Citizen goes after Grand Seiko, carefully
By Kenji Watanabe, Osaka ยท
For a long time the joke among Japanese collectors was that Citizen made the best quartz and Seiko made the best mechanical. The Caliber 0200 is Citizen's serious attempt to change that. Through La Joux-Perret, its Swiss subsidiary, Citizen developed an in-house automatic with proper hand finishing, and placed it in a quiet titanium dress watch.
The numbers are restrained: 40 mm, 11.8 mm thick, titanium, sapphire, a display back, 60 hours of reserve, date, 50 m. On the wrist this would be comfortable and discreet. It looks less flashy than a Grand Seiko, which some people will prefer.
What interests me most is the method. Citizen is one of the most vertically integrated watch companies in the world. It builds its own movements, cases and bracelets, and through Miyota it has supplied movements to a large part of the watch industry for decades. That industrial strength is different from what makes a hand-finished caliber beautiful, and with the 0200 Citizen seems to admit that by asking its Swiss workshop to help. The result looks like a Swiss movement in a Japanese case, which I think is honest. Some collectors in Japan see it as a weakness. I see it as a company learning in public.
On the wrist, I expect it would disappear in a good way. Titanium at 40 mm is light, the black dial is calm, and 11.8 mm is a sensible height for daily office wear. 60 hours is enough for a weekend if you take it off on Friday evening and put it on again first thing on Monday, though only just.
My hesitation is mainly the price. At 8,000 to 8,500 dollars it competes with the Grand Seiko White Birch and several good Swiss watches. Citizen's name still does not carry the same weight at that level, and resale will be weaker. Also 50 m water resistance on a sports-ish titanium case feels conservative.
Two smaller notes. The display back is worth having here, unlike on many watches where it shows only a plain rotor. And the bracelet, from what I have seen at the counter, is solid and well made, though the clasp is simpler than I would expect at this price.
For the collector who already has a Grand Seiko and wants to understand the other half of Japanese watchmaking, I think this is fascinating. For a first luxury watch, I would still point most people elsewhere.