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Citizen adds two watches with textured ‘washi’ paper dials to its The CITIZEN Collection, specifically within the Iconic Nature series inspired by natural beauty.

Two new The CITIZEN Collection watches boast textured paper dials.

Both new Eco-Drive-powered 38.3mm titanium watches feature the eye-catching colorful paper dials created to display patterns and color gradations that appear to shift as the ambient light changes.

One model,  AQ-4100-22W, is cased in ‘Duratect Platinum’-colored Super Titanium and presents a green dial that combines traditional cloisonné patterns of intersecting circles as seen in many flowers.

The more luxurious-looking brown-dialed model, AQ4106-00W, is cased in ‘Duratect Sakura Pink’ Super Titanium. Both watches depict a golden eagle (a Citizen symbol) in flight on the dial and on the solid caseback..

As they are very thin, the ‘washi’ dials allow light to pass through, which makes them a material perfect for pairing with light-powered Eco-Drive watches. Washi has long been used to make paper room screens in Japan.

Citizen powers both watches with its Eco Drive Cal.A060, a perpetual calendar that boasts accuracy of ±5 seconds per year and will operate for eighteen months on a full charge (in power save mode). In addition, each perpetual calendar automatically adjusts the end of each month, including in leap years, until February 28, 2100. 

Prices: $3,295 (green dial) and $4,125 (brown dial). Each model is a limited edition of 300 worldwide.

Citizen launches three new models in its Attesa Eco-Drive Satellite Wave GPS watch series.

Like previous models in the celestial-themed series, the new watches are designed in cooperation with the Hakuto-R commercial lunar exploration program. Citizen provides its Super Titanium alloy to the space program as a component of the landing legs for its next mission. The lander for Mission 2 is scheduled to be launched at the end of 2024.

Citizen Attesa model CC4065-61Y with a mother-of-pearl dial.

All of the new models are Eco-Drive Atomic Timekeeping watches equipped with Direct Flight, a Citizen technology that allows easy adjustment of the time and date in 24 time zones with a twist of the crown.

One of the three new watches, Attesa model CC4065-61Y, features a full mother-of-pearl dial, the first found in the Attesa collection. Citizen layers mother-of-pearl over a colorful dial base metal, evoking patterns that echo the moon’s surface. Elsewhere on the dial, Citizen applies materials with different textures to approximate the look of a moonlit night.

And this model is the only one among the new debuts to be fitted with Citizen’s premium F950 movement boasting accuracy to ±5 seconds per month , which is capable of receiving time signals in as little as three seconds.

New Citizen Attesa Model BY1008-67L.

The other two debuts are set with Citizen’s Eco-Drive Atomic Timekeeping Cal.H874, which clocks in with a rated accuracy of ±15 seconds per month.

Each of the other debuts, Model BY1008-67L and Model BY1009-64Y, also offer moon-themed dials, Here Citizen uses textured ink on the dial create distinctive lunar patterns.

One model offers a blue-tinged dial and a silvery moon with a 41.5mm Super Titanium case in gray DLC while the other links rose gold tones and black DLC on its 41.5mm case. The latter model also displays metallic pink accents inspired by the color of cherry blossoms.

New Citizen Attesa Model BY1009-64Y.

Here, Citizen utilizes moon phase display that shows the phase as calculated by the proprietary ‘Luna Program’ that which calculates the moon phase for each day based on date signals received from multi-band radio transmitters.

Prices: $1,475 (BY1008-67L Limited edition of 2,400 pieces worldwide, and BY1009-64Y Limited edition of 2,100 pieces worldwide) and $2,995 (CC4065-61Y Limited edition of 1,900 pieces worldwide). 

 

Citizen marks Godzilla’s 70th birthday with a limited-edition 48.2mm steel-cased Godzilla collaboration watch featuring a design based on the watchmaker’s Promaster Professional Diver 300m.

The new Citizen Eco-Drive Professional Diver Godzilla Collaboration Models.

Already nicknamed the ‘Ecozilla’ watch by fans, the new  Godzilla Collaboration Model features a dial, case, and bezel with a camouflage pattern inspired by Godzilla’s scaly skin. Citizen underscores the watch’s theme by including tiny images of Godzilla within the pattern.

Citizen is offering two dial variations of the new model. One features a black dial with the classic black and white image of Godzilla (model BJ8056-01E, a limited edition of 2,500).

The second release offers a dark red dial with Godzilla roaring in huff (BJ8059-03Z, a limited edition of 3,000).

On the back of each model you’ll find Godzilla’s footprint, a feature only found on this limited-edition model.

As Eco-Drive watches, both watches are powered by light and will operate for six months on a full charge (in power save mode). And as Promaster watches, both feature solid adventure-ready technical specifications, including water resistance to 300 meters, a Citizen Cal.B873 movement accurate to plus or minus fifteen seconds per month, luminous hands and indexes, a unidirectional bezel and a screw-lock left-side crown.

Price: $900. 

At the end of the year it’s time to note our favorite 2023 debut watches. We continue our look at a few of our favorite timekeepers of the year. 

Maurice Lacroix: Pontos S Diver 

Maurice Lacroix revisited its Pontos S Diver earlier this year,  revamping the dive watch with a sharp-looking new dial sporting bolder indexes and minute markings, improved luminosity and a raised date frame.

With the updated 42mm watch, Maurice Lacroix enhances dial visibility with newly facetted  hour and minute hands, both of which glow with SuperlumiNova. On the minute hand you’ll now see a border colored to contrast with the dial. The hour indexes retain their generous luminescent treatment. 

Maurice Lacroix also retains the watch’s useful internal rotating bezel to indicate elapsed time, adjusted using the crown at the 2 o’clock position. The second crown at the 3 o’clock position is used to adjust the time, date and to wind the automatic ML115 movement. All models are water resistant to 300 meters. Prices: $2,050 (steel) and $2,600 (bronze). 

 

Bell & Ross: BR05 Chrono Green Steel 

Bell & Ross mixes nature and architecture with the new BR 05 Chrono Green Steel, one of its newest in the BR 05 series of ‘rounded square’ designs.  The watch is even more approachable as a steel model, when compared to the gold-cased, three-hand model (BR 05 Green Gold) from earlier in the year. Bell & Ross fits an eye-catching automotive-inspired 360-degree rotor to the movement, which is visible through a sapphire caseback. 

Price: $6,200 (rubber strap) and $6,700 (steel bracelet). 

 

 

Citizen: Washi Paper Limited Edition 

This limited-edition model features a Tosa ‘washi’ dial enhanced with powdered platinum leaf using a traditional Japanese decorative technique called S unago-maki that echoes the look of freshly fallen snow.

The 38.3mm case and the bracelet are made of Super Titanium treated with Duratect Platinum, making the watch scratch resistant and giving the metal a gleaming, almost transparent, silver hue. And of course the watch is equipped with a high-accuracy light-powered Eco-Drive movement with an annual accuracy of ±5 seconds. Price: $4,300. 

 

Pro Tek: Field Watch 

This quite affordable 3000 Field watch is crafted in a slim (11mm) and lightweight titanium case in either a natural or black IP version. All are capped with a flat sapphire crystal over a dial and hands enhanced with 3 colors of T-100 self-illuminating tubes. 

Rated and tested to a legitimate 100 meters of water resistance, the ProTek Series 3000 field watch can also be a casual-use water watch and is delivered with a waterproof Italian leather strap. With a light weight of just over 48 grams (head-only), the watches are very comfortable on the wrist for extended use. The threaded (screw-down) back is also crafted in titanium with a stylized P” presented in deep relief, as it is on the double-gasket crown. Inside the case is a Citizen/Miyota quartz movement with a four-year battery accurate to +/- 20 seconds per month. Retail price is $475 at www.watchgauge.com. 

 

Custos: Challenge Sealiner PS 

At 59mm by 45mm, this watch’s impressive sapphire case is endowed with a non-reflective coating on both sides and is affixed with specialized Cvstos polished titanium screws. Its sharp-looking teak dial really sets it apart from other nautically themed models. Just below the stylized luminous hands (including a very cool propeller-shaped small-seconds hand) lies a teak-wood plate, echoing the woodwork found on many an ocean-cruising yacht.

Cvstos will make twenty-five examples of the Challenge Sealiner PS with orange or turquoise dial and crown accents and matching rubber strap.  Price: $49,500.

Zenith: Pilot Big Date Flyback

Powered by the new El Primero 3652 automatic high-frequency chronograph (a new version of the Zenith El Primero 3600), this hero debut from Watches and Wonders 2023 displays its namesake functions with panache. The steel model is especially notable for its vintage ‘Rainbow Flyback’  references with its chronograph’s minutes totalizer finished in alternating colors, which will make it easier to distinguish between the five-minute marks. 

In addition, the steel model’s central chronograph seconds and its chronograph minutes hands are bright orange. This is another nod to the Zenith El Primero Rainbow from 1997. Also very cool, the model’s black ceramic version (above) is more utilitarian look with luminescent white markers and hands that contrast nicely against a black corrugated dial. On both models, the oversized date display features a new, patented mechanism that advances and stabilizes both of the big date’s wheels in less than 0.03 seconds.

Prices:

Pilot Big Date Flyback – Black Microblasted Ceramic: $13,500 and Pilot Big Date Flyback – Steel: $11,500.

Citizen Watch America last week opened its first-ever U.S.-based multi-brand flagship store in New York City. Offering a wide range of all the Citizen Watch America group brands, which include Citizen, Bulova, Accutron, Frederique Constant, and Alpina, the 7,000-square-foot, three-story flagship is situated at 605 Fifth Avenue, near Rockefeller Center.

Designed by architect Ken Park and his award-winning New York-based firm Kenneth Park Architects, the store features a large video display that can be seen from the street, showcasing watches in apparent three-dimensional views. Inside, a seamless twenty-feet-long wall highlights Citizen’s watchmaking history.

Citizen also teamed with Paris-based Japanese architect, Tsuyoshi Tane (ATTA – Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects) to create an artistic installation called Light is Time, which features thousands of suspended movement baseplates that glitter in the light.

In the store, the first two floors display a full range of watches from each of the Citizen group brands, including timepieces available exclusively at the flagship location.

Next year, Citizen will unveil a museum archive and a dedicated space for events and community programs.

“We are proud to join the ever-growing Fifth Avenue shopping district and introduce Citizen Watch America group brands through an innovative and immersive experience,” says Jeffrey Cohen, President of Citizen Watch America. “This is our first-ever U.S. multi-brand flagship and there is no better place than New York City to capture the inclusive worldview of our company as it serves as the most iconic intersection for citizens from across the world.”