Citizen’s Ultimate All-Purpose Watch Gets a Gorgeous New Dial Treatment

This is the most watch $3,000 can buy.

Close-up of a watch face with silver hands, black and silver hour markers, a date window showing "7," and a textured blue and white background with a gold emblem.

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My admiration for Citizen’s The Citizen collection is well documented (I even made a video about it). But the Japanese watchmaker’s premier design just keeps getting better.

The newest addition to The Citizen lineup brings three of Japan’s most renowned crafts together in one stunningly beautiful watch that is (almost) always accurate, requires minimal maintenance and is much tougher than it looks.

Citizen wristwatch with a silver case, blue and white striped dial, black leather strap, and date display at 3 o'clock. — The Citizen ‘Japan Blue’ features the collection’s new 40mm Super-Titanium Case with a crown guard.

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The new The Citizen Washi Paper ‘Japan Blue’ features the collection’s new 40mm Super-Titanium Case introduced in early 2026. It is just under 2mm wider than the collection’s previous case, and features a more traditional silhouette with smoother sloping lugs.

A small, curved crown guard was added to enhance the watch’s already superb durability. It is still made of Citizen’s proprietary Super-Titanium alloy, treated with a Duratect Platinum coating that prevents scuffs and scrapes while creating a platinum-like luster.

The dial is also updated with lume on the hour hand, minute hand and chapter ring, providing low-light legibility that was lacking from the previous generation.

Citizen wristwatch with a silver case, blue and white textured dial, black leather strap, and date window at 3 o'clock. — The new generation of The Citizen features lume added to the hour hand, minute hand and chapter ring.

The Citizen is a quartz watch, meaning it has inherent shock resistance, which is enhanced by a sensor that corrects impact shifts, and it’s paired with 100m water resistance, so you basically never have to take the watch off.

It is Citizen’s answer to Grand Seiko’s E9 collection, blending classical dress watch architecture with high-performance sports watch capabilities.

But, as is the case for most of the collection, the true beauty of the Washi Paper ‘Japan Blue’ reference is found on the dial.

Japanese indigo

Most dials in The Citizen collection feature washi paper, a traditional Japanese craft that you’re probably familiar with from lanterns and home decor. It’s a brilliant application because it allows light to reach the photovoltaic cells that power the Eco-Drive movement below.

Close-up of a Citizen watch face with silver hands, black and silver hour markers, a date window showing "7," and a textured blue and white dial. — The Washi Paper ‘Japan Blue’ dial is indigo-dyed with a pole-wrap *shibori* technique.

Citizen has used indigo on washi paper dials before, but this limited-edition reference introduces a traditional Japanese dyeing technique to the collection. The horizontal tie-dye effect, inspired by the ethereal mist depicted in Japanese artwork for centuries, is achieved using a pole-wrap shibori technique.

Tengu-jo washi, a stronger variety of the paper not featured on a Citizen watch before, is wrapped around a pole and scrunched up to create dense horizontal creases. It is dipped in natural Japanese indigo, flattened and dried, and then the process is repeated to create a layered effect.

As a result of this process, no two dials are identical. But, since it is so labor-intensive to produce, only 200 pieces are available with the new Washi Paper ‘Japan Blue’ dial.

Right on time

As impressive as the case and dial are, the foundation of The Citizen collection is the Caliber A060 quartz movement, the crown jewel of Citizen’s Eco-Drive family. It is, of course, charged by any light source, meaning you never have to change a battery. But that’s just the beginning.

It can sit in the dark for a full year, then kick back on and set itself to the correct time once it senses light. That’s thanks to a built-in perpetual calendar that keeps the instantaneous date complication accurate throughout the year, including leap years, once it’s properly set.

Back of a Citizen titanium Eco-Drive watch with black leather strap and silver buckle on blue background. — The Citizen Washi Dial ‘Japan Blue’ comes on a black alligator leather strap with a Super-Titanium deployant clasp.

Other features include a power-reserve meter that is activated by pressing the button at 2:00 and registered via the seconds hand. Along with an independent adjustable hour hand that is synced to the date, an indispensable feature for travel.

However, the most impressive feature of the Caliber A060 is its accuracy to within five seconds per year.

Availability and pricing

I said it before the new case update, and it rings even truer now. The Citizen is the best all-purpose watch $3,000 can buy. If you can get past the lurching seconds hand and any prejudice against quartz movements, it is an incredibly impressive watch.

I’m a purist who’s partial to the simpler dial variations, but the new Washi Paper ‘Japan Blue’ is one of the prettiest The Citizen dials yet. It is now available from Citizen for $2,995 and is a limited edition of 200 pieces.

Silver Citizen wristwatch with blue textured dial, black leather strap, and date display at 3 o'clock.

The Citizen Indigo Washi Paper Dial ‘Japan Blue’

Specs

Case Size	40mm
Movement	Citizen Caliber A060 quartz
Water Resistance	100m

$2,995 at Citizen

About the Author: Brad Lanphear is an associate editor at Gear Patrol covering watches and style. Before joining the publication, he previously wrote for Heddels and Men’s Health. Now, he’s on a never-ending quest to find the perfect pair of Japanese denim.

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