Attention Citizen Campanola Fans: Excellent Price

Here is one of those very classy Citizen Campanola watches that I would love to own. This is a model number AG6210-03E, sporting a curvy tonneau case, and a full perpetual calendar laid out in avant garde Campanola fashion. Like all excellent Citizen Campanola watches, this represents the best Japanese watch company Citizen has to offer in these hand decorated and handmade watches. I've discussed these watches at length, and you can read my many thoughts on them in these articles. Aside from the meticulously polished case and attractive face, the features in this Campanola are useful. This version focuses on the calendar providing the month, year, date, and date of the week. Further, the calendar is perpetual, meaning it takes into consideration leap years and the different amount of days months have. Lastly, the watch has synchronized 24 hour hand built into the the seconds subdial. Citizen is able to lay out this information in a way with lovely intrigue. I really love the hands on this watch. With triangular geometric precision they travel around the face's rounded and squared shapes. Interaction with the roman numerals is good, and legibility is clear despite the intense level of information.

The star of the CTS57-0701 is the movement

More importantly, the A660H (aka A660) movement represents one of the most accurate movement types in the world. To within 5 seconds a year! That means if you sync this watch with an atomic clock, at the end of of a year, it will only be a maximum of 5 seconds off. That is pretty amazing. A typical quartz movement is accurate to within about 10-15 seconds a month, and a mechanical movement.. well it really just depends, but can be to withing 5-15 seconds a day. Having said that, you should really be able to appreciate the accuracy of the A660H. Other than the Citizen Chronomaster, Breitling uses similar movements in their "Super Quartz" watches. So although this particular Citizen Campanola packs a lot in a demure looking case, it is still very attractive and uses the finest quality materials. The strap is crocodile leather with a superb locking clasp, and the craftsmanship is top-notch. The case is antimagnetic (as all good military themed watches should be, and a 38mm in size with 20mm wide lugs. This is a good size for such a styled watch. I encourage you to check it out on eBay, the price at under $1,500 is less than what a lesser Citizen Chronomaster would cost in Japan. Check out this list of most Citizen Campanola watches here (in Japanese).

Citizen Campanola Meets Chronomaster For Super Nice

Oh man, this one is rare, but you've got to love it. I think this is a perfect combination of style and technology that is bested in few places. Further, this particular Citizen Campanola is extremely rare. Probably only a handful are in the US. One of these is available right now on eBay. There are only 2000 of them in the entire world. You'll notice that this Campanola barely resembles the other highly styled ones that Citizen offers. While this model (the CTS57-0701) is not as avant-garde, is certainly retains the high level of build quality in a more classic, almost military look. Citizen chose to endow this model with a highly polished and thick steel case, brightly luminated hands and number markers, and a level of detail and finish almost never seen in Japanese watches. The star of the CTS57-0701 is the movement that is the super accurate quartz caliber A660H. This movement is taken from the Citizen Chronomaster (not sold in the US). One feature the movement has is a perpetual calendar with an individual date setting button. You can't see the buttons as it is recessed into the case, but it is in the 1 o'clock position and is used to adjust the date without messing with the time (as this movement also has a hack seconds function that stops the seconds when pulling out the crown for precise setting).

I have discussed the merits of this watch

What I really want to talk about is why high accuracy quartz movements are important. Some people suggest their relevance is limited given the availability of radio controlled watch movements that receive local atomic clock radio signals. While radio controlled watches are very cool, they lack at least two important traits. First radio controlled watches are not fully independent. They require being in the vicinity of the atomic clock radio towers (of which there are six in the world currently). If you are not within range, they are just ordinary quartz watches. A thermoline quartz movement is fully independent. Second, radio controlled watches take a lot of battery power. For that reason they aren't in receive mode all the time. Only occasionally do the receive the radio signals so that they can update themselves. Thus, you'll find that most radio controlled watches are either solar powered, or need to have their batteries changed more often. The Citizen A660 thermoline quartz movement does not have a high energy draw, and is better suited to longevity that radio controlled watches. These are pretty compelling reasons in my opinion to consider thermoline quartz movements special. The Citizen Chronomaster watch collection starts at about $1,900, and this one is likely under $1000 (there is a reserve on the auction, but I promise it is likely less than $1000. Further, these watches are very hard to find in the US. I would certainly consider them great for everyday wear or as a collector's item.

High End Japanese Citizen Chronomaster Ultra Accurate Watch

The main draw of the Japan only Citizen Chronomaster (previously discussed here) is really the movement. The Citizen A660 is a thermoline quartz movement that I spent some time discussing here. In summary it is a specially designed quartz movement that is able to modulate the vibration of the quartz crystal in differing temperatures to ensure consistency, which in turn allows for greater precision. A thermoline quartz movement is accurate to within about 5 seconds year! The Citizen Chronomaster is one of the nicest Citizen watches to embody this wonderfully accurate movement (same type of movement in the Breitling Aerospace). Now, because I have discussed the merits of this watch, I will briefly mention that one is available at a very fair price on eBay right now. So you should take a look. While the pictured watch is devoid of a strap, it is merely pictured that way and comes with two of them. So you are getting more than the case. These pictures really help to display the rich depth and high polish of the case. Seeing this allows you to appreciate the watch as the high end Japanese watch that it is, rather than a mid grade quasi classic formal watch.

Citizen often gets their Promaster line watches

Citizen often gets their Promaster line watches done right. Unlike Seiko, they get their professional watches in at under $500. Seiko has some seriously deceptive looking watch (good quality, but sometimes a $500 watch will look like a $50 one). Citizen on the other hand always looks a bit more expensive than they actually are, and I've never had a Citizen watch break on me (not that I have with a Seiko either actually). The Japanese really know how to put a quartz watch together! This particular model is the Citizen Promaster ref. JW0010-52E. I really like the layered look of the dial, and the many textures and colors. Despite it all, it remains pretty legible and handsome. The case shape takes some angularity and the hex shaped screws at a degree of strength to the look. That combined with 200m of water resistance, and an unheard of 5 year warranty, and you've got a real deal for $300- $400.

Citizen Promaster Split Second Timer

I read a lot about new advancements in mechanical watch timing technology. Stopwatches are chronographs, and come in probably 100 different forms. In my opinion the two most important aspects of a chronograph function is how long it times for, and in what increments. Most high-end mechanical chronographs measures increments of 1/8th of a second. Not bad, but they are hard to read for precision, and you'll certainly pay for the privilege. Add in such complications as split-second chronographs, and flyback mechanisms, and you get very complicated and outrageously priced timing tools. Funny enough, a cheap quartz chronograph only measures times in one second increments making them less worthy that their mechanical counterparts, but with a more complex electronic timer in a quartz watch, your timing precision is only limited by your trigger finger. Take the Citizen Promaster SST. It measures times with 1/1000 of a second precision. Honestly, your finger isn't even that fast, and the ultra fast timing is done on the LCD panel. This is actually one of the coolest looking Citizen Promaster watches I've seen in a while, and it does a good job of combining analog and digital readouts. Take for example the chronograph that is shared on both the dial and the screen. Actually, the subdials do most of the work, and while the watch is timing they move with blurred speed. Aside from the complex chronograph (that features split times, 20 lap memory and average time indicator) is a pretty competent watch overall. Inside is Citizen's Eco-Drive quartz movement that is powered by the light, which has a complete world time function that is available through the LCD panel. The easy to use features (comparatively, Citizen makes things really easy), also offer the date, alarms, timer, and a slide rule around the bezel. You'll probably never use that, but its fun to know it is there.