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 Webster’s 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 inspects sheep’s liver 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 sundials 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.
