A Classic 1970s Chronograph Gets a Thoroughly Modern Makeover

The Bullhead’s back, but is it better than ever?

Published August 12, 2024

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As one of the world’s largest and most significant watch brands, Citizen has released a plethora of notable models over the course of its first century in business.

One of my favorite Citizens ever, and one of the most sought-after on the vintage market, is the “Bullhead” Challenge Timer Chronograph. Debuting in the early 1970s and produced throughout the decade, the watch was powered by an in-house automatic flyback chronograph movement and featured a distinct layout with its crown at 12 o’clock and two chronograph pushers on either side resembling horns, hence the moniker “Bullhead.”

The watch was long a niche favorite among vintage enthusiasts but reached greater fame on the wrist of Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 blockbuster Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. (The film takes place prior to the watch’s release in 1969, but I’m willing to overlook this fact for how cool it looks on screen.)

Back in 2018, Citizen resurrected the Bullhead with its Tsuno line — a far more contemporary, larger, Eco-Drive quartz-powered chronograph with the familiar horned layout. Now, the brand has released a new version that may be its most dynamic modern Bullhead yet, thanks to a unique blend of details.

Citizen Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer Super Titanium

$1,195 at Citizen

The Super Tsuno

The latest Tsuno Chrono Racer uses the same movement we’ve seen in previous modern versions, which is Citizen’s Cal. E210. It’s a unique movement in that the main timekeeping functions run on Citizen’s light-powered Eco-Drive quartz technology, while the chronograph is a mechanical module that functions just like a mechanical chronograph.

This makes the movement an exceedingly rare solar-powered meca-quartz chronograph, and it also features an alarm complication, a date window and a power reserve indicator to round out its complications.

It is worth noting, however, that even though Citizen refers to this chronograph movement as a “flyback,” it’s not the same type of flyback seen on the original Bullhead where you can reset and restart the running chronograph simultaneously with the press of a single pusher, a feature typically only seen on high-end chronographs.

citizen watch on a shirt — The Super Titanium Tsuno features an alarm, date and power reserve indicator to go along with its chronograph function.

Instead, it simply refers to the subdial hands resetting instantly when you reset the chronograph, which is standard on mechanical and meca-quartz chronographs but is rarely seen on traditional quartz chronographs.

The watch’s blue panda dial with black tachymeter bezel and red accents is perhaps the best colorway Citizen has come up with so far for the modern Tsuno, as it recalls the original’s 1970s racing heritage without directly copying one of the old color schemes.

The new version’s case is also crafted from Citizen’s proprietary Super Titanium, which combines titanium’s light weight with an anti-scratch treatment that makes it five times harder than stainless steel.

We’ve seen a Super Titanium Tsuno before, but it was only available on a full titanium bracelet (and with a green dial). The new style comes fitted with an integrated leather rallye strap complete with perforations and white stitching, again acting as a stylish nod to the watch’s motorsports origins. The strap features a titanium buckle with an angular design to match that sharply faceted case.

Should Citizen be more bullish on the Bullhead?

As far as modern iterations of the Bullhead go, this new one is hard to beat. The colorway is very attractive, the rallye strap is a better fit for the watch than a full bracelet, and the use of Super Titanium makes the watch feel more premium and provides it with a technologically advanced case material to go along with its fancy movement.

If you’re into Citizen’s current oversized and busy Tsuno line, then I definitely think this is the one to get. (It’s also a limited edition of 2,500 pieces, so you might want to get on it if you like the watch.)

However, I still think that Citizen could stand to be even more bullish when it comes recreating the Bullhead by giving us a new automatic flyback version.

brad pitt lena dunham and Margaret Qualley appear in a scene from the film once upon a time in hollywood — The cult-favorite Citizen Bullhead received heightened attention after Brad Pitt wore one in *Once Upon a Time in Hollywood*.

Granted, it would be a pretty big undertaking that would involve either the development of a new movement entirely or a sort of reworking/reissuing of the old Cal. 8100 that powered the vintage examples, similar to what Omega did when it resurrected the Cal. 321 from the original Moonwatch a few years back.

Either option would require a lot of investment and R&D, and the resulting watch would probably be priced around $5,000 on the low end. That’s high for a Citizen, but the current cheapest automatic flyback chronos on the market, to my knowledge, come from Longines and Frederique Constant and cost between $4K and $5K, so I don’t see how the brand could go any lower.

a vintage citizen chronograph watch — Will Citizen ever recreate the original automatic flyback version of the Bullhead?

If Citizen were to make such a watch that also brought back the simpler styling and smaller sizing of the original Bullhead, then a significant portion of the enthusiast community — present company included —would go bananas.

A new in-house automatic flyback Bullhead Chronograph from Citizen feels like a pipe dream right now, but with the brand’s recent renewed interest in automatic movements with its Tsuyosa and Series8 lines, there’s a chance it could happen.

But until it does, Bullhead fans will likely be pretty happy with the new Super Titanium Tsuno that just launched.