The difference between cheap Citizens and expensive ones
What is the difference between cheap Citizen and expensive ones?
Friends, hello everyone. You are on my channel about Feeltime watches, Stanislav is with you as always, and today I will show you 2 new items from the Japanese brand Citizen.
And as you can already understand from the name, one of them will be budget, and one expensive. Moreover, the price difference is 4 times.
So let’s see what this difference actually is.
Well, let's start with the fact that the difference is definitely not in the quality of the boxes. Citizens have them very cheap. For transportation, so to speak. Therefore, the packaging will tell you absolutely nothing about the watch itself.
And let's start with the more budget model Citizen AW1760-81Z
She doesn't have any collection. There are no names. Just a reference. It will be listed in the description of this video.
The cost in my Feeltime online store in Ukraine today is 8680 UAH.
Two color options available.
I took the yellow one for review.
By the way, recently they wrote to me in the comments under the Phoibos Wave Master with a yellow dial: “Like who wears a watch with a yellow dial?”
I really like this. Bright, rich. Please write in the comments how you feel about this dial color. Would you wear it yourself?
What do I want to say about design?
To be honest, he is very deceptive here.
It may seem that the watch is somewhat similar to the same Promaster. That is, diving style.
But in fact, there is essentially nothing here from divers.
Water resistance is only 100 meters. The head does not screw down. So you can take a swim, but be careful.
The bezel with aluminum insert looks like it rotates, but in fact it does not rotate. That is, such a dummy and a design solution.
So the only diving, real element can essentially be considered the yellow dial. This would be a cool read underwater, but it is not advisable to put this watch underwater.
316l stainless steel body.
Quite weighty. I like it.
The sides and top of the lugs are satin-finished. There is a mirror polish on the transitions.
The quality of the finish is more than good for this price.
The crown and case back of the watch are as simple as possible, which is typical even for expensive Citizen watches.
The bracelet, as you would expect from budget Japanese, is stamped.
What does it mean? You can see the seams on the links. That is, such links seem to be bent into two and they are hollow inside.
Typically, these bracelets feel like tin cans or pacifiers. We can say that this is the cheapest type of bracelet.
And men with hairy arms will also be happy with them, having received additional hair removal.
But to be honest, for me the bracelet of this watch does not feel like some kind of dummy. Although personally, it would be morally awkward for me to wear it, understanding what it is.
In fact, I would just change the bracelet on this watch to either something more substantial or a strap.
The clasp is also as simple as possible. Fully stamped. But a little later we will see that it’s the same story on expensive Citizens. I will tell you my opinion why the brand does this.
The watch sizes are as follows.
Diameter - 42 mm, from lug to lug - 51 mm, thickness - 12 mm, weight - 154 grams.
It fits well on my hand with a girth of 18 cm, but a larger hand would probably be better.
I like the dial.
As I said, it reminds me a bit of the Citizen Promaster dials.
Bright, rich, wonderful contrast of hands and hour markers.
Readability is 5 with a solid 2 pluses.
Bright lume.
Date at 3 o'clock under a drop magnifier.
It looks simple, but very good.
We have mineral glass.
And we have a quartz movement with Eco Drive technology. That is, the battery is powered by any light sources and will last you up to 12 years.
Let's put them aside for now. At the end I will summarize. And let's look at the second, already expensive model Citizen TSUKI-YOMI BY1010-81L
And let's start with the fact that this model really looks noticeably more expensive. You don't even need to dig deep to understand this.
The model is called Tsuki-Yomi and arrived in Ukraine in 2 color options.
Of course, the dial gives a decent amount of time in the classroom. It looks like a planet. Beautifully detailed. We'll look at it a little later.
The model also contains a rather complex model. That is, if you see a lot of windows and buttons on the sides in a Citizen watch, but it is obvious that this is not just a chronograph, then rest assured that there are enough functions here and it will be impossible to figure it out without instructions.
And in the last part of my video for this watch, I will briefly tell you how to configure this module.
So, the watch case and bracelet are made of titanium. Citizen are very fond of this material and often make watches from titanium. You could say that this is partly their thing.
On the back of the watch there is the phrase duratec, indicating that titanium is coated with a protective coating. This is extremely important, since titanium has both pros and cons.
One of the advantages for some is that it is a noticeably lighter watch than a stainless steel one. But the downside of titanium without protection is that it scratches quite badly.
I want to say that, in my opinion, cheap titanium usually looks very obvious right away. That is, such a specific, matte color.
The more expensive titanium is somewhere between matte and metallic in color. That is, it is not immediately clear that this is titanium.
And this is exactly the case with this watch.
Great geometry. Remarkable quality finishing of the case.
The buttons and back cover are the same simple as in the first model.
The bracelet here is already much better. It is completely cast. Looks more solid.
The only thing is that the clasp is as simple as on a budget model, but I am still inclined to believe that this is not saving money, but rather an attempt to maintain the light weight of the watch, since the casting would definitely be heavier.
Although I could be wrong on this matter.
In terms of size, our diameter is 42 mm, from lug to lug - 48 mm, thickness - 11 mm, weight - 104 grams.
They are literally slightly smaller than the first model. On my arm 18 cm. The girth fits better.
And you can feel the difference in weight. With almost the same dimensions, the watches are 50 grams lighter.
According to the characteristics, we already have sapphire glass.
We have water protection of 100 meters.
And on board is Japanese quartz with caliber H874 and Eco Drive technology. That is, the watch is powered by any light sources and the battery will last up to 12 years.
The dial is beautiful.
If you look closely, it resembles either the earth or the blue sky in the clouds. In general, I want to admire it.
The markers are applied, as are the luminescent hands. The lume is high quality.
The small lower dial has a beautiful moon phase design.
In the lower right corner there is a brand, it says that there is a radio control function and there is a date window at the 4 o’clock position.
The small dial on the left shows the part of the day in which time passes.
And in the upper dial we have a battery charge scale and days of the week.
Well, now let's do a little setup.
The first thing we, of course, need to determine is in which zone the time should be set. For Ukraine this is the belt of Athens. There are clues on the back of the watch. ATH +2 is indicated.
What are we doing?
We have a scale at the top of the dial along the edge. We pull the crown one click to the right and by rotating it clockwise or counterclockwise we select the belt we need. Athens, I repeat, +2, which means we set the arrow to 2.
Further.
The watch has the ability to switch from winter to summer time and vice versa.
On the left side of the dial, at the edge of the scale, we have winter time. These are the letters STD
And on the right side we have daylight saving time. These are the letters SMT.
In order to make the transition, we pull the head to the extreme, second position. Now you see that my time is set to summer. You can turn the head clockwise. And it will switch to winter.
Turn the head counterclockwise and it will return to summer again.
How to check the charge level?
Press the bottom button. We see that we now have a decent charge, and we see that the lower arrow pointed to the NO mark at the bottom of the dial. This means that the last attempt to synchronize time via radio control failed.
Unfortunately, radio control does not always and not always work for us. But it works.
In order to use it, you need to hold down the bottom button. The arrow will point to the RX value. And we wait a few minutes until the clock picks up a signal from the nearest tower.
So this is the functionality. If you remember, it's not that difficult.
The cost of this model today in my Feeltime online store is 33,700 UAH.
Of course, these watches indiscriminately look more expensive than a budget watch at first glance.
It is clear that they have a more elegant dial, and it is clear that the case is made more refined.
The bracelet is a head taller. Well, again, if you know budget Japanese, you pick up an inexpensive watch and immediately understand by default that the bracelet will most likely be stamped. Everything is much better in more expensive watches.
Having a sapphire for me is, of course, the little things in life, but an expensive module in titanium citizens certainly costs money. Plus a cool implementation of functions on the dial.
Plus, of course, titanium. Even identical models in titanium versions are always more expensive than stainless steel. Although I personally don’t like titanium.
So if you have a trained eye, you will immediately see where the expensive Citizen watches are and where the inexpensive ones are.
Well, if you dig, then as you can see, many of the goodies of the top model are not available in the budget model. That's why it's a budget. Just a good watch, as high quality as possible for the Japanese. And no more.
You can buy each of these models and other Citizen watches in my Feeltime online store in Ukraine. 2 year warranty from the official distributor.
You can use payment in installments from private and mono banks for up to 6 months without interest.
How do you like the watch in general? Share your experience using the Citizen brand.
And that's all for me. Stanislav was with you as always. Until next time. Bye
