Over the past few years, Citizen has made a conscious and significant return to mechanical watchmaking after decades of focusing on its light-powered Eco-Drive quartz movements. This move has not only made Citizen more appealing to many watch enthusiasts, but it has also made the brand a stronger competitor against its eternal rival and fellow Japanese watchmaker, Seiko.
Now, Citizen is taking on Seiko in what may be the latter’s historically strongest competitive area — the budget automatic diver-style watch — with a new automatic diverish tool watch of its own that undercuts the price of Seiko’s popular Seiko 5 Sports SKX Series.
Citizen, like Seiko, knows its way around a dive watch. From the quirky Aqualand to the legendary “Fugu,” Citizen has a long and storied history of underwater timekeeping. So it’s worth mentioning right off the bat that Citizen’s new budget tool watches, while they look like dive watches, technically are not. Like Seiko’s SKX Series, these new watches are classified as “diver-style” watches rather than true divers, as they lack certain requirements.
Now, with that disclaimer out of the way, here’s what Citizen has cooked up to take on the SKX Series.
Your move, Seiko
The new Citizen NJ022 Series consists of three automatic tool watches with diver-inspired designs. All have an eminently wearable stainless steel case measuring 38.5mm across and just 11.5mm thick, which matches up favorably with the smaller version of Seiko’s SKX Series at 38 x 12.1mm.
The design is classic dive watch, with highly visible lume-filled applied indices consisting of circles, elongated pentagons at 6:00 and 9:00 and a wide triangle at 12:00. There’s a white date window at 3:00, and a classic diver minute track featuring “60” at the top. Dial text is pleasantly sparse, with only “Citizen” appearing under 12:00 and “Automatic” above 6:00.
