Hands On With The Citizen White ‘Washi Paper’ Dial 30th Anniversary AQ4100-22A

The Citizen is the somewhat confusing name of Citizen’s top tier of luxury watches, although understanding the name and what it means in terms of quality is second nature to serious enthusiasts and collectors interested in high end Japanese watchmaking. Grand Seiko has its technically distinctive high-beat calibers, as well as sturdy, time-tested workhorse mechanicals and, most notably, Spring Drive. Citizen, on the other hand, has the longest history of making light-powered quartz watches in the industry, and Eco-Drive is as much a key technology for Citizen as Spring Drive is for Grand Seiko. The Citizen collection of watches was launched by Citizen in 1995 and the idea was to produce high-quality, and very high-precision, quartz watches with daily-wear friendly dials and designs; since then, the technical repertoire has expanded to include mechanical and Eco-Drive calibers, with the latter offering a precision of ± 5 seconds per year.

Citizen’s The Citizen watches may not be familiar to some US enthusiasts thanks to their small numbers, and their relatively recent introduction to the US market, so perhaps a brief introduction is in order.

The Citizen: Citizen’s Most Advanced Luxury Watch

The Citizen watches were for many years Japan domestic-market only, but in 2019, the Citizen Caliber 0100 was released. This set a new all-time record for precision, of ± 1 second maximum yearly deviation in rate, which is a record unlikely to be beaten at least in the near future. The materials side of The Citizen watches continued to advance as well, with the introduction of Citizen’s Super Titanium in 2005, and in 2017, Citizen introduced the first The Citizen watches with dials made from Japanese washi paper. Washi paper is made by hand from fibers from the inner bark of the mulberry tree, and has been made in Japan since at least 600 AD, when it was first documented. The paper has many uses – it’s used for shoji screens as a light diffuser, and of course, for painting and calligraphy as well. It’s strong, light, and unlike many modern papers, it does not yellow or lose strength over time.

Incorporating washi paper into the dials of Eco-Drive watches would have been impossible had the technology not advanced to the point that the movements were efficient enough at gathering and storing light energy, and reducing the amount of energy used, that the light transmitted through the washi dial would be enough to not only power the watch, but also maintain a good power reserve. All Eco-Drive watches have rechargeable power cells which will eventually need replacement but not for many years – in my own collection, there’s a first generation Eco-Drive Skyhawk, purchased in 2001, which has had only one cell replacement since then (fairly recently, as well).

The caliber A60 now used in The Citizen Eco-Drive watches has a seven month power reserve (which means it will run for that long even with no light exposure) and a 1.5 year reserve in power saving mode. The movement also has a perpetual calendar, and, for the convenience of travelers and those who need to adjust their watch to local changes between Summer and normal time, the hour hand can be independently set in one hour increments.

The 30th Anniversary Washi Dial Model AQ4100-22A

Several of the washi paper dials used for The Citizen are colored; this model use a white dial, which has been decorated using the technique known as sunago-maki – literally, “sand sprinkling.” The technique appears to have been used in Japan for at least as long as washi papermaking has been known. Sunago-maki is a decorative method in which fine flakes of a decorative metal are sprinkled onto a surface treated to allow the particles to adhere, producing a subtle, sparkling effect. Historically, it was used to decorate paper and Japanese lacquerware objects; one traditional use was to decorate paper used for Buddhist sutras, and for waka poetry, a very old Japanese form which is the basis for haiku. For this model, platinum was used.

The platinum flakes are irregularly shaped and their random distribution means that no two dials are alike. The watch has highly polished hands and indexes and despite the fact that the color scheme overall is essentially white on white, legibility is excellent.

On closer inspection, the hands, Citizen wordmark, and eagle logo (which is used on all The Citizen watches, and which bears what I’m sure is a coincidental resemblance to the imperial eagle of the Holy Roman Empire; Citizen says it is meant to symbolize the eagle’s sharp vision and the virtue of looking ahead) as well as the minute markers, seem to float slightly above the dial. This is because the washi paper, which despite its relative strength is also very thin, cannot support the dial furniture, which instead sits on a sheet of acrylic plastic. This protects the paper and gives the dial physical stability, but it also creates a pleasing three dimensional effect.

The Duratect Platinum Case

The case is 38.3mm in diameter, and made of Citizen’s Super Titanium. Super Titanium is a term for titanium treated with any of a number of different surface hardening and, in some cases, coloring techniques, known collectively as Duratect (the nomenclature can be a little confusing at first; essentially, as Citizen puts it, titanium + Duratect = Super Titanium). “Duratect” can mean anything from relatively familiar coatings like DLC (diamond-like carbon) to more exotic gas diffusion hardening, which at Citizen is called Duratect MRK and which involves diffusing oxygen and carbon into the surface of a titanium case. For this model, Duratect Platinum is used – this is a vapor deposition process in which the titanium case is platinum coated, both for aesthetic reasons, and to improve scratch resistance.

The platinum treatment gives the cool silver-white color of platinum with the lightness of titanium and in fact, in the hand and on the wrist, this is a quite light watch, as you’d expect from the case material. This is the only aspect of the watch which might give some potential owners pause, and it’s the reason I’d suggest seeing the watch in person, although it’s not the only reason. The lightness of the case is certainly an advantage for a daily-wear watch which this is clearly intended to be but some people might want a little more heft. I personally would want this one in Duratect Platinum, though – partly for its inherent material properties, but also because this is a highly characteristic watch for Citizen in many ways, and because in many ways this is the current apex of the evolution of Eco-Drive at Citizen, in which story titanium has played an essential role. Right now all the Eco-Drive The Citizen models available in the US are Super Titanium anyway, although the mechanical models are available in stainless steel (and with a movement produced by La Joux Perret, which is owned by Citizen).

It’s an exceptionally beautiful watch with a unique aesthetic – the washi paper dial with the sunago-maki platinum treatment, the visual depth provided by the double layer dial construction, the precision of the case machining and polishing and the use of platinum for both the dial decoration and the case Duratect treatment, gives the watch a visual unity as well as an appearance which feels almost alive, shifting as it does as ambient light changes. We usually think of paper as an impermanent material, but here it becomes something else, and the inherent fragility of the material belies its strength, and presence in a piece of precision timekeeping designed for the long haul.

The Citizen “The Citizen” 30th Anniversary Ref. AQ4100-22A: case, 38.3mm, silver-tone Super Titanium with Duratect Platinum coating; sapphire crystals front and back; water resistance 100 meters. Dial, hand-made washi paper with platinum sunago-maki, double layer with applied indexes. Movement, Citizen Eco-Drive caliber A60, light powered quartz movement, ±5 seconds per year precision, with perpetual calendar and independently settable hour hand. Limited edition of 400 pieces worldwide; current US price, $3195. Find out more at Citizenwatch.com.