The new Timex T80 Resin is the kind of release you don’t overthink. It’s pure Timex fun, plain and simple. The brand has wrapped its retro T80 in translucent resin and offered it in two flavors: clear with blue accents, and dark green with yellow. They’re otherwise identical, and picking between them would be tough for me.
Timex has been making affordable quartz and digital watches for decades, and the T80 is one of its more recognizable digital designs. The original leaned hard into the 1980s look, all bold display and Indiglo glow. Most T80s in the current lineup wear stainless steel cases with matching bracelets, so a synthetic case stands out right away. This one swaps metal for a softer, see-through polymer, closer to what you’d find on a G-Shock than the hard resin Timex usually uses.
The clear material is the interesting wrinkle. The T80 is an ’80s watch by design, but translucent tech belongs to the ’90s, back when see-through electronics felt like the future. It’s a small change that shifts the entire vibe. The softer resin also makes the watch lighter and easier to live with, which counts for something on a piece you’d actually wear every day. Because the strap is built into the case, you’re committing to the whole look rather than swapping bands later. That’s always been part of the T80 deal, so it isn’t a surprise.
Beyond the case, not much else changed, and that’s fine. You still get the same digital movement, the same Indiglo backlight for low-light reading, and the familiar spread of features: a chronograph, date display, alarms, and a timer. The feature set is the kind you forget you have until you need it, which is most of what I want from a sub-$150 digital. At a few dollars over $100, the affordability that defines the line stays intact too.
Pricing lands right where you’d expect from Timex. The clear version is up on the brand’s site now for $109, and the green is still in its pre-order phase. As for which one is worth chasing, I keep landing on the green. I can’t give you a clean reason for it. Some watches just don’t ask for one.
Co-Founder & Senior Editor
Michael Peñate is an American writer, photographer, and podcaster based in Seattle, Washington. His work typically focuses on the passage of time and the tools we use to connect with that very journey. From aviation to music and travel, his interests span a multitude of disciplines that often intersect with the world of watches – and the obsessive culture behind collecting them.