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In 2019, Citizen Group of Japan introduced that it was going to be supplying its proprietary Tremendous Titanium for utility in a Japanese lunar lander often called HAKUTO-R. Citizen and another watch firms have particular alloys or coatings designed for wristwatches that may even have relevance for different industrial purposes. Tremendous Titanium improves upon commonplace titanium in just a few key methods, all associated to put on resistance. Utilizing the fabric in components for a lunar touchdown automobile shot by way of house makes a variety of sense. Now, in 2021, Citizen introduces two watches that commemorate the HAKUTO-R moon touchdown system. I am going hands-on with the Citizen HAKUTO-R reference AT8185-71E and CC4016-75E Tremendous Titanium watches.
Japan’s Citizen is among the many few gamers within the wristwatch house producing what we name “high-end quartz.” The time period is supposed to distinguish extra luxury-appointed timepieces constructed with quartz-based actions, versus extra mainstream quartz watches which have less complicated actions and fewer luxurious case and dial constructions. Excessive-end quartz is getting extra widespread however remains to be a distinct segment space of the watch fanatic house even when there are some very loyal followers. The Japanese home market is one such place the place high-end quartz can do fairly properly. Citizen has been producing quite a lot of very fancy in-house-made quartz movement-based watches for years now, and these two watches are among the many newest items.
Nearly inevitable with Citizen’s limited-edition high-end quartz watches is a small diploma of sticker shock. These watches are, certainly, produced in additional restricted portions and are usually extra inventive than Citizen’s quantity merchandise, although they are often priced a number of instances as a lot. I imagine that is primarily attributable to their very small manufacturing numbers and Citizen’s must recoup extra of the event prices in a smaller variety of watches. Certainly, these are halo merchandise that assist with total model worth, however on the similar time, nobody desires to maintain making merchandise when you can’t even break even on the finish of a run. In any occasion, let’s have a look at these two attention-grabbing limited-edition Citizen Tremendous Titanium Hakuto-R watches.
Whereas comparable in type, these two watches have greater than a $1,000 value distinction — principally due to the totally different actions. The names of the watches are the identical, with solely the reference numbers being totally different (I do know). Let’s begin with the reference AT8185-71E, which is a world-timer journey watch that has a creative dial motif of the floor of the moon. The dial is created from three printed layers that give a powerful three-dimensional impact. I really like that you simply get a real “spacey” vibe to the watch, with out the moon artwork being distracting and even tacky.
The AT8185-71E Hakuto-R watch comprises Citizen’s H800 motion, which may sync with atomic clock radio indicators and an Eco-Drive (that means it’s powered by the sunshine). The motion is beneficial, however I might have appreciated for it to have both GPS or Bluetooth and a companion telephone app to manage the motion options. Casio gives that for much less cash — even when these watches aren’t as well-appointed. The dial additionally comprises a hoop of mother-of-pearl across the decrease subdial, which is slightly elegant, for my part. Gold tones on the dial combine with lunar black-toned Tremendous Titanium case and bracelet. The case for this mannequin is 42mm-wide and water resistant to 100 meters with a sapphire crystal over the dial.
On the rear of the Hakuto-R AT8185-71E is the Hakuto-R emblem — which suggests this watch is de facto for insiders who’re instantly acquainted with the lunar lander program. The opposite limited-edition mannequin has a extra vivid scene of the lander, which I feel higher explains the theme, although I do like how Citizen went in completely totally different instructions with the 2 Tremendous Titanium Hakuto-R limited-edition timepiece fashions. This mannequin in all-black with the world-time dial might be restricted to 1,600 items.
Issues get a bit extra expressive and trendy within the Citizen Tremendous Titanium Hakuto-R reference CC4016-75E that’s each dearer and a bit extra restricted than the above-discussed mannequin. Although solely that mannequin has the nifty printed moon dial. The Tremendous Titanium Hakuto-R CC4016-75E is a part of the Satellite tv for pc Wave GPS household and has the current-generation F950 Eco-Drive motion. This can be a bigger motion than the H800, but it surely provides extra performance, a cleaner dial, and has a GPS receiver in it — although neither of those watches but have Bluetooth connectivity, which I feel is one thing Citizen can be sensible to pursue.
The F950 does most of what the H800 does however with a unique dial structure that I discover simpler on the eyes. As soon as once more, we see a mother-of-pearl phase in a subdial, in addition to a gold tone for the palms and hour markers. The CC4016-75E additionally has a two-tone Tremendous Titanium case that features each a gunmetal black and a pale gold tone. This Tremendous Titanium Hakuto-R is a bit bigger at 44mm-wide (additionally with sapphire crystal) and has the identical 100 meters of water resistance as the opposite Hakuto-R mannequin. The bracelets on every are comfy and enticing, albeit easy in design and development. The general mild weight of every of the watches (because of the titanium case materials) may be very spectacular and makes them fairly wearable for lengthy intervals of time.
Across the watch bezels are the reference metropolis names (I imagine there are presupposed to be 27 of them), which is a design aspect shared by each items. Observe that Citizen made different attention-grabbing variations, such because the design of the crown and pushers as solely the reference CC4016-75E has crown guards. Even the design of the counterweight on the seconds hand varies between the 2 fashions. Neither is a transparent winner even when I want the F950-based Hakuto-R watch given its extra severe travel-oriented GPS motion. Each watches have distinctive inventive aptitude however on the finish of the day handle to nonetheless solidly be sport-style watches. The Citizen Tremendous Titanium Hakuto-R CC4016-75E might be produced as a restricted version of 1,200 items. Value for the Tremendous Titanium Hakuto-R reference AT8185-71E is $2,295 USD and the reference CC4016-75E is $3,495 USD. Be taught extra on the Citizen watches web site right here.
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