Back in 1918, a Japanese and Swiss watch collaboration would take place. Shokosha Watch Research Institute (founded by Yamazaki Kamekichi) and an assembly plant opened in Sugamo Yokohama by Swiss watchmaker Rodolphe Schmid, who wanted to sell watches in Japan.
Registered as “Citizen” in 1918, Citizen watches were created as affordable watches for the general public and by 1924, the first pocket watch released.
Two citizen watches were purchased by Chamberlain Kinoshita Michio and one was presented to Emperor Showa and praised the domestic watch with precision versus imported products.
By 1930, Citizen Watch Kabukishikigaisha was established in Takadanobaba but the name was changed to Dai Nippon Tokei Kabukishikigaisha. But to change back to Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. in 1948.
By 1993, the company would launch the world’s first multi-band atomic timekeeping watch in 1993 and synchronized to atomic clocks, these watches were accurate to within one second for a hundred thousand years.
The company is known for its “Eco-Drive” watches. These watches use a battery recharged by a solar panel hidden under the watch face.
In 2007, the company would grow furthermore, acquiring Bulkova, Swiss watch company Proser (now known as manufacture, La Joux Perret) and later Frederique Constant in 2016.
Having reviewed many and owned many Japanese wristwatches, I have personally have never owned or reviewed a Citizen watch until now.
I am reviewing the Citizen Corso Eco-Drive4 Blue Dial Watch (AW1740-54L) which retails from Citizen at the pricepoint of $395.00 (but you can find it cheaper elsewhere).
The Citizen Corso Eco-Drive4 Blue Dial Watch (AW1740-54L) is a classic timepiece and is the latest addition to the Corso Classic collection. Accentuated by a silver-tone stainless steel case and distinct coin edge bezel that holds a blue three-hand dial with date.
The watch features a sleek stainless-steel bracelet band fastens with a fold over clasp with hidden push buttons and of course, being a Citizen watch, this watch features Eco-Drive which is sustainably powered by any light source, eliminating the need for a battery, and is water resistant up to 100 meters.
So far, this watch has been running remarkably well with a combination of a light source (outdoors and in the office) but I have since kept it in my office for the last five days where the only light source would be my computer monitors and sure enough, it’s still working. That is a major plus!
I find the date magnifier to be interesting compared to other watches that I have in the fact that it really does magnify the numeric quite well. It’s important to note that these new Corso wristwatches have the magnified date windows, most Corso watches DO NOT include this. So, it’s awesome that this was included with these newer Corso’s as it’s something you would often see on diver watches.
With that being said, the Corso is offered in black dial with rose colored markers, black dial with gold colored markers, silver dial with gold markers and many more variation of the time markers. The Corso lineup also features simple Eco-Drive watches with black or brown leather brands.
But when it comes to Citizen, it’s possibly one of their more simplistic looking, classic designs. A few with chronographs but what I like about this watch is it’s size, the magnified window and the blue dial and stainless steel works very well together.
It’s important to note that having a big wrist, the bracelet band was a bit bigger, so for those with thicker wrists, need not worry of the watch not fitting. In fact, you may need to remove a link.
But overall, this is an elegant, yet simple wristwatch from Citizen. The new design is no doubt very welcomed but even more special is how well the Eco-Drive watch continues even with minimal light and has been quite accurate and haven’t had to worry one bit of needing to adjust the time at all.
Overall, the Citizen Corso Eco-Drive4 Blue Dial Watch (AW1740-54L) is classy, simple, affordable and definitely recommended!
