BY ERIK SLAVEN
These days, integrated steel sports watches are all the rage, born from luxury in the 1970s with the legendary Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus. Accessible options have inevitably filled in the gaps with Tissot leading the way with its recent PRX automatic collection. Japanese juggernaut Citizen has also jumped in the ring with high-end offerings like the Caliber 0200 and (more affordable) Citizen 8 automatics, but the brand now has the accessible Tsuyosa collection with four dial colors and an in-house automatic movement. It’s an impressive series with amazing price tags, which generally requires a brand with size and many decades of experience to pull off. Citizen certainly has both.
The stainless steel cases are contemporary yet manageable for most wrists at 40mm in diameter. An integrated steel bracelet seamlessly blends with the case, both having brushed and polished surfaces. It has a Rolex President vibe with long, rounded links, but is definitely not a copy and connects to the case via a mid-link. A folding clasp secures it to your wrist. The crown is a bit unconventional with a 4 o’clock position, but that’s a signature element for affordable Citizen watches (Seiko as well). A sapphire crystal with a Rolex-ish magnifying lens over the date protects the dial, while an exhibition case back displays the in-house automatic. Citizen has the experience, machinery and scale to produce cases and bracelets that are both affordable and well-executed, and that’s definitely the case here. Fit and finish belie the accessible price.
There are four dial options with two classic colors and two that are a bit more edgy. Black and a rich blue, both with sunray finishes, are classy, understated and give the impression of a more expensive sports watch. A sunray green is more adventurous, while a bright yellow is for those that like to stand out.
All feature bold applied indices with luminescent inserts (double index at 12 and 6 o’clock), while the hour and minute hands have lume inserts as well. The date at 3 o’clock is again magnified and dial text is limited to simple branding and “AUTOMATIC,” similar to Tissot’s PRX (quartz models).
Powering the collection is Citizen’s caliber 8210, which is basically a branded variant of the Miyota caliber 8218 – Miyota, of course, is owned by Citizen. This movement is also seen in Citizen’s Promaster watches, although with a day/date complication. It has 21 jewels, beats at 3Hz with a 40-hour power reserve. Seen through the exhibition case back, it’s expectedly undecorated, but has nice golden plates and a gold rotor.
So, what’s the price? All four retail for just EUR 299, which is a steal for such well-executed, in-house integrated sports watches. They’ll also be available as a standard series (no limited editions).
Visit Citizen here.
