Citizen have been killing it ever since they released the most affordable integrated bracelet sports watch to date with the Tsuyosa. And while they’re still hammering home the options there with some new, smaller pieces, they’ve also expanded their equally sporty, slightly more intense Series8, with the new Citizen Series8 831 Mechanical limited edition.
The Series8 is one of Citizen’s more diverse collections, taking in professional grade divers, GMTs and weird, multi-level bezels. That said, we’ve seen this faceted, octagonal 40mm case before in the Series8 Automatic. It’s a pretty substantial piece of watch, with much more wrist presence than its base sizing suggests, thanks to its dramatically angular lugs and mix of brushed and polished finishing.
So, what’s new? Here, it’s all about the dial. Citizen describe it as ‘reflecting light like a calm sea on a sunny day’ and while I usually hate that kind of overly poetic language, that pretty much nails it. It’s not just the light, icy blue colouring, but the geometric pattern across the whole thing. It’s cool and in a watch like this, already an intense bit of wristwear, it works phenomenally well.
In fact, the dial works well enough that I’m not sure why Citizen decided to interrupt it with a date window and the Series8 lettering underneath. The dial doesn’t just speak for itself, it shouts, and getting in the way of that feels like a mistake. Still, the bold indexes suit it, with doubles on the cardinal points, and the colour matched minute track keeps things nice and readable.
Inside is the ever-reliable calibre 9051 automatic: -10 / +20 seconds daily variation, 42-hour power reserve, 4hz frequency, decent magnetic resistance, all the good stuff. It’s relatively well finished through the sapphire caseback, even if it’s not exactly Poincon de Geneve-worthy. And not just because it’s Japanese. But honestly, for this kind of price, it’s hard to complain.
The closest comparison aesthetically would be something like the Zenith Skyline, a multi-faceted, integrated bracelet sports watch with a cool, patterned dial. But where the more prestige brand will run you well over £7,000, the new Series 8 is almost 1/10th of that at £850. Sure, you get a basic Japanese movement instead of a gorgeously finished Swiss number, but that’s still one hell of a value proposition.
It is however also a limited edition of 1,800. That’s a pretty high number, but given the price and Citizen’s global reach, don’t expect them to hang around too long at all.
Price and Specs:
More details at Citizen.
