Watchlords

Eiichi Yamada became president of Citizen in 1946, quickly creating Citizen Trading Company in 1949, which would act as a separate sales and marketing subsidiary for overseas markets. Starting exports only years later, in 1955. Along with this, Eiichi Yamada asked his employees to create a new selection of watches to help boost sales.

Thus, by the early 1950s, Citizen was introducing new timepieces, including: Japan’s first calendar watch (1952), its first shock-resistant watch (1956), its first alarm wristwatch (1958), and its first water-resistant watch (1959). More importantly, however, these moves by Yamada are what lead to the launch of the Parashock in 1956! Japan’s first shock-resistant wristwatch!

During the summer of 1956, Citizen staged a series of demonstrations showing just how shockproof the watch was. The company arranged for a special public demonstration in 11 different cities in Japan, of watches equipped with the new Parashock system. The Parashock was dropped from a helicopter in Osaka, 30 meters above the ground in a large spectacle. Many Japanese citizens looked on proudly and were amazed to see the watch was not damaged upon impact. The same experiment was held countrywide.

By 1956, as a result of the successful helicopter marketing campaign, the brand was once again generating buzz.

https://montrespubliques.com/new-1minut ... -parashock