Ever since Citizen invented the solar-powered analog quartz watch in 1976, the brand has been busy refining its lauded Eco-Drive movements. To celebrate the 40-year milestone at this year’s Baselworld — and to ensure they remain the world leader in solar-powered watches — they released the Eco-Drive One, one of the most insanely thin watches ever made.
To achieve an overall thickness of 2.98mm (more than half that of the iPhone 7), Citizen completely reworked all 85 components of the movement to make it just one millimeter thick. To keep the case from bending, they built it from stainless steel coated with Citizen’s proprietary “Duratect” diamond-like coating for the standard version and cermet, a super-hard ceramic-metallic alloy, for the special edition. The end result is the thinnest solar quartz watch you can buy today. It’s a compelling reminder that innovative thinking and superlative engineering are not exclusive to mechanical watchmaking.
Movement: solar-powered quartz
Power Reserve: 10 months (if left in darkness)
Case Diameter: 38.25mm
Case Thickness: 2.98mm
Case Materials stainless Steel; cermet