The 9 Best Citizen Watches of 2023
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Did a search for the "best Citizen watches" lead you here? Well, you’ve come to the right place. As one of the largest watch companies in the industry, the Japanese brand makes a wide variety of watches, But their “métier,” or specialty, is harnessing technology in watchmaking.
We gathered up the best Citizen watches, from entry level timepieces that cost a few hundred bucks to stunners that cost a few thousand dollars. And our best overall pick, the "Tsuyosa" Automatic, is sure get a few looks from strangers.
Is Citizen a Good Watch Brand?
Citizen has been an innovator over its entire 100-year history. Not only did the company change the quartz technology game, it also released the first Japanese-made water-resistant watch. In 1970, it released the X-8 Cosmotron Chronometer, which distinguished Citizen as the first brand anywhere to offer a piece made from titanium. Not long after, Citizen pioneered Eco-Drive: light-powered watch technology that it continues to perfect almost 50 years later.
Today, the brand makes battery-powered watches, as well as automatics and Eco-Drives, in assorted styles, all for a variety of purposes. To answer the question: Yes, Citizen absolutely makes great watches. The Japanese brand makes so many bangers, it’s hard to choose the best. But we decided that the nine below were our favorites.
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Why You Should Trust Me
I’ve been collecting watches for nearly as long as I’ve been able to tell time. Around 10 years old, I started disassembling pocket watches to see what makes them tick. Today, I feel naked if I accidentally leave the house without a watch on my wrist—so I’ll go back and get one. Currently, my cache includes a variety of vintage and contemporary pieces from micro brands to G-Shock. Most days I wear a Rolex Explorer II, but my grandmother’s Mickey Mouse watch will always be my favorite.
Best Overall Citizen Watch: Tsuyosa Collection
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Clean and simple, the Tsuyosa is a classic automatic sports watch named for the Japanese word for strength—and it’s certainly a strong contender for a place in your collection. The watch comes on an integrated bracelet with polished center links that give off the Rolex “presidential” bracelet vibe. There’s a date window at three o’clock and, more interestingly, a four o'clock crown. The dial is available in black, green, yellow, and turquoise, but we’d roll with the deep blue for versatility that works with anything from a three-piece suit to your well-worn Japanese denim.
- CASE: Stainless steel
- MOVEMENT: Citizen (Miyota) Caliber 8210
- DIAL: Blue
- SIZE: 40mm
- STRAP: Stainless-steel bracelet
Best Citizen Dive Watch: Promaster Dive Automatic
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This version of the Promaster Dive Automatic watch has a serrated bezel design inspired by fugu, the Japanese name for pufferfish—thus the watch’s nickname "The Fugu.” Even for those who aren’t PADI certified, this automatic diver would make a great daily beater or perfect vacation watch. Beyond its 200-meter dive capabilities, the piece furnishes a day-date calendar function, in case you’ve lost track sunning yourself on the beach or you’re just stuck in the mid-week doldrums at work.
- CASE: Stainless steel
- MOVEMENT: Citizen (Miyota) Caliber 8204
- DIAL: Black
- SIZE: 44mm
- STRAP: Polyurethane
Best Thin Citizen Watch: Eco-Drive One
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Looking at its head on, you may wonder what makes the Eco-Drive One special, but a side view would instantly reveal why it’s so impressive. The piece measures less than three millimeters thick. That’s why the Eco-Drive movement found inside has to be assembled by hand. A full charge will keep this piece running for 12 whole months. It’s an elegant time-only watch with a sub seconds dial at six o’clock and comes on a black crocodile strap with a signed clasp. Some might say bigger is better, but in this case thinner is a winner.
- CASE: Stainless steel
- MOVEMENT: Citizen 8845 Eco-Drive
- DIAL: Black
- SIZE: 37mm
- STRAP: Crocodile leather
Best GMT Citizen Watch: Series 8 GMT
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For time zone-hopping road warriors, a GMT watch like this Series 8 is an absolute travel essential. The complication gives the wearer an independently set second hour hand that moves around the dial on a 24-hour scale. So they can track a second time zone or even a third using the bi-directional rotating the bezel. The Series 8 GMT is powered by a mechanical automatic movement and features a dial color that draws inspiration from Tokyo’s evening sky and a checkered pattern that represents prosperity in Japan.
- CASE: Stainless steel
- MOVEMENT: Citizen (Miyota) Caliber 9054
- DIAL: Blue
- SIZE: 41mm
- STRAP: Stainless-steel bracelet
Best Sci-Fi Citizen Watch: Boba Fett
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You don’t need to live in a galaxy far, far away to rock the analog-digital hybrid Boba Fett watch. The design evokes the Star Wars universe bounty hunter with a rendition of his iconic helmet in one sub-dial and an image of the “mythosaur”—a huge, ancient creature that’s skull is the symbol of the Mandalorians—in the other. With an alarm, the digital time, a 1/1000 second chronograph, perpetual calendar and the temperature, it offers nearly as many functions as Boba Fett’s wrist computer in the movies.
- CASE: Stainless steel
- MOVEMENT: Citizen 8989 Quartz
- DIAL: Green
- SIZE: 33mm
- STRAP: Stainless-steel bracelet
More Citizen Watches We Love
Best Adventure Citizen Watch: Promaster Aqualand
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The solar-powered Aqualand is an adventure-ready watch with diving as its core focus. The piece offers 200-meters of water resistance and a depth gauge that can record your previous maximum depth. The large hands and indexes are easy to read and painted with an intensely bright lume. Equally as legible, the red and black 120-click bezel is unidirectional, while the one second chronograph can measure elapses up to 50 minutes. For those keen on actually taking it under the sea, Aqualand also comes with a diver’s extension so it can be worn over a wetsuit.
- CASE: Stainless steel
- MOVEMENT: Citizen Eco-Drive
- DIAL: Black
- SIZE: 46mm
- STRAP: Rubber
Best Citizen Watch for Time-Keeping: Satellite Wave GPS Freedom
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The Satellite Wave GPS Freedom represents some next level time keeping. It uses signals from four GPS satellites to synchronize with the atomic clock. It’s hyper-accurate, features a perpetual calendar and can display the time in 27 cities around the globe. It also boasts the fastest charging time and longest reserve of any light powered watch as well as an indicator of how much light the watch is getting at any given time.
- CASE: Stainless steel
- MOVEMENT: Citizen Eco-Drive F150
- DIAL: Gray
- SIZE: 44mm
- STRAP: Stainless-steel bracelet
Best Titanium Citizen Watch: Promaster Dive Automatic – Super Titanium
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Whether deployed in the water or on dry land, the Promaster Dive Automatic in full titanium is ready to take a beating. Its classic diver design and construction make it water resistant to 200 meters and antimagnetic to 16,000 gauss. Behind an anti-reflective sapphire crystal, hands move around an ocean blue dial with applied indexes coated in a retro green luminous paint. As far as divers go it's a superb package watch and a steal for the price.
- CASE: Titanium
- MOVEMENT: Citizen (Miyota) Caliber 9051
- DIAL: Blue
- SIZE: 41mm
- STRAP: Titanium bracelet
Best Fun Citizen Watch: Sensational Six
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We are suckers for Mickey watches and Citizen’s Disney Sensational Six gives us not just the Mouse, but Minnie, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy and Pluto as well. Sure, there’s a leather strap with contrasting stitching and an Eco-Drive to give it a little adult sensibility, but the dial is the hook that will bring a smile to every child who refuses to grow up.
- CASE: Stainless steel
- MOVEMENT: Citizen J810 Eco-Drive
- DIAL: Blue
- SIZE: 40mm
- STRAP: Leather