Hodinkee
Hands-On: The Citizen Eco-Drive Photon Keeps The Brand Ahead Of Their Light-Powered Competitors
A little over a month ago, Citizen celebrated the 50th anniversary of Eco-Drive with a massive bash in New York and a few new releases. The most striking, and unlike anything they had released in the past, was the new Photon. Aptly named, of course, because of the very particles—oh wait, or is it waves?—that power Eco-Drive movements. And before we get any further, these aren't solar watches like most watch movements that could be considered a "competitor" on the market. They are powered by any light around you, whether it's your office lights, home lights, or yes, the big bright ball in the sky that's starting to peek out more and more in New York. If you want to know more about Eco-Drive, our friend Griffin recently published a story about the technology (and its history) here. But this watch requires a slightly different history lesson. If you take a look at the dial below, you'll see it has a very unusual design. It's also out of the ordinary for Citizen, which prides itself on creating watches that can pass for any other watch aesthetically and don't require slits in the dial to transmit light (a problem other brands have struggled to engineer around). The new Citizen Eco-Drive Photons are two watches measuring 39.6mm by 9.9mm with integrated bracelets, all of which are made of Super Titanium with Duratect coating. One features a titanium carbide finish, while the other, with a two-tone dial and case band, uses a DLC finish. Each is limited to 5,000 pieces and ava...
