A true story – In 1981, a young engineer in a watchmaker company dropped his precious watch given to him by his father. It broke into pieces and he was devastated, but it also inspired him to come up with a watch that is unbreakable. As it was an “unofficial” project, the men’s toilet in his office became his makeshift laboratory. He would drop his prototypes out of the toilet window to test which one would survive the fall unscathed. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful until one day he noticed a girl playing with a ball in the park. That set him thinking, and he imagined the ball to contain a floating watch engine. That’s where he had his eureka moment and how the G-Shock is born. It took another 2 years before the floating module configuration is perfected. Since then, over 60 million watches have been sold in nearly 100 countries.
This story of Kikuo Ibe, the young engineer and founding father of G-Shock, teaches us a thing or two. First, creative solutions may not be right under your nose, but by straying away from your usual habits or thinking, it may lead you to the answer that you are seeking for. Second, the path to innovation, more often than not is something that is not achieved in a day or a week. With the idea formulated, passion and determination is also pertinent in ensuring that whatever project you are doing turns to reality. That truly is the road to innovation. Click here to read the interview he did with The New Paper.
