Teddy Baldassarre
Citizen Titanium Watches: The In-Depth Guide
The first Citizen titanium watch hit the market more than 50 years ago, and while it probably didn’t receive the breathless coverage that it may have garnered in today’s watch media, it was a watershed moment for the industry. Many watch brands make titanium watches today, but few of them have made the metal a signature of its identity to the extent that Citizen has, and fewer still have even attempted what the Japanese watchmaking giant has achieved in terms of improving and plumbing the full, unrealized potential of titanium. In this feature, we explore Citizen’s history in titanium watches and spotlight some of its most historic pieces, from 1970 to today. Long before it entered the watchmaking arena in the late 20th Century, titanium had played a role in numerous industrial developments. It was first discovered in 1791 by clergyman and mineralogist William Gregor, in Cornwall, Great Britain, and named several years later by German chemist William Kaproth, who had previously discovered Uranium. Like the latter element, named for the Greek god (and planet) Uranus, titanium’s name comes from a mythological source, the Titans who preceded the Olympian gods. Some of its earliest applications as a mineral ore included titanium dioxide, in products like white pigment, and titanium tetrachloride, in hydrochloric acid and smoke screens. Later, alloyed with metals like iron, molybdenum, aluminum, and vanadium, titanium became prized for its high strength-to-weight rati...
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