An Iconic Affordable Japanese Brand Just Launched One of Its Best Watches Ever

When I think of Citizen watches, I think of affordable, good-looking and well-made quartz watches that are among the nicest available at my local shopping mall.

I don’t necessarily think “luxury”, but make no mistake, the brand — one of the largest watch brands in the world — is fully capable of producing premium products that can compete with some of the top names in Switzerland.

Chief among them is the brand’s The Citizen line, a nameplate reserved for the crème de la crème of Citizen watches. Most The Citizen watches are quartz-powered, with many boasting the incredible Caliber 0100 movement — the most precise quartz movement in the world, with accuracy to within one second per year.

But Citizen makes mechanical The Citizen watches too, and the brand’s latest is one of the nicest it has ever produced … and also one of the most expensive.

Citizen

Here’s to 100 Years

Seiko has gotten a lot of headlines this year for celebrating 100 years of the brand, with 1924 marking the first time “Seiko” appeared on a watch dial. But that same year, another Japanese watch brand also broke ground.

Yes, this year also marks 100 years of Citizen watches, with the first watch to bear the Citizen name — in this case, a pocket watch — debuting in 1924. Citizen has been a bit more reserved in its celebrations than its neighbor and rival, but when the brand does get the party started, it makes sure you know it.

Consider The Citizen Caliber 0200 100th Anniversary the start of the party.

Citizen

The new watch from Citizen is among the best the company has produced over the course of its century in business. A 40mm dress watch in stainless steel, it features a brushed bezel in 18K white gold for heightened luxury.

The silver textured dial was created using electroforming and was inspired by the appearance of icebergs. It, combined with the razor-sharp finishing on the dauphine hands and faceted indices, certainly brings to mind the dials of Grand Seiko’s watches, often cited as some of the best in the world.

The watch uniquely features an angular integrated case design, but instead of a bracelet, it’s fitted to a black leather strap. It’s not just any leather, either. The strap is made of Himeji Kurozan leather, AKA black diamond leather, which is handmade in a painstaking process involving several coats of lacquer to give it a lustrous sparkle.

Citizen

Finally, powering the watch is the titular Caliber 0200 automatic. This no-date version of Citizen’s highest-spec mechanical movement boasts a stated accuracy of -3 to +5 seconds per day, which is slightly better than COSC, and is wound via a skeletonized rotor in solid 22k yellow gold. The power reserve is a healthy 60 hours.

Pricing and Availability

There’s no getting around it, The Citizen Caliber 0200 100th Anniversary is expensive. It’s priced at $10,400, which is a couple grand more than other examples of The Citizen mechanical watches using the same movement. There’s major sticker shock here since it’s a Citizen, so why is it so expensive?

Well, for the same reasons any other watch is expensive. It features a high level of finishing throughout, it uses high-quality and expensive materials — most notably gold — and it has a high-grade, decorated, in-house mechanical movement. It’s also exceedingly rare, as just 160 examples will be available when it goes on sale at the end of the month.

Is all this enough to justify the watch’s push into five-figure territory? Well, I haven’t seen it in person, so I can’t say for sure. But just by looking at the pictures and the specs, I can think of many worse bargains in the luxury watch industry, and I certainly don’t think we should be discounting Citizen’s ability to make a quality timepiece.

After all, the brand’s been doing it for a century.

Citizen

Citizen The Citizen Caliber 0200 100th Anniversary

Specs

Case Size	40mm
Movement	Citizen Cal. 0200 automatic
Water Resistance	50m

• $10,400 at Citizen

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