The rise of the plastic tank
This morning I just realized that my AQ-230 has roughly the same dimensions as an XL tank. There are of course some marginal differences, such as the small digital display on the Casio and an order of magnitude gap in prices, but yeah..apart from that they are pretty much the same. Except that the Casio is 100% plastic fantastic.
The scene from Hoffman’s “The Graduate” is a classic, but how many of us can understand this in the right historical context (and how come the 60’s suddenly became history)? We take plastic for granted today but it was not very common in the 60’s. Sure, everybody knew what plastic was, but there were not a lot of consumer’s goods made of plastic. Even the ruler with which my teachers smacked my fingers was made of wood. Plastic was exotic and high tech.
Somehow it feels right that Casio decided to use plastic when they revived the classic square ana-digi from the 80’s. Obviously the 80’s are not the 60’s and by then plastic lost it’s high tech vibe, but it’s still a nod to the past and I can’t stop wondering how Dustin Hoffman would look with a futuristic plastic digital tank on his wrist, maybe he would not have felt so lost after graduation?
Yes, I know. Casio doesn't call it plastic. God forbid if they let you think that it’s plastic instead of their mysterious “resin”. But it’s plastic, trust me. It feels like plastic, it weights like plastic and it even look and scratch like plastic. It’s plastic.
Is it such a bad thing? Well yes and no. It’s not great if you expect to keep this watch and pass it to the next generation. The plastic is soft and will scratch and wear and in a few years the watch will look like it spent the night in a blender. It’s also not the best choice if you like to do your bit for saving the environment.
Plastic however is a great choice if you want to mass produce on the cheap. It’s also not only light on wallet but on the wrist as well. And as for longevity, well the ana-digi watches from the 80’s were made of metal and I have yet to see one of them that doesn’t look like crap. So perhaps taking good care of your watch is more important than the choice of material.
So bottom line, it’s not really a tank, it doesn’t pretend to be high horology but it’s still a lot of fun to wear if you are into neo-retro watches.
I'm a big fan of watches that are interesting because they are either unique, have interesting features, well designed or simply offer a great value for their price.
I’ve come around to watches like this. This is the sort of thing that was common when I was a kid, and as such I spent years thinking of them as both old and uncool. Now they’ve become old enough for me to think they’re cool again. I will say that I’d prefer metal to plastic, but as you point out, cheap metal doesn’t last much better than plastic. I don’t own any watches of this style, but I keep finding myself looking at them so I assume it’s only a matter of time.
Is it safe to call it a "light tank"? Or maybe "tank lite"?
I guess plated plastic is only worse than plated metal in terms of being a bit softer, but I suspect the adherence is inferior as well. With bare plastic, one can always file and sand to their heart's content.