The Citizen Tsuyosa Small Seconds is a game changer

Introduction

With the Citizen Tsuyosa, which Citizen also crafted as a collaboration model with Pantone, the Japanese watchmaker brought the once-popular Citizen NH299 back into the business.

This entry-level collection, like the premium 8 Series featuring a GMT complication, confirms Citizen Watch as a strong contender among mechanical watches. It comes with a distinctive design and proven reliability, and, as the new small-second iteration showcases, superior build quality and attention to detail, especially on the bracelet and movement.

Please welcome the new Tsuyosa Small Seconds

The Tsuyosa’s signature sport-classic silhouette sets it apart, with its winding crown at four o’clock. The edgy case’s polished and brushed design enhances the look and feel. Paired with an integrated bracelet, the Tsuyosa pays homage to the nineties in shape and feel.

Compared to the NH, the Tsuyosa abandoned the day of the week, not the date, which you can easily read through a magnifying glass at three. The new small seconds option sees the central sweeping seconds’ hand replaced by a seconds’ counter at six, surrounded by a guilloche-type dial finish. Yet, there’s more to catch your eye.

The whole collection, available in three variants at launch (two on a bracelet and one on a strap), grows in details and overall finish compared to the initial Tsuyosa offering.

Same size yet superior perceived quality

Citizen’s designers preserved the original 40.0 mm per 11.7 mm size to offer excellent comfort while re-engineering the bracelet, whose polished mid links are now larger. Also, they end up with a more refined butterfly clasp than the base model. Please look further since the bodywork extends to a new calibre, the 3 Hertz 8322 movement running for as much as 60 hours when fully wound.

Unlike the Tsuyosa’s 8210, the 8322 offers, therefore, superior power reserve and pleases the eye with better finishes, including Côtes de Genève stripes and a skeletonized winding mass.

The Citizen Tsuyosa Small Seconds’ price list and final thoughts

Those who are familiar with the premium brand “The Citizen” will spot similarities in form and function (the small seconds counter) with the 200-210 series. The 200-210 product family belongs to the top-tier offering and offers a La-Joux Perret exclusively produced mechanical calibre.

The Citizen Tsuyosa Small Seconds is an affordable steel sports watch on a bracelet whose price point is unbeatable. It is a call to action for the newbie or the seasoned watch expert. It is an excellent budget watch with perceivable build quality and on-the-wrist comfort as it is an everyday timepiece in your tens-of-thousands Euros watch collection.

We’d pimp up water resistance to over 50 metres to extend its role as a four-season, anytime-anywhere wristwatch. You can easily swap bracelet by pushing two levers per side thanks a quick release mechanism. The new Citizen Tsuyosa Small Seconds sells for €369 on a bracelet and €359 on a strap. The retail price is aggressive from any perspective and challenging to any Swiss competitor. For more information, please visit Citizen Watch.

(Photo credit: Citizen)

Giovanni Di Biase @Horbiter®