Citizen's Surprising Horological Capabilities

KIH · 2014-11-14T19:59:02Z

Discover Citizen's hidden horological depth beyond Eco-Drive. KIH explores award-winning designs, historical innovations, and mechanical capabilities.

KIH

WPS member · Horological Meandering forum

14 replies4152 views13 photos

KIH unveils the unexpected depth of Citizen's horological prowess, moving beyond its well-known solar-powered quartz watches. This post highlights Citizen's award-winning design exhibition in Tokyo, which showcases the brand's foundational philosophy, historical innovations, and experimental mechanical capabilities, challenging common perceptions of the Japanese watchmaker.

CITIZEN, a lot of time may seem under radar, is doing interesting things around the world. They make many watches, known better for solar powered quartz, "The Citizen" line is the top of the line (like GS of SEIKO), which has both mechanical and quartz (in CITIZEN's case, 5 sec per year is the standard, not 10 sec per year, unlike GS), but we don't often see or know the capability of this brand.

There is an Exhibition being held right now in Tokyo by CITIZEN about their winning award of "Milan Design Week" or "Milano Salone".

There are three parts in the Exhibit:

(1) The award winning design.

(2) CITIZEN's basic concept and its history - always about "time" and "future".

(3) How CITIZEN makes watches and some of the small parts, included which was the xxxxxxxx movement, which CITIZEN calls "just an experiment by our watchmakers to show our capability".

Surprise 1: What won the award? And which award?

The one which won the award is this. Those who went to Basel last year my have seen it already. This "design" won "The Best Entertaining Award", and "The Best Sound Award". This is the first time one entry won two categories at the same time.

Enjoy my amateurish photos for a while.

The entrance. MY watch is.... well, you will see it later in Surprise 2

Star light? No...

Beautiful.

Each of the "star" is made from the actual base plate of CITIZEN.

In the center is the very old schematics (around 1920) of the pocket watch of CITIZEN.

... and this is it.

Message on Milan Design Week 2014.

From CITIZEN

From the Desingers:

And the Trophies! (unique, eh?)

Signed by some of the project members.

To be continued to Surprise 2 - please read on!

Ken

This message has been edited by KIH on 2014-11-14 19:09:31

Key Points from the Discussion

Citizen's exhibition reveals a rich history of "World's First" innovations, tracing the concept of time from 13.8 billion years ago to the brand's own historical milestones.
The exhibition showcases Citizen's potential "NEXT" in watchmaking, including experimental mechanical movements designed to demonstrate the brand's advanced capabilities beyond Eco-Drive quartz watches.
Citizen is opening its first US Boutique in Times Square, NYC, on November 19th, signaling a strategic move to enhance its global presence and showcase its diverse offerings.
The post is highly educational, revealing Citizen's deeper capabilities and history beyond its association with Eco-Drive movements, particularly highlighting the originality of the base plate decoration.
Citizen holds a significant role in many collectors' watch addiction, with early quartz models like the "Blue Angels" being objects of desire and contributing to a lifelong appreciation for the brand.

The Discussion

KIH

Nov 14, 2014

The Part 2 is the report of the other exhibit. - CITIZEN's basic concept and its history - always about "time" and "future". Surprise 2: There are so many "World's First". Starting from the history of the concept of the TIME. Started 13.8 billion years ago. Some of the pages of CITIZEN's employee book (every and single employee has this book - more later) Some of the Prominent CITIZEN watches in the history. CITIZEN F: CITIZEN's first men's mechanical wrist watch (1931) - Cool! The schematic of

KIH

Nov 14, 2014

Here is the last part of the report on the exhibit. This is an interesting "revelation", for those who think CITIZEN is just a solar-power Eco-Drive gagetary Quartz watches. Well, apparently not. We have seen through the exhibit that CITIZEN is not just another "quartz watch" brand but much bigger than that, including the philosophy, creativity, "advanced" mentality and global mentality of the employees all over the world. Now here you see the potential "NEXT" of CITIZEN. They say, this is just

KIH

Nov 14, 2014

CITIZEN is opening its first US Boutique in NYC, Times Square. 1500 Broadway. Opening date is November 19th - next week! (Note: for the opening day event, only press may be invited) Please someone, stop by and post report here! Thank you very much for reading my as-usual lengthy post. Best, Ken

rnaden

Nov 14, 2014

something which I really did not know. Citizen to me is usually associated with the Eco drive movements, but this is an eye opening and very educational report. Thanks for this, and that decoration made with base plates is very original and nice.

KIH

Nov 14, 2014

... advanced and forward "thinkers" than I had expected. Need to stay tuned on them, I felt. Ken

Ronald Held

Nov 15, 2014

Make some comments. My images and report will not be on the same level as for the NY Seiko boutique.

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