THE WORLD OF FINE WATCHES

SPOTLIGHT
w w w. wa tc h t i m e . c o m

A HISTORY OF THE
CITIZEN WATCH
COMPANY,
FROM THE PAGES
OF WATCHTIME
MAGAZINE

CITIZEN
TH e H isTo ry o f c iTiz e n

THE
One of the original Citizen
pocket watches that went on
sale in December 1924

CITIZEN
WATCH STORY
How a Tokyo jeweler’s experiment in making pocket watches 84 years
ago led to the creation of a global watch colossus

I
n the 1920s, the young Emperor of Japan, than the imports. To that end, Yamazaki found- Goto. The mayor was a friend of Yamazaki’s.
Hirohito, received a gift that reportedly de- ed in 1918 the Shokosha Watch Research Insti- When the fledgling watch manufacturer was
lighted him. The gift was from Kamekichi tute in Tokyo’s Totsuka district. Using Swiss ma- searching for a name for his product, he asked
Yamazaki, a Tokyo jeweler, who had an ambi- chinery, Yamazaki and his team began experi- Goto for ideas. Goto suggested Citizen. A
tion to manufacture pocket watches in Japan. menting in the production of pocket watches. watch is, to a great extent, a luxury item, he ex-
The Japanese watch market at that time By the end of 1924, they began commercial plained, but Yamazaki was aiming to make af-
was dominated by foreign makes, primarily production of their first product, the Caliber fordable watches. It was Goto’s hope that every
Swiss brands, followed by Americans like 16 pocket watch, which they sold under the citizen would benefit from and enjoy the time-
Waltham and Elgin. Yamazaki felt the time brand name Citizen. pieces developed by the Shokosha Institute.
might be right to begin manufacturing watch- The name was the brainchild of no less a So it was that Citizen became a watch
es domestically that would be less expensive personage than the mayor of Tokyo, Shinpei brand. It was one of these first watches, made

Kamekichi Yamazaki Yosaburo Nakajima Tokyo Mayor Shinpei Goto

TH e H isTo ry o f c iTiz e n

Movement inspection ducing country, and Citizen the world’s top Citizen Watch Co. executives in
watch-producing firm. front of the Yodobashi sales division
building under construction in
But that is exactly what happened. Hirohito 1934. Seated in the first row, fourth
was still on the Chrysanthemum Throne in from right is Citizen president
1981 when Japan toppled Switzerland as the Yosaburo Nakajima. Next to him
to his right is factory manager and
top watch producing power and in 1984 when
company co-founder Ryoichi Suzuki.
Citizen Watch Co., successor to the Shokosha
Watch Research Institute, outproduced every
other watch company in the world.
This is the story of Citizen’s rise, from a small
experimental producer of mechanical pocket
watches, to a primary player in the quartz
watch revolution that rocked the watch world
in the 1970s and ‘80s, to the leadership posi-
tion it enjoys today in the ongoing quartz
watch revolution. In 2001, Citizen produced
an astounding 308 million watches and watch
movements, one of every four watches made.
It has fulfilled in ways that he could never have
in the European style, with the winding crown imagined Kamekichi Yamazaki’s dream of
at 12 o’clock, large Arabic numerals, and a making watches available to everyone.
seconds subdial at 6 o’clock, that was present-
ed to the Emperor. Auspicious start
The Emperor owned watches, of course, Kamekichi Yamazaki was one of a new breed
but few, if any, were made in Japan. He was of watch entrepreneurs that sprung up in
said to remark at how pleased he was that he Japan in the second decade of the 20th centu-
no longer had to always rely on foreign time- ry. Japanese watchmaking was in its infancy.
pieces and that Japan was capable of produc- While Japan had mastered the art of produc-
ing watches of its own. Eventually he wrote a ing wall clocks in the 1880s, pocket watches
letter to the Shokosha Institute, praising the were a different story. In 1894 there were clock
watch’s quality and precision. producers in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya
As pleased as the Emperor was with his Cit- manufacturing more than 200,000 units, but
izen, it would have been preposterous to sug- Japan had yet to produce a single watch.
gest that the Emperor would one day see Hoshimi Uchida, a professor specializing in
Japan become the world’s leading watch pro- Japan’s industrial history and author of a
chronicle of the Japanese
watch and clock industry, ex-
plains: “The mass production
Inspecting a wheel of watches involved technical
through a projector
difficulties far greater than
those in clockmaking. Watch-
es, with their more compli-
Main plate processing
cated mechanisms – balance
wheels, balance springs, an-
chor escapements, winding
mechanisms, irregular forms
of bridges, and pinion staffs –
required delicate machining
using specialized tools small-
er than the general purpose
machines available for clock-
making. The machines need-
TH e H isTo ry o f c iTiz e n

To show the durability of its was higher than ever before. “Clocks and
Parashock watch, Citizen dropped watches were the first Western-style, durable
the watch from a helicopter in front of
the Kyoto train station in 1956. consumer goods in modern Japan,” Uchida
writes. As demand for watches grew, new en-
trepreneurs saw potential profits in watchmak-
ing. Hattori’s Seikosha began to get some com-
petition. By 1920, six firms had begun watch
production. By 1922, there were 15.
Prominent among the newcomers was
Kamekichi Yamazaki’s Shokosha factory. We
know this because of a pocket watch competi-
tion staged as part of the Tokyo Commemora-
To show how waterproof tive Peace Exhibition of 1923. In a fascinating
Parawater was, Citizen staged foreshadowing of epic watch battles to come a
a test, tossing 120 of them into half-century later, it pitted the pocket watches
the Pacific Ocean in buoys.
Ocean currents carried the self- of two Japanese producers against those of two
winding watches to the North foreign producers, one Swiss, one American. It
American coast, where they was a David vs. Goliath matchup both ways.
were retrieved, still working,
The two Japanese producers were Seikosha
after a year in the Pacific.
(Seiko) and Shokosha (Citizen). Citizen clearly
was in the David role. Seikosha/Seiko at that
time had been producing watches for 27
years, was Japan’s leading watch producer and
had even begun exporting watches to South-
east Asia. Shokosha/Citizen, on the other
hand, had been in existence for a mere five
years and had yet to market a single watch.
Both of them were Davids, though, com-
pared to the Swiss Nardin chronometer watch
and the American Waltham they were up
against. In the 1920s, the Swiss and the Amer-
ed for fabricating watch parts were numerous, number of Japanese watch producers on one icans were the world’s two dominant watch
expensive and difficult to obtain.” finger of one hand: Seikosha, forerunner of to- powers.
The first company to take a stab at watch- day’s Seiko Corporation. Founded in Tokyo in The watches were tested for three days in
making was Osaka Watch Inc. It was a valiant 1893 by Kintaro Hattori, a watch and clock the physics classroom of Tokyo Higher Techni-
effort. Osaka imported watchmaking merchant, Seikosha began producing cal School by independent Japanese judges.
equipment from the United States as pocket watches the year after Osaka. Nine watches under various brands from
well as eight American and two British But Seikosha, too, struggled with them. Seikosha and three Citizen brand watches
machinists. In 1895, it produced the According to Uchida, Seikosha did not from Shokosha were tested against the Nar-
first Japanese pocket watches, later begin to make a profit on watches din and the Waltham. As it happened, the
known as “sakameri” watches, a (its cash cow was wall clocks) until Japanese watches got clobbered by the for-
combination of the words “Osa- 1911, 15 years after it began eigners. The judges noted in their final report
ka” and “American.” But watch production. that the Japanese timepieces were below for-
watchmaking proved too chal- The turning point for Japan’s eign standards. “Some showed a difference
lenging and Osaka Watch Inc. fledgling watch industry was of three minutes a day, and even the same
failed in 1902. Nippon Pocket World War I. The war creat- model watch, depending on the product, ex-
Watch Manufacturing, an- ed a business boom in Japan. hibited a wide range of error.” As an example
other firm that began making It spurred the growth of Japan’s they cited the results of the test with watches
watches in the late 1890s, suf- middle class; demand for watches in the vertical position with the crown facing
fered the same fate. up. The average daily difference of the for-
For the first two decades of the Citizen’s Parawater was Japan’s eign watches was 4 seconds slow. The
20th century, you could count the first water-resistant watch. Seikosha watches varied from 6 seconds to
THe HisTory of ciTizen

62 seconds slow. The Citizen watches were timepieces, fuse mechanisms and other timing Dropping Parashock from a
48 seconds slow. devices for the military. For the Japanese watch helicopter at a baseball game, 1956

That the Japanese timepieces did not fare industry, the war was devastating. Another 20
so well against the foreigners was not a sur- years would pass before Japanese watch pro-
prise. Switzerland and the United States had a duction again reached 5 million units.
huge head start on Japan in watch technology. During the war, Japanese watch firms shift-
What was surprising, though, was that Citizen ed production from dangerous Tokyo (Citizen
fared so well against Seikosha. That raised the and Seiko factories were damaged by Allied
eyebrows of the Japanese judges, according to bombs) to the relative security of the Japanese
Professor Uchida. “Viewing the [Seikosha] Alps. Citizen opened a facility at Iida in Nagano
product as a whole in comparison with the prefecture in the Alps. The original Iida factory
pocket watches of the newcomer Citizen is still in operation today and has been de-
[Shokosha],” Uchida writes, “it is clear that clared a historical building by the city fathers.
Seikosha’s product performance and produc- (Citizen has mixed feelings about the honor: it
In 1958, Citizen unveiled Japan’s first alarm
tion techniques were not necessarily superior.” wristwatch, the Citizen Alarm.
would love to update the building but cannot
Kamekichi Yamezaki had to be pleased because of the historical building designation.)
with his watches’ performance. Citizen watch- 1935 it introduced the 8-ligne K Caliber. The
es were the new kid on the block, still in the next year Citizen opened the Tanashi factory in The yamada era
developmental phase, yet they held their own Tokyo, and it remains a key production facility In the two decades after World War II, Citizen
in tests against Japan’s watch leader. It was a to this day. With its production increasing, Cit- planted the seeds that would turn it into a
good omen. His little experiment with watch- izen began exporting watches to Southeast global watch power. The fourth phase of Citi-
making was bearing fruit. The first Citizen Asia and the South Pacific region in July 1936. zen’s history lasted from the mid-1940s to the
pocket watches went on sale the next year. The 1930s marked an important growth phase mid-1960s. The architect of Citizen’s post-war
for Citizen and the Japanese watch industry growth was Eiichi Yamada. He was 38 years
Wristwatches and war during which its watchmaking roots became old when he became president of Citizen in
In 1930, the Shokosha Research Institute was firmly planted. In 1939, Japan’s total watch March 1946 and served in the post for 35
reorganized and expanded into a full-fledged output passed the 5-million-unit mark for the years. By the time he handed over the presi-
watch company. It got a new name, Citizen first time. dential reins in 1981 and moved up to become
Watch Co. Ltd., and a new president, Sadly, the Japanese watch industry’s chairman, Citizen was firmly established as an
Yosaburo Nakajima. Kamekichi Yamazaki re- progress was soon halted and Citizen entered international watch powerhouse.
mained with the firm as director. Under Naka- the third phase of its history: war time. World Yamada understood that Citizen’s future lay
jima, the company began to emerge as a sig- War II caused a severe interruption to all the in overseas expansion. In 1949, he created a
nificant watch producer. In 1931, it began ser- world’s watchmaking powers, save one – neu- separate sales and marketing subsidiary, Citi-
The first
ial production of wristwatches, putting its F tral Switzerland. Watch producers in the Unit- zen Trading Company, charged with selling and
Citizen
wristwatch, caliber 10-ligne manual-wound movements ed States, Japan, and Germany went onto a marketing Citizen products on world markets. Citizen’s Parashock was
1931 in both round and tonneau-shaped cases. In war footing, shifting production to military In the 1950s, Citizen continued to develop ingly, the watch survived Japan’s first shock-resistant watch.
its watch technology, attempting to close the the fall and kept on ticking.
gap with Switzerland, which had emerged That’s because Parashock placed 130 Parawaters in specially
A CITIZEN WAT C H TIMELINE from World War II in an even stronger position.
Citizen displayed its growing prowess in me-
was equipped with a patent-
ed Citizen safety device that
designed buoys and tossed them
from the deck of a ship into the Pacif-
chanical watchmaking in a series of watches protected the sensitive pivots of ic Ocean. Ocean currents carried the
1918 Shokosha Watch Research Institute, the forerunner 1936 Begins exporting watches to Southeast Asia. that were breakthroughs for the Japanese the balance. Citizen dropped buoys and exposed watches all the
of Citizen Watch Co., founded in Tokyo.
1939 Japanese watch production surpasses 5 million units. watch industry. Citizen introduced Japan’s first Parashock from helicopters in front way to the North American coast. The
1924 The first Citizen pocket watches go on sale in Japan. calendar watch (1952), its first shock-resistant of the Kyoto train station, at baseball trip took about a year. When the buoys
1946 Eiichi Yamada begins 35-year term as watch (1956), its first alarm wristwatch (1958) games and various other venues around were retrieved, the watches were still working,
1930 Shokosha Watch Institute reorganized to become Citizen president. and its first water-resistant watch (1959). Japan. The watch worked every time. The thanks to Citizen’s waterproof “O” ring and its
Citizen Watch Co. Ltd. Parashock, the shock-resistant watch, was stunts were marketing triumphs and boosted self-winding Jet Rotor, which wound the
1949 Citizen Trading Co. established. a sensation in Japan. In the summer of 1956 the public’s awareness of and trust in Citizen as spring in response to the action of the waves.
1931 Begins producing wristwatches.
1956 Markets Parashock, Japan’s first Citizen staged a series of demonstrations a watchmaker. Citizen unveiled the Citizen Alarm, Japan’s
shock-resistant watch. showing just how shockproof the watch was. Citizen staged similar events later with first alarm wristwatch, in 1958. Equipped with
While thousands of people looked on, Citizen Parawater, the water-resistant watch. For its a manual winding caliber A-980, the watch
dropped the watch from a helicopter. Amaz- Trans-Pacific Test in the summer of 1963, it had a second crown for setting the alarm time

Eiichi Yamada
TH e H isTo ry o f c iTiz e n

ORAL HISTORY: MICHIO NAKAJIMA LOOKS BACK and a reminder disc in the center of the dial. child of the space age. Bulova had been
That year Citizen also introduced the compa- supplying special “tuning fork” timers to
Michio Nakajima, 76, is the grandson of Yos- meant to last two weeks but dragged on for three
aburo Nakajima, one of the founders of Citi- months. The Indian government would never give ny’s first automatic movement, Caliber 3 KA, the National Aeronautic and Space Ad-
zen Watch Co. In 2001, Nakajima celebrated its final assent and kept attaching difficult condi- with 21 jewels. ministration (NASA) for use aboard satel-
his 50th anniversary with Citizen. He served tions, such as “Citizen must teach us all its tech- By 1959, thanks in part to the strides Citi- lites. The timers were powered by
as president of the company from 1987 to nology,” or “In the event that production fails to
zen was making, Japanese watch production electricity. Their time base, or oscil-
1997, and was chairman of the board of di- reach an annual target of 1 million pieces, Citizen
rectors until 1999. He remains an advisor to will be responsible.” When I explained this by rebounded to pre-war levels. Total watch pro- lator, was a tiny Y-shaped piece of
the board. In 1998, Nakajima reminisced phone to the president, he said to me, “Relation- duction reached 5.45 million units, surpassing nickel alloy, which hummed as it
about his early days at Citizen with Citizen ships are all about trust. Don’t get caught up in the 5-million-mark for the first time since 1939. vibrated, leading to its designa-
World, the firm’s in-house publication. the small details, look at the big picture.” After all
In the late 1950s, at Yamada’s urging, Citi- tion as a “tuning fork.” By in-
I’d been through, I was a little bit confused. But I
My father ran a watch business. He died when I followed his advice, negotiations were swiftly con- zen began a vigorous program of internation- The Citizen Quartz 790 stalling the same tuning fork technolo-
was five years old, so I was brought up by my cluded, and we never had any problems. al outreach. In a seven-year stretch between started the Thin Watch gy into Accutron, Bulova created the
grandfather. He was one of the founders of Citi- It was my first big job for the company and War in 1978. It featured
1958 and 1965, Citizen laid the foundation of the world’s first move- world’s most accurate watch and
zen, so I was always going to come and work also my first trip overseas. Apart from 400 Japan-
here. I joined in 1951. ese going to India, about 200 Indians came to
its global watch empire. It began exporting ment thinner than 1 mm. launched a new era in watchmaking: the
I started out at Tanashi factory. In those days it watches to China in 1958. In 1960 it began a electronic era.
was just a collection of dusty wooden buildings technical assistance agreement with India that business. By 1970, about two million Citizen Bulova’s breakthrough presaged the end of
with lots of cracks in the walls. We were doing helped bring watchmaking to that country. movements had gone into Caravelle watches. the mechanical watch era. It dispensed with
well to be running a precision industry! There was
no air conditioning and the heat was provided by Former Citizen Watch president and chairman But it was a two-edged sword. Under the the hairsprings and balance wheels that had
oil stoves. I did everything, from writing vouchers Michio Nakajima considers the technology terms of the deal, Citizen agreed to stay out of regulated watches for 400 years. For mechan-
to bringing in the oil. transfer deal between Citizen and the Indian the U.S. market so as not to compete directly ical watch leader Switzerland, electronic time-
After three years at the factory, I spent the
government a turning point for the company, with Bulova. By the time the deal ended in the keeping represented a threat. For American
next three years in parts and materials procure-
ment. At this point the president decided to giving the firm the confidence to do business mid-1970s and Citizen finally entered the U.S. and Japanese watchmakers, it represented an
streamline operations throughout the company. I abroad (see sidebar). market, its Japanese archrival Seiko had a huge opportunity. In the 1960s, watchmakers in all The Citizen Professional Diver 1300M (1982)
was put in charge of reorganizing the office rou- offered the highest level of water-resistance
The same year, 1960, brought another head start in the lucrative American market. three countries rushed to master the new tech-
tine and formed a task force with some of the Michio Nakajima on the market.
turning point. In March Citizen entered an im- There were no such barriers in Europe. In nology.
younger employees. As the company grew, our re-
sponsibilities expanded to cover business opera- Japan. We built a dormitory for them and studied port-export agreement with Bulova Watch 1965 Citizen opened an office in Germany and In 1964, Citizen opened the Tokorozawa tomatic mechanical watches, this was a major
tions in general, and we evolved into the planning Indian cooking. That’s why the curry at the Tanashi Company of the United States. Bulova was at began full-scale watch exports to European Technical Laboratory, a research and develop- advance. Moreover, its striking design earned
section. Our first job, interestingly, related to India. Factory canteen has such a good reputation! the peak of its power, about to introduce markets. ment facility created specifically for electronic it Good Design Award from the Ministry of In-
In 1959, the Indian government approached The Indian project rid the company of any
the Japan Clock & Watch Association requesting hangups about doing business abroad. Not just
Accutron, the world’s first electronic watch. watches. Within two years Citizen began pro- ternational Trade and Industry (MITI).
help in developing a domestic watch industry. The executives but people throughout the organiza- Under the arrangement Citizen supplied The electronic age ducing the X-8 series of electronic watches. The success of the X-8 brought a burst of
only company to show interest was Citizen. Presi- tion gained overseas experience. It stood us in watches and movements to Bulova (for its af- The debut of Bulova Accutron in October 1960 The X-8 went on sale in March 1966 and was confidence to Citizen. Seven months after the
dent Yamada felt the future lay in expansion good stead when Citizen expanded into Korea, fordable Caravelle line, for example, which was a turning point in watch history. Accutron Japan’s first electronic watch. It was powered release of the X-8, in an article in Tokyo’s Asahi
abroad and saw this as the perfect opportunity to Mexico, Thailand, China and elsewhere. At about
gain some overseas experience. the same time, we concluded an import-export Bulova introduced in 1962 as a jewel-lever al- was the world’s first electronic watch. It em- by a silver oxide battery and controlled by a Evening News, Yamada made an astounding
After we committed to the project following a agreement with Bulova Watch Co. of the United ternative to pin-lever watches then on the ployed a new type of time technology that transistorized circuit moving with a balance prediction. He asserted that Japan, which had
feasibility study carried out by our engineers, I was States. So this really was the birth of Citizen as an market.) The deal was a boon for Citizen’s made it far more accurate than a traditional wheel (Caliber 0800-25J). It ran for a full year produced 13.6 million units the previous year
sent to handle contract negotiations. These were international company.
fledgling movement and private label watch mechanical watch. Accutron was literally a without stopping. In an era dominated by au- versus Switzerland’s 55 million, would surpass

A CITIZEN WAT C H TIMELINE A CITIZEN WAT C H TIMELINE

1959 Markets Parawater, Japan’s first water-resis- 1970 Pioneers use of titanium watches with the 1975 Begins operations in the United States. 1985 Markets Aqualand, world’s first divers’ watch
tant watch. X-8 in titanium. with an electronic depth sensor.
1978 Starts Thin Watch War with the ultra-slim
1960 Enters import-export agreement with Bulova 1973 Enters the quartz age with the Citizen Citizen Quartz 790. 1985 Laurence Grunstein appointed president of
Watch Company. Quartz Crystron analog watch. Citizen Watch Co. of America.
1981 Japan surpasses Switzerland to
1964 Tokorozawa Technical Laboratory built to de- 1975 Unveils Mega Quartz, the world’s most become world watch production 1986 Becomes world watch production champion.
velop electronic watches. accurate watch, reliable to within three champion.
seconds per year. 1988 Citizen watch and movement production
1966 Enters electronic age with X-8, Japan’s first surpasses 100-million-unit mark.
electronic watch.
Switzerland in watch produc- The Citizen Mega Quartz (1975) watch production in the 1890s, it had labored
tion within five years. Yamada was the world’s first watch to be in Switzerland’s shadow. Initially Japan was
accurate to within three seconds
sensed rightly that electronic per year. about 300 years behind Switzerland, which
watch technology would shift first made pocket watches in the second half
the balance of watch world second per week versus one of the sixteenth century. By 1958, when Citi-
power Japan’s way. Japan would minute per week for a mechanical. zen unveiled its first automatic mechanical
eventually topple Switzerland, but Citizen entered the quartz age in watch, Japan had narrowed the technology
it would take longer than Yamada 1973 with the Citizen Quartz Crys- gap to about 30 years. Now the gap was gone.
imagined, 10 years longer. tron, its first quartz analog watch. Its Electronics had leveled the playing field. In the
Citizen followed the X-8 with the X- first digital watch, the Quartz Crys- brave new world of quartz watches, Citizen
8 Cosmotron in 1967, a man’s transistor- tron LC, came in 1974. It was the first was a leader.
ized watch with four magnets on the bal- LCD (liquid crystal display) watch to Citizen’s next breakthrough involved solar
ance and two fixed coils. Citizen sold that move- show the time, day and date. The ladies’ ver- power, something Citizen engineers had been
ment to about 20 foreign companies, including sion was Japan’s first women’s LCD watch. experimenting with for several years. A pioneer
Bulova, which used it in Bulova watches. In the mid-1970s, Citizen’s 10-year invest- in the application of solar power in timepieces, it
The X-8 series is also notable for a watch ment in electronic watch technology that be- developed a prototype of a solar powered ana-
that was one of Citizen’s first world firsts. In gan with the Tokorozawa Research Laboratory log watch in 1974. However, the cadmium bat-
May 1970 Citizen marketed the X-8 in a titani- began to pay off. For the next seven years, from
um case, the first-ever titanium watch. The 1975 through 1981, Citizen unveiled a new
company pioneered the use of the ultra- world’s first watch every year (see sidebar). That
durable, ultra-light metal in timepieces and streak solidified Citizen’s credentials as one of
went on to become the world’s largest manu- the world’s premier watch producers.
facturer of titanium watches. The streak began in December 1975 when
In 1971, Citizen introduced the Caliber 3700 Citizen marketed what was at the time the
Hi-Sonic, Japan’s first tuning fork wristwatch, world’s most accurate watch. The Quartz Cry-
using technology acquired via its close relation- stron Mega was the first quartz watch with a
ship with Bulova. That year Citizen produced a frequency of 4,194,304 Hertz. The extraordi-
record 8 million watches and movements. narily high frequency made it accurate to with-
in 3 seconds a year. The Mega was well
citizen’s surge named. In addition to being mega-accurate, it
The first great leap in watch accuracy came at was mega-expensive. Citizen produced a limit-
the start of the 1960s with Bulova’s Accutron. ed number in solid gold cases and bracelets at
The second great leap came at the start of the a retail price of 4.5 million yen each.
1970s with the arrival of quartz watches. The The Mega was indisputable proof that Citi-
oscillating quartz crystal brought unprece- zen and Japan had moved to the forefront of
dented accuracy to watches, to within one watch technology. Ever since Japan began An ultra-thin Citizen movement

A CITIZEN WAT C H TIMELINE

Citizen trumpets its pioneering
1992 Named official 1993 Named official timer of U.S. Tennis Open role in developing ultra-thin watches
timer of the Amer- Championship. in this ad from the late 1970s.
ica’s Cup
1995 Launches Eco-Drive series.
1993 Citizen watch and
movement pro- 1997 Citizen watch and movement production
duction breaks breaks 300-million-unit mark.
200-million-
unit mark. 2002 Citizen of America launches Stiletto
ultra-thin Eco-Drive watch.
 CITIZEN WATCH FIRSTS TH e H isTo ry o f c iTiz e n CITIZEN S PRODUCTION SPIKE
Citizen’s record of watchmaking innovation
spans 50 years. Here are some of Citizen’s sig- Production of watches and movements (1971-2001)
nificant watch firsts. (in million pieces)
tery was too expensive to allow commercial pro- Switzerland won the thin-watch battle. But that we know today. In the 1980s it introduced 350
March 1952: Markets Japan’s first calendar watch duction. The engineers kept working on it and Japan won the quartz watch war. In 1981, the the first of its popular Aqualand series of
●

● April 1956: Introduces Japan’s first shock-resistant

340
shifted to a silver oxide battery. In 1976, Citizen year after ETA unveiled Delirium IV, Japan top- divers’ watches. The first Aqualand in 1985
watch, Parashock
● June 1958: Introduces Citizen Alarm, Japan’s first
unveiled the Crystron Solar Cell, the world’s first pled Switzerland as the world’s watch produc- was the world’s first divers’ watch with an elec-
alarm wristwatch solar-powered analog quartz watch. The dial tion leader. Japanese production soared 23% tronic depth meter. Around the same time, un-
● July 1959: Markets Japan’s first water-resistant featured a bi-lingual day-date display and eight that year to 108 million pieces. Swiss watch der the leadership of Laurence Grunstein, it
wristwatch, Parawater solar cell panels. Its movement (Cal. 8629-7j) production fell 13% to 76 million. Eiichi Yama- began to make headway in the United States
● August 1962: Introduces world’s thinnest three-
was accurate to within 15 seconds a month. da’s prediction of 1966 had come true. For its market that would make the U.S. Citizen’s top 300
308
handed watch
● March 1966: Markets Japan’s first electronic wrist-
The suggested retail price was ¥45,000. The part, Citizen’s output that year reached 35 mil- overseas market.
watch, X-8, and Japan’s first electronic clock, Crystron Solar Cell was far ahead of its time. lion units. For Yamada, it was all enormously Later in the decade it introduced Altichron,
Elitron While solar watches were not a big hit in the satisfying. He took over Citizen when it and the world’s first climbers’ watch with elevation
● January 1967: Markets world’s first transistorized
1970s, Citizen’s ongoing research into light the Japanese watch industry were flat on their sensor. The ProMaster series of sports watches
electronic quartz clock, Crystron
● October 1971: Introduces first Japanese-made
technology would yield a huge payoff two backs in the ashes of World War II. Now they came in the early 1990s. In 1995 came Eco-
tuning fork electronic watch decades later with the company’s revolutionary were on top of the watch world. (An event in Drive, Citizen’s most important and successful
● December 1975: Unveils the world’s most accu- light-powered Eco-Drive technology. Hong Kong in 1982 symbolized Citizen’s new product launch ever. Eco-Drive watches take
250
rate watch, Citizen Mega Quartz, an analog quartz In 1978, Citizen started what came to be status. In October the world’s largest neon sign quartz technology to the next level by solving
watch accurate to within three seconds a year. known as “the thin watch wars,” one of the was installed atop a building overlooking the problem that has plagued quartz watches
● April 1976: Unveils the world’s first LCD quartz

watch with alarm, the Citizen Quartz Crystron

most memorable chapters of the quartz watch Hong Kong harbor. The name in the neon since they debuted: the never-ending need to
Alarm LC era. It involved a direct clash among the watch lights was Citizen.) Yamada’s work was done. replace the battery. Citizen’s Eco-Drive tech-
● August 1976: Introduces the Citizen Quartz Crys- world’s three great producers of quartz move- In 1981 he resigned as Citizen president and nology eliminates that need because the
tron Solar Cell, the world’s first quartz analog ments: Citizen, Seiko and Switzerland’s ETA. moved up to become chairman. watches are powered by natural or artificial
watch to use sunlight as a power source
The thin wars created headlines around the light. Exposure to any light automatically re-
● April 1977: Markets Japan’s first LCD quartz

watch with alarm, stopwatch, and calculator, the globe, raised awareness of quartz watches, es- Global watch powerhouse generates the battery. 200

Citizen Quartz Calculator pecially Japanese quartz watches, to new levels, Yamada’s successor as president was Rokuya Meanwhile, Citizen has continued to set
● May 1978: The ultra-slim analog quartz Citizen
and launched a new watch look: thin was in. Yamazaki, grandson of Kamekichi Yamazaki, watch production records. It became the first
Quartz 790 becomes the first watch whose move- Citizen started the war in May with the Citi- founder of the Shokosha Watch Research In- watch company to pass the 100-million-unit
ment breaks the one-millimeter thickness barrier
● November 1979: Introduces the world’s first LCD
zen Exceed Gold watch, also known as the Cit- stitute. He himself would be succeeded as mark in 1988, the 200-million-unit mark in 166
quartz watch with time signal function, Citizen izen Quartz 790. It contained the world’s first president in 1987 by another grandson of an- 1993 and the 300-million-unit mark in 1997.
Quartz Multi-Alarm II watch movement thinner than 1 millimeter. other Citizen founder, Michio Nakajima. (The Today Citizen is one of Japan’s largest in-
● November 1980: Unveils the world’s smallest
This product of Citizen’s in-house R&D mea- Yamazaki and Nakajima families remained ac- dustrial groups, with 80 companies spanning 150
ladies’ quartz analog watch, Citizen Quartz 1500
sured 23.7mm x 20.0mm x 0.98mm. The thin tive in the company since its founding and five continents. Annual revenues in fiscal
● October 1981: Markets the world’s first watch

with internal IC temperature compensation movement enabled Citizen to use an ultra-thin members of both families still serve in the 2001 amounted to Y393 billion ($3.27 bil-
● August 1982: Unveils the Professional Diver case. The entire watch was just 4.1mm thick. company.) Those two and Hiroshi Haruta, lion). Besides watches, it manufactures a vari-
1,300 M, first in the world in pressure-resistance Within months Seiko responded with an who succeeded Nakajima in 1997, have over- ety of industrial machines and electronic prod-
● December 1985: Markets Aqualand, the world’s
even thinner watch. The new ultra-thin watch- seen Citizen’s spectacular growth over the ucts, the result of a diversification policy from
first divers’ watch with an electronic depth meter
● July 1987: Markets Voice Master VX-2, the world’s
es from Japan captured the public’s imagina- past two decades into a global watch power- its core watch competence it initiated in the
first voice recognition watch tion and symbolized Japan’s emergence as the house. 1960s. 100
● May 1989: Introduces Altichron, the world’s first leader in the new quartz technology. With In the mid-1980s Citizen and Seiko com- Watchmaking, of course, remains a core
professional climbing watch with elevation sensor Switzerland’s reputation as a watch leader on peted for the title of world’s largest watch pro- business, accounting for 45% of total rev-
● April 1992: Markets Analog Aqualand, the
the line, ETA SA initiated a crash program to ducer. In 1986, Citizen took the title and kept it enues. Today Citizen produces one of every
world’s first divers’ watch with analog depth meter
develop the thinnest watch and answer for the rest of the century. That year it pro- four of the world’s billion-plus watches and
● May 1993: Markets world’s first multizone radio-

controlled watch Japan’s challenge. In January 1979 ETA un- duced 80 million watches and watch move- movements made each year. Citizen contin- 66
● June 1997: Markets Exceed Eco-Drive, the world’s veiled the Delirium, the first watch to break the ments, accounting for 41% of Japan’s total ues to explore new frontiers in watch technol-
first watch requiring no battery change accurate to 2mm barrier. The entire case was a remarkable watch output. Through its private label watch ogy. In recent years its R&D department has
within 10 seconds a year 50
● July 1998: Unveils the world’s first analog depth
1.98mm thin. Japan responded with even and watch movement divisions Citizen sup- unveiled ahead-of-their-time timepieces em-
meter divers’ watch not to require a battery thinner watches. Ultimately ETA won the bat- plies watches and movements to watch com- ploying new technologies like radio-con-
change, Eco-Drive Analog Depth tle with Delirium IV, a museum piece measur- panies around the world. Citizen remains dis- trolled atomic timing and watches powered
● October 1998: Markets Exceed Ladies’
ing 0.98mm thin. (Delirium IV proved that, un- creet about which brands use its movements, by body heat. Its stated mission is inspired by
Eco-Drive, a women’s bracelet watch with the like a lady, a watch can be too thin. Its thinness but they include some of the world’s best- and remains true to the notion Tokyo mayor
world’s smallest movement
● December 1998: Introduces Eco-Drive DUO,
made it literally unwearable. Strapped on a known names. Shinpei Goto had in mind when he coined the 8
the world’s first hybrid-type light-powered/ wrist, the wafer-like case and its movement In the 1980s and 1990s, Citizen developed brand: “to be close to the hearts of people
automatic generation watch bent so that it didn’t work properly.) the distinctive features of the watch colossus everywhere.” J.T. 1971 1981 1991 2001