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Citizen 39mm Dress Watch – $86.95
- model: BI5000-01A
- size: 39mm width, 8.5mm thick, 22mm lug width
- movement: Battery powered Japanese quartz (not Eco-Drive)
- water resistance: 50m
- crystal: Mineral
- etc: Date window at 3 o’clock. Polished case w/ brushed lug tops. Lume is minimal on the hands, but it’s there.
Might as well call this a Special, because the picture next to the definition of “wristwatch” (noun) probably looks a lot like this.
“What’s a Webster’s?” – anyone under the age of 25
It’s the thing you put between your World Atlas and set of Britannicas (*sets down latest edition of AARP magazine, adjusts abacus, and to see the future).
39mm diameter on a 7.5″ wrist.
This dress watch from Citizen is simple. Very simple. The dial is white without being overly bright & stark. The stick indices are applied. The CITIZEN logo and WR 50 marks are printed. The hands are as plain as possible but does have some shape/taper to them, so they avoid the “8-bit” rectangular look of the cheapest of handsets. And while the hour and minute hands do have slivers of lume on them, don’t count on seeing them easily at night.
Dress-watch trim at 8.5mm thick.
Shown with quarters for scale.
The 39mm diameter is an appropriate size for a dress watch and should fit most. It’s also slim at just 8.5mm thick, so it’ll wear comfortably with a dress shirt. The lug/strap width of 22mm is a bit wider than expected, but the watch isn’t drowning in the croc-grain styled black leather band. And the leather is decently flexible, with a lower shine which doesn’t look cheap or plasticky.
22mm wide leather band doesn’t look or feel cheap.
Croc embossed top side, soft nubuck-like underneath.
Even though Citizen is the brand that popularized the “powered by light” movement (aside from which are the ultimate OG “powered by light” timekeeper) this one isn’t Eco-Drive. So the Japanese quartz guts will eventual need its battery swapped out. It does make a “tick” noise, but it’s nowhere near as loud as one of Timex’s cheap(est) movements. The simple coin-edge crown feels solid, and the hands and quick-set date function operate smoothly when you adjust them.
Not “powered by light.” Powered by an old fashioned battery.
It’s clean, it’s classy, and it’s professional. At (well) under $100, it’s affordable enough to anchor the dressed-up end of a watch arsenal for pretty much all budgets. And in this age of horrendously cheap drop-shipped trash and gawdy garbage, this Citizen watch excels at being entry level.
And that should be praised.
