Timeless Design |
05/04/19
This unlikely Japanese design has graced the wrists of a variety of characters from Osama bin Laden to Barack Obama since 1991. Here I explore a humble masterpiece of industrial design: the Casio F-91W watch.
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Since the 1974 launch of its first wristwatch, Casio were rebranding the conventional timepiece as an "information device for the wrist". Perhaps the first smart watches, they included not only stopwatches and alarm clocks but calculators and calendars into their wristwatches. Their calculator versions, with fiendishly small buttons, epitomised the Japanese passion for miniaturisation.
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But the F-91W was a simpler model, stripped back both in its form and its multifunctionality. The F-91W features the classic seven-segment numerical display on a grey LCD screen. It has three buttons on the side to use its features. These include a stopwatch, second timer, alarm and the option of an hourly time "beep". It's a trusty timepiece: water-resistant, extremely durable and accurate to within 30 seconds a month. It is simply the classic digital watch.
What I find most incredible about the design is it's timelessness and diversity of wearers. From hipsters to terrorists (and my dad!) it has a rare and divergent customer loyalty that suggests it is in the realm of great design. In recent years there has been a resurgence in its popularity among trendsetters in the UK. A range of "Vintage" Casio watches including the F-91W are available for trendy shoppers in Urban Outfitters. Or, for the not so fashion-conscious, in Argos for about half the price. |
Casio UK head of marketing Tim Gould says that they're not trying purposely to appeal to trendy. It simply is what it is. Perhaps it's this refusal to be cool that has made it cool.
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"We purposely don't market it as anything cool or trendy. It's not pretentious and doesn't pretend to be anything it's not. It just a basic watch that is reliable and good value."
- Tim Gould |
However, in 2011 this unassuming, black, plastic, digital timepiece found itself in the news for a different reason. Leaked US documents reportedly advised interrogators at Guantanamo Bay that possession of the F-91W could be a link to bombing by al-Qaeda. Apparentley, the model is al-Qaida's equipment of choice as the timing device for improvised exploding devices (IEDs). They're handed out in terrorist training camps, where junior jihadis learn how to wire them up to a circuit board, a couple of 9V batteries and a wodge of plastic explosive. The package is concealed in a standard electrical outlet box, with the F-91W a macabre calling card – programmable up to 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds, it allows the bombers to put ample distance between themselves and their targets. In truth any cheap, reliable digital watch would do, and it's surely an accident of fate that led to the F-91W gaining this notoriety.
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Anyway, this is all just a colourful distraction from what is truly remarkable about the F-91W – the fact that it is a digital product that has remained unchanged for 20 years. Casio's mainstay comes from a parallel world where designed obsolescence – the sales strategy that has cursed everything from our lightbulbs to our computers – doesn't exist. We desire no improvements or embellishments: it just works. |
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/apr/28/casio-f-91w-watch-design-hipsters-al-qaida
https://monocle.com/radio/shows/monocle-on-design/on-design-73/
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/2533393
https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/en-gb/brands/casio
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/apr/28/casio-f-91w-watch-design-hipsters-al-qaida
https://monocle.com/radio/shows/monocle-on-design/on-design-73/
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/2533393
https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/en-gb/brands/casio