Time's Forge: A Twenty-Year Exhibition Log of Metal and Plastic
In the E6 hall of Shanghai New International Expo Center, the lustrous surfaces of stainless steel and acrylic converge under the spotlight.
Curator Director Zhou Ming adjusted the angle of the last plastic clock, making it form a precise 30-degree angle with the adjacent metal series. There was not a single wooden clock on the exhibition stand - for the past two decades, the company has focused on communicating with metals and plastics. These two seemingly ordinary materials have charted an unusual course in the dimension of time.
2004 · The Declaration of Metal
The first exhibition was held in a temporary pavilion at the Guangzhou Exhibition Center.
On a 9-square-meter booth, there were 12 metal wall clocks, all with stainless steel casings. It was during the second year of the company's establishment. The founder, Li Zhenhua, insisted on using metal: "The wooden clocks are from the past. We want to create time that belongs to modern industry."
The first batch of products was clumsy yet honest. The 304 stainless steel sheets were stamped into shape, with the edges slightly rough. The dial was simply printed with numbers using a screen printing process. On the first day of launch, a Dutch buyer tapped on the clock face, and the stainless steel produced a dull echo. "Why not use plastic? It's lighter."
"Metals leave traces of time," Li Zhenhua pointed at a tiny scratch on the sample. "And each mark is unique." This statement impressed the other party, and they placed an order for 800 of the samples right there and then. The sample clock that had been struck was later hung in the factory's meeting room, and the scratches could be faintly seen in the light.
The debut of metals carried a cold and industrial feel, but unexpectedly it coincided with the market perception of "heavy materials and meticulous craftsmanship" in China during the early part of the century.
2008 · The Possibility of Plastics
Beijing Exhibition, the company introduced plastic materials for the first time.
At that time, there was a great deal of internal controversy within the team. The designer of the metal group believed that "plastic is cheap", but Chen Yun, the marketing director, conducted research and found that in scenarios such as children's rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens, there was a need for lighter, safer, and more colorful options.
The first batch of plastic wall clocks were made of ABS engineering plastic and were designed in six candy colors. The exhibition booth was divided into two areas: the left side featured the cold and sleek luster of stainless steel, while the right side presented the bright colors of plastic. Interestingly, many buyers would compare the two sides and often ended up placing orders for both materials.
A kindergarten principal stood in front of a pink cat-shaped plastic clock and said, "We need something that won't break easily, has rounded edges, and has bright colors." That day, orders from educational institutions accounted for 40% of the sales of the plastic clocks.
The addition of plastics is not a replacement, but an extension. Metals continue to dominate in "serious scenarios" such as offices, hotels, and public spaces, while plastics have opened up "flexible scenarios" such as home, education, and children's markets. The two materials form a subtle dialogue at the exhibition booth.
2012 · The Fusion of Materials
Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. The enterprise launched a "metal + plastic" composite series.
After eight years of exploration, the team discovered the limitations of a single material. The designer attempted to embed a colored plastic inner ring within the stainless steel frame, and to set metal scales on the plastic clock body. They even developed an unconventional design featuring a metal dial with plastic hands.
That year, the most eye-catching exhibit was a "Time Puzzle": the outer ring was a stainless steel brushed ring, the inner disc was semi-transparent acrylic, and the movement of the mechanism was barely visible. A reporter from the German "Watch Industry" magazine spent twenty minutes at the exhibition booth and the headline of the report was "When Hardness Meets Softness: The Dialectic of Materials in Time".
The order structure has undergone a significant transformation: the proportion of composite material products has reached 35%, and the average order value has increased by 60%. More importantly, it has attracted the attention of interior designers - the mixing of materials was precisely the design trend at that time.
2016 · The Depth of Craftsmanship
At this point, the exhibition has been held for the twelfth year. The industry is embroiled in a price war, and a large number of cheap plastic clocks are flooding the low-end market.
The enterprise has adopted a reverse approach: delving deeper into material and craftsmanship. The metal series introduces "forged texture" surface treatment, giving each clock a unique pattern; the plastic series incorporates "double-layer injection molding" technology to achieve a color gradient effect.
The exhibition booth was designed as a "Material Laboratory": On the left side of the exhibition wall, there are samples of 20 different surface treatments for metals, while on the right side are test samples of 15 different plastic light transmittance and color effects. Buyers can select material combinations just like choosing fabrics.
The purchasing director of a Japanese chain hotel group lingered for a long time in front of the hammered patterned stainless steel clock: "We are looking for designs that can convey an industrial feel while also having a handcrafted warmth." That order required that the pattern on each clock should not be repeated, making the production extremely difficult, but the unit price was three times that of the ordinary models.
2020 · Sustainable Theme
The online exhibition during the pandemic requires a new telling of the material stories.
Close-up shot of the bevel edge of the metal clock: "Our stainless steel recycling rate reaches 92%." The camera then switches to the plastic area: "These use recycled plastic particles from the ocean. Each clock contains the equivalent of 3 plastic water bottles of recycled material."
The comments were very enthusiastic:
"Finally, a brand is seriously talking about environmental protection"
"The metal surface treatment is so beautiful, it looks like an artwork"
"The color of the recycled plastic has more depth"
Surprisingly, the "Blue Series" made with recycled materials became a hit online. Not only did young consumers purchase the products, but they also bought the underlying values. A Bilibili YouTuber spontaneously made a unboxing video with the title "In This Clock, There Lies the Story of the Sea".
2024 · Responses of Materials in the Era of Intelligence
At this year's exhibition, the AI clock was the absolute star. However, the booths of enterprises in the E6 hall chose to focus on the materials themselves.
In the center of the exhibition stand is a huge "Material Timeline":
2004: First generation 304 stainless steel, thickness 1.2mm
2008: First generation ABS plastic, available in 6 colors
2012: Patent Certificate for Metal-Plastic Composite Technology
2016: The forging texture surface treatment process won a design award.
2020: Report on the Application of Recycled Plastics in the Ocean
2024: The latest "metal memory alloy" and "biobased plastic" have been developed.
The right exhibition area is called "Material Library", displaying 137 samples of materials accumulated over the past 20 years. On the left is the "Future Materials Zone", showcasing cutting-edge technologies such as conductive plastics, self-repairing metal coatings, and light-changing materials that are currently under development.
The most eye-catching interactive installation is one where visitors can touch samples of materials from different years and experience the evolution over two decades. A materials science professor accompanied by his students came and stayed at the booth for the whole afternoon: "This is the micro-history of the evolution of materials made in China."
Closing time · The declaration of materials
At 5:30 p.m., the exhibition closure began.
Zhou Ming didn't act immediately. He put on his gloves and gently touched the 2004 first-generation stainless steel clock on the display stand. The edges were already rounded, the scratches had formed a unique patina, and there were a few minor dents on the glass surface. It was still running, and the sound was slightly heavier than that of the new product, but the rhythm remained as stable as before.
"For twenty years, we didn't make a single wooden clock," he said at the team's summary meeting. "It sounds very restrictive, but precisely because of this limitation, we were able to dig deep enough in the fields of metal and plastic."
The data supports this statement: They have accumulated 23 patents related to materials, developed 9 generations of plastic formulas, mastered 17 metal surface treatment processes, and established cooperation with 5 university material laboratories. When the industry is chasing intelligent functions, they insist on deeply exploring the material track - because no matter how technology progresses, time always resides in specific substances.
The workers began to carefully pack the exhibits. The metal clocks were placed in specially designed boxes filled with shock-absorbing cotton, while the plastic clocks were individually wrapped in non-woven fabric bags. When Zhou Ming placed the first-generation clock into the box marked "2004-001", he suddenly realized: the age of this clock's material was exactly the age of the company's participation in the exhibition.
Before closing the box cover, he pressed the phone's recording button and recorded the sound of the clock ticking for ten seconds - it was the sound of the metal gears working in conjunction with the plastic components, a sonic testament to his twenty-year exploration of materials.
Twenty years, in the vast expanse of history, is but a fleeting moment. But for an enterprise that specializes in metal and plastic wall clocks, this was a material experiment completed in 7,400 days. They proved that constraints often give rise to depth, while concentration opens up breadth.
As the world is captivated by the virtual time on the screen, these metal and plastic wall clocks continue to tick on the walls, speaking in the language of materials - time is not just the flow of numbers, but also the enduring presence of matter in space. Each tick is a handshake between the material and time, an earnest record of the eternal moment by industrial aesthetics.
Next year, the story of materials will have a new chapter. But the core remains unchanged: In an era of change, make some basic, physical, and tangible things good enough to withstand the scrutiny of time.
Because time itself is the most rigorous material tester.
