Citizen Chronomaster "The Citizen" AQ4030-51E

 

I have had over a dozen entry level luxury watches over the course of the last few years (thank you global pandemic). I had a 2000's era Omega Seamaster Pro for a long time, until a trip to Japan reignited my love of watches. That was the start of it, and it cascaded from there.

I'm sad that I let some of them go. Perhaps the hardest to come to grips with is the now "impossible to find" Grand Seiko SBGX115.

There's been a couple of others, too. When I look back at photos of my collection, I often wonder why I didn't stop then and hang on to all I had.

But on with my thought. I think I might just have the "one and done" watch in the Citizen. It's absolutely below the radar. It looks like your standard shopping mall Citizen. But it's not.

• The watch is made of high-grade titanium with a Duratect protective treatment
• 40mm diameter, 12.5mm thickness
• Double domed sapphire crystal with excellent AR
• Traditional Japanese tosa-washi paper dial - close examination shows the character of the paper
• Citizen Eco-Drive movement, solar powered
• Excellent visibility day or night with polished and lumed hands, dial and rehaut
• Perpetual calendar with quick date set
• Hacking and independent setting of hours hand
• High Accuracy Quartz (HAQ) movement with specified accuracy of +/- 5 seconds/year. I'm getting about +/- 10 seconds/year based on my wear/use case.
• 100m of water resistance with screw down crown
• Titanium bracelet and clasp that is honestly the best I've ever worn
• Screw down titanium case back
• Zaratsu polished case - easily competes with Grand Seiko and Rolex. Actually in Japan - it does.

It's the best finished watch I've owned.

It's the most comfortable watch I've owned. 

It's the most legible watch I've owned.

It's the most accurate stand-alone watch I've owned (not syncing to some external time source).

But don't take my word for it. I first got onto this watch when I watched a video (since removed from YouTube) from jandrese. Here's his post on Reddit.

Just the other day, a popular Aussie watch vlogger (Jody at Just One More Watch) did a review. It's worth a watch.