Living on Plastic – for a Month: Episode 1

And so it begins…

As a self-confessed watch addict, I know I spend too much time, money and effort pursuing the latest Ideal Watch. I spend hours talking with watchie friends, comparing ideas and thoughts on new and vintage watches. I even spend too much time in the morning deciding which one to wear. It’s not unknown for me to take a spare along in the briefcase just in case I fancy a change half way through the morning.

This is an addiction. Clearly.

So I have a plan. An experiment, if you like.

I’m going to see what happens when I lock the watchbox (toybox?) and put my metaphorical chequebook away.

I’m going to be a one-watch chap for the next month.

But not just any watch. Oh no. That would be no good at all. It needs to be the antithesis of everything that’s currently in the collection.

My thing is for classical, clean-lined and vintage. So a Reverso sits alongside a 1964 gilt-dial 1016, an early GMT II, an Exp I, an HEQ Grand Seiko and a hunting pair of Nomoses (Nomoi?) along with a few others.

The ideal foil? A Casio, clearly. And not just any Casio either. It must be cheap, resin and digital. The complete opposite of the current mob.

So it’s going to be a Casio F-91W.

And it’s not in the spirit of the thing to buy my new, plastic Casio from a proper shop either. Again, this needs to be the opposite of my usual watch transactions. These are usually either over a glass of wine with a fellow watchnerd in a country pub, a London hotel or in a smart, vintage watch dealer.

So, with barely two clicks of a mouse, I’ve ordered a brand-new Casio F-91 from Amazon. It arrives, courtesy of Royal Mail any day now. And I’ll be turning the key in the watchbox, giving it to Pip for safekeeping, and strapping on, er, a plastic Casio F-91W-1YER. Snappy. And I’ll be wearing it – no matter what the occasion – for a month.

Fellow watchies will understand the magnitude of the task. Non-watchies will simply have confirmed their views on my sanity.

I’ll keep you posted.

by Mark McArthur-Christie

Come back next Thursday for Episode 2: The Arrival