export of the company took place in 1966; By 1969, the total amount of production reached the limit of 100 thousand.

The 1970s were the years when the company started to use its electronics experience in different areas and to increase its product range rapidly. II. Consumer demands and needs were changing in the Japanese market, which shed the traces of World War II, and the interest in electronic products was increasing. The company, which easily adapted to this change, made an important expansion in 1974 and entered the field of wristwatches. The achievements of the company in this field in a short time were highly appreciated not only in the Japanese market, but also in the world market.

In terms of brand recognition, wristwatches have been very important in Casio history. As a matter of fact, while increasing the product variety of wristwatches in the 1970s, it made many innovations in terms of design and functional features. For example, wristwatches that work both digitally and analogously, and features such as temperature and pressure indicators, day, month and year indicators have reshaped the world watch market. The quality control processes effectively implemented in the production chain of multifunctional wristwatches enabled it to offer wristwatches suitable for use in all regions of the world and in all conditions.

Launched in 1974, the Casiotron was the world's first electronic wristwatch. The first LCD wristwatch was introduced in 1978 with the 31-CS10B model. G-Shock wristwatches, whose production started in 1983, were the first shock-resistant wristwatches. Within this model, the DW-5000C wristwatches have achieved great sales success around the world. CMD-40/401, the first wrist watch with a phone number memory, was met with great interest in 1984 when it was introduced to the market. As a matter of fact, these products provided quick and easy access to phone numbers. The FS-10 ultra-thin digital watches, launched a year later, heralded new changes in the appearance of wristwatches.

The 1980s were the years when the Casio brand rapidly increased its product range and reached a great power in the world market. Having achieved great commercial success in calculators and wristwatches, the company entered the electronic musical instrument market and became one of the world's most important manufacturers of musical instruments. This new expansion of the company has made a great contribution to increasing brand recognition. The cost reduction and ease of use of electronic musical instruments heralded a new era for amateur musicians as well as professional musicians.

It introduced the first electronic keyboard in 1980 with the CT-201 model. A year later, the one-touch automatic accompaniment electronic keyboard CT-401 met with music lovers. On the same date, the CT-701 electronic keyboard with melody guide function was launched, following the VL-1 electronic keyboard with memory capacity and autoplay feature. Over time, many musical instruments such as a mini keyboard with a ROM package, the first digital piano, a digital drum kit for playing sound via MIDI, a digital guitar with different tones, and a digital wind instrument were introduced to the market.

Casio musical instruments have won the admiration of users from almost every age group in many countries of the world since the 1980s. The company, which has successfully used its experiences in the consumer electronics industry in electronic musical instruments, has paved the way for the emergence of new concepts in the music market with the multi-functional features it has brought to these products. In particular, the new features it brought to organs and pianos contributed greatly to the development of musicians' creative abilities.

In the 1990s, the company continued to increase its product range and turned more towards digital products. The product group includes cash registers, illuminators, film cameras and digital cameras, notebook computers, e-data benches, electronic dictionaries, digital diaries, printers, portable televisions. The innovations it brought to these products brought great competition among technology brands and enabled the establishment of standards in the sector.

For example, the first consumer digital camera, the QV-10, launched in 1995, revolutionized digital cameras with its LCD screen on the back. Developed by the team led by Hiroyuki Suetaka, these products were the first ultra-compact model to feature a 3-megapixel camera and ceramic lens technology. The LCD screen, used for previewing and viewing, has become a standard in the next generation of digital camera technologies.

Today, Casio holds the market leadership in many digital product groups. Although calculators and wrist watches are more prominent among these, we can say that Casio has a high level of market dominance in many product groups from musical instruments to mobile phones, from digital cameras to cash registers.

What is yubiwa pipe?