A Citizen Master Watchmaker
hand-assembles watches.
WHEN CITIZEN STARTED ON ITS QUEST TO PROVIDE THE
CORRECT TIME ON DEMAND TO ANYONE ON EARTH, GLOBAL
POSITIONING SATELLITES (GPS) WERE WELL KNOWN. BY THE
MID-1990S, ANYONE WITH A CAR RECOGNIZED THAT THE
ACRONYM REPRESENTED TECHNOLOGY THAT WAS HELPFUL
FOR THE DIRECTIONALLY CHALLENGED.
But while GPS could direct a driver in search of an optimal route, with esti-
mated timing information, no company had at that time placed a GPS chip in a
wristwatch to indicate the correct time of day.
Sensing yet another timekeeping challenge, Citizen more than a decade ago
set out to develop GPS technology for wristwatches. By 2011 Citizen debuted
the green-tinged Eco-Drive Satellite Wave, the world’s first light-powered satel-
lite-synchronized analog watch.
Citizen’s attention to new technology has been at the core of the compa-
ny’s success since it was founded 100 years ago in Tokyo. As it celebrates its
first century this year, Citizen continues to focus its resources on technical
advances like GPS timekeeping, light-powered movements, hardened tita-
nium alloys and ultra-thin quartz movements.
NEW SATELLITE WAVE
To recall this century-long drive to innovation, this year Citizen debuts the
Promaster Eco-Drive Satellite Wave GPS F990, a sleeker, brighter and technologi-
cally updated version of the first Satellite Wave model Citizen debuted in 2011.
Though this new watch (opposite page and on this iW cover) echoes the
original model’s green color accents and dial layout, its technology is light
years ahead of the groundbreaking original. The 2018 Super Titanium-cased
model is thinner and lighter than the ceramic original while inside Citizen’s
new GPS technology automatically adjusts to the local time more quickly than
the original model. In addition, the new model offers a new 24-hour hand and
newly skeletonized pushers.
CITIZEN TIMELINE
1918: Shokosha Watch Research Institute established, the forerunner of Citizen Watch Co., Ltd.
1924: First pocket watch completed.
1930: Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. established.
1931: First wristwatch completed.
1941: Production of machine tools begins.
1952: First Japanese-made watch with a calendar introduced.
1959: First Japanese-made complete water resistant watch, “Para-Water” introduced.
1960: Import-export agreement concluded with the U.S. Bulova Watch Co.
1962: World’s thinnest 3-hand watch, “Diamond Flake” introduced (right).
1965: Crystal Seven introduced.
1964: Technology research laboratory established.
1962
1966: X-8 introduced, first Japanese-made electronic watch (far right)
1966
SPRING 2018 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | 51