Teddy Baldassarre
Citizen Shoots for New Heights of Luxury with Launch of "Citizen Premi
Japan’s Citizen Watch Company, founded in 1918, is known today by most aficionados for its affordable and technically forward-thinking timepieces, and for good reason: the firm introduced the revolutionary Eco-Drive technology to watchmaking and has been building upon it ever since, with pioneering innovations like Satellite Wave GPS functionality. Now, as it enters the third decade of the 21st Century, Citizen has embarked on a mission to establish itself in another sector of the watchmaking world, as a purveyor of luxury timepieces that hold their own not only with Japanese competitors like Seiko and Grand Seiko but with Swiss and German contemporaries as well. To that end, the brand has launched Citizen Premier, a new category that it says will focus on “redefin[ing] luxury timepieces by fusing over 100 years of innovation, style, and craftsmanship.” Initially, Citizen Premier will be the umbrella category that links two of its existing product families: the all-titanium Attesa models and the recently inaugurated, all-mechanical Series 8. For the launch of Citizen Premier, Citizen is showcasing two of the first timepieces to fall under the new, luxury-focused banner: one, a limited edition from the Series 8 collection with a striking ice-blue textured dial; the other, the first Attesa model to combine a “Super Titanium” case with a ceramic bezel. The Citizen Series 8 831 Mechanical Limited Edition is the latest piece to emerge from the Series 8 collection’...